Mount Washington, round two! Last year, my mom, dad and I spent the most beautiful day in October hiking up Boot Spurr trail to the summit of Mount Washington over Columbus day weekend. This year, (almost) the whole gang was able to go, so we spent the third weekend in September doing just that! We ended up staying at the Joe Dodge located at Pinkham Notch lot the night before in hopes of getting an earlier start than we did last year. The lodge was very cozy and accommodating for our party of 7, complete with a room full of a games, a library and a little living room. We enjoyed their buffet feast Friday night, and again early Saturday for our breakfast! 

We spent a good hour in the visitor's center Friday night staring at the huge 3D map of Mount Washington trying to decide what the best route would be. We eventually decided on the steepest route, Huntington Ravine! 

Being the super hikers that we are, we successfully did not bring a map and did feel a little unprepared when hikers hiking the same trail passed us with helmets and ropes? Naturally, we had neither of those. 

It was very steep! BUT, it is very "possible" if you are a mediocre hiker. All seven of us survived and we are by no means experts. It was best described to us as "similar to Precipice without the rungs and ladders."

We once again hit the weather jackpot on this one! Known as the most dangerous small mountain because of the drastic weather changes, we scored a beautiful clear day with comfortable temperatures. A little chilly at the summit (as expected), but nothing a fleece and rain jacket couldn't handle.

Staring at Wildcat mountain the entire hike up wasn't too bad either! The pictures from that linked post give you a good idea as to what we climbed this trip up.

We successfully made it to the summit 5 hours later, noshed on our amazing lunches that The cafeteria at the visior's center prepared for us, and then hiked Lion's Head down. All in all a great time! AND this time, we got back just before the sun went down, unlike last time! #greatsuccess

 ...and because making little vlogs of our adventures is my new favorite thing, I leave you with 6 exciting minutes from our hike!



Looking forward to next years annual hike!
October 2015 Mount Washington March 2015 Mount Washington

Camping 2016 - Acadia National Park

A couple months ago I began aching for a camping trip to try out some of our new gear, roast up some s'mores, feast on some pudgie pies and spend some time with family. We hadn't been camping in a loooong time, and living in the middle of the city with no vehicle or space to store gear didn't make it any easier. When my parents made plans to go camping as a family in Acadia National Park over Labor Day weekend, I nearly jumped out of my skin in excitement! Everyday I would tell L how excited I was to not only go camping, but also spend some time on breathtaking Mount Desert Island! We spent a good chunk of time there two years ago for my grandparents 50th anniversary and it was nothing short of a great time! I don't have as many pictures as last time, however I did compile a handful of short clips from our trip into a fun little vlog which I have put at the bottom of this post!

First and foremost... the car. L and I forgot how convenient it is to have a vehicle to throw all of our gear in and travel. After packing all of our "stuff" into totes and traveling via trains and ubers for so long, this is truly a treat. We are still adding to our camping collection, however I can say that these clear weathertight containers from the container store are a favorite! We don't go anywhere these days without one of these in the trunk... just in case we come across an adventure of some nature, you never know! 

We ended up staying in a cute campground right outside of Acadia and right on the shore of Somes Sound, Somes Sound View Campground. 

We glamped in two side by side cabins (Starfish and Barnacle) at Somes Sound View Campground which could sleep four people each, perfect for our party of eight! We finagled our parking spaces and moved our tables in-between the two cabins so that we could spend even MORE time together. The place was booked for the weekend (as expected) and offered great creature features! A quarry that you could take a little boat on, a heated pool, docks, etc.!

We played one of our favorite group games, telestrations, a mix of pictionary and telephone... just imagine the fun! I am proud to say that we successfully mastered a lighting setup by tying a rope from a tree to our car and hanging two Luci lights above our game playing table! #greatsuccess

We did get our butts up wicked early to witness the infamous sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. There's nothing quite like being one of the first (along with the other 400 people on Cadillac) in the country to watch the sunrise. Parking was insane, as anticipated, so as a helpful hint to you if you ever go, do not park on the side of the road. Don't do it... you will never be able to turn your vehicle around... find a spot in one of the two lots.  

We unfortunately didn't have enough time to hike the very steep Precipice trail, however we did play on another crowd favorite, Beehive trail... another fun but steep trail with rungs and ladders. 

The gang!

One of my favorite parts of camping is the campfire food. We got serious about our pudgie pies and s'mores this year. One of my favorites being a cinnamon graham cracker, marshmallow, chocolate and nutella pudgie pie.

We can't go to MDI without paying a visit to our favorite soup kitchen, Common Good. Located in Southwest Harbor (they recently moved in town), Common Good is where you can get the most delicious popover and oatmeal breakfast on Mount Desert Island for whatever price feels right. Hopefully when you visit you are feeling generous, as that helps provide for people who may not be able to afford as much. They have a plethora of different jams and butters, as well as hot beverages, milk and juice. It is the perfect buffet of food for such a GREAT cause!

 We had such a wonderful time in Acadia and an even better time with the family. Looking forward to next year!

Weekend

Happy Marathon Monday! I want to send out a huge congratulations to all of the athletes who trained so hard for this amazing race! It's definitely one of my favorite times of the year having everyone from everywhere hanging out in the city with their brightly colored marathon jackets. I have running a marathon on my 30 x 30 list, and hope to one day have the opportunity to participate in THIS historic race!

via
In other news, I bought a new duvet and euro shams and have fallen head over heels in love with them. Making the bed is one thing that I cannot leave the house without doing. I would much rather be 10 minutes late to wherever I'm going, than come home to an unmade bed. I had been crushing on this set from West Elm for a few weeks and was finally able to justify pulling the trigger when they were offering 20% off and free shipping. Every time I walk in our bedroom my heart jumps for joy, so cute!

My dad scored some last minute tickets to the Sox game on Friday night, so we headed over to Fenway park, sucked down some beers and nachos and were fortunate enough to land a beautiful win! Nights like these make me so thankful to be living in this incredible city.

We traveled out to Stone Zoo on Sunday with my brother to take in the gorgeous weather. It quickly became freezing, so we headed to our favorite pastime, Friendly's, to relive our childhoods with kids meals and ice cream. A quick Uber ride to Chelsea scored us some groceries at Market Basket, and we wrapped the night up watching Horrible Bosses 2 on Amazon Prime. Am I the only person in the world who has been living under an Amazon Prime rock? I knew that you could get free shipping on some items, but free instant access to movies and music, what??

My brothers new phone has a setting on the camera called "beauty face" where you can adjust it to remove your blemishes... so here are L and I's blemish free faces! I'll just leave you with that.

Have a fantastic Monday and a wonderful week!

Mountains and Snow

North Conway is one my favorite places to reset when looking for a nearby weekend (or week) getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city. I recently wrote about our AMAZING ski day on Wildcat back in December, and I'm sure that I've mentioned it here and there as well on the blog. We usually head to North Conway to ski the handful of mountains there, and in the summer it's a great place to float down the Saco River or hike! 

  We stayed at the North Conway Grand which is equipped with two pools and hot tubs (inside and outside), it's located a stones throw from the Settlers Green Outlets, AND they serve hot cocoa and cookies everyday from 4-6 in the front lobby. Heck to the yes.
The first day we had hopes of getting a lot of good skiing in, however the mountain was a little too congested for me and I didn't think it was worth the ticket. SO! Dad and I traded in our lift tickets for vouchers, and packed up our gear for the next adventure. Luckily, Pinkham Notch is 10 steps down the road so we parked it there and decided to hike it up Tuckerman's Ravine! Amateur Hour! We did not have appropriate gear with us to hike the side of Mount Washington, at all.. in fact I went up in loosely tied bean boots. No spikes, no cleats, ice picks... nothing. We were cruisin' though and made okay time to the caretakers house. We were about halfway to the bowl which is where the extreme adventurist hike up with skis and ski down. Afterwards we ran, and I mean RAN down the mountain like idiots because it was fun. Our knees will thank us later. Next time, we're springing sleds!! Do you want to do what the truley depressing part was? When we got back to the hotel, all of the cookies and hot cocoa has been eaten :( Saturdays are just too busy for me.  

The second day we skied Attitash in the AM and Wildcat in the PM, and were extremely happy with the conditions! It was less busy, and there was good snow coverage! Afterwards, we DID get to treat ourselves to cookies and hot cocoa! And then of course we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Delaney's Hole in the Wall.   

  Monday was kind of random, nothing crazy. We invested some time and money in at the Outlets and I'm proud to say I only bought what I needed and nothing more! Except for a pair of shorts from J. Crew (They were so cute!), and I cashed in a gift card at L.L. Bean for a boat and tote. My new weekend bag!
We had aspirations of hiking Diane's Bath, however with all of the ice and snow there was a decent chance we might fall through and hurt ourselves so we decided not to. We did however hop on a little nature trail right outside of L.L. Bean which took us for a little spin around a pond of some sort. Pretty, pretty!
We wrapped the day up on York Beach in Maine where we snow walked shoed around the Nubble lighthouse area and checked everything out. We may or may not have popped our heads into a beautiful ocean side house that they were building. We ate dinner in Portsmouth and then walked it off around Downtown Portsmouth. What a day! What a weekend!

 

   Back to the grind tomorrow!

Wildcat!

Wildcat! (To the tune of Roooadhouse!)

We found ourselves slopeside yesterday for a very impromptu trip up to the beautiful North Conway, NH to enjoy a little piece of the wonderful town. 

North Conway, NH is home to just about every fun activity every east coast bound soul is looking to take in. If you are looking to vacation up here and want to soak in an AMAZING area... this is YOUR PLACE! It has several ski mountains, outlets, cute shops, delicious restaurants, the Saco river, the white mountains, hiking... and much, MUCH more!
This particular trip was so, so last minute that L and I had no idea we were going until an hour before we caught the train to Wells, ME!
We left early, early in the morning Monday and headed over to the mountain to get our dose of skiing in before all the holidays sneak up on us. We usually find ourselves over at Attitash, however they only had 20 trails open, opposed to their sister mountain (Wildcat) who had over 40... mind made.

I had never skied at Wildcat before, and was pleasantly surprised by the absolutely breathtaking views, and the great trails. Driving up the mountain to the base lodge was like entering Narnia... halfway up you suddenly hit a wonderland vortex with snow drenched pine trees and winter everywhere! It was slightly overcast towards the bottom of the mountain, however, halfway up their high speed quad you jump out of the clouds and are literally left staring at a sea of clouds beneath you... amazing! At the top of the mountain you also are also staring straight at Tuckerman's Ravine, which is basically a giant vertical crater on Mount Washington that crazy people hike up and ski down. 

Straight cloud business.

Tuckerman's Ravine is the crater to the left of the summit.
We scored several runs throughout the day and couldn't seem to wrap our heads around the fact that it was THIS beautiful. These pictures just don't do it justice!

Other mountain looked like little islands peaking out of the clouds.

Other than the handful of season pass holders, we had basically every square inch of that mountain to ourselves. Heck yea! That's what you get for midweek skiing.

I've had so much luck these past couple years with skiing around this day. Last year we went to Okemo around the same time and had an absolutely amazing experience as well. No lines, tons of snow and friendly people. It's the best!

After skiing we moseyed on over to the Grand Hotel to grab some hot cocoa, cider and play some cards and then hopped right over to the outlets to indulge in some 50% off J. Crew action. 

Until the next time, North Conway!

Salem

 

  This place is the definition of October. They take Halloween to a whole new level. Not only is every last shop, restaurant, and park completely decorated, but it's done to the nth degree. Everyone is dressed up, and there is no filter when it comes to creepy. It's great! I can't even count on one hand how many times I saw cars, motorcycles and bikes cruising down the streets with skeletons hanging off the back.

  We were slightly pressed for time so unfortunately we didn't get to engage in all the haunted houses and candlelit ghost walks, however we did venture around to the House of Seven Gables, the Witch Trial Memorial, and we also moseyed around the pedestrian mall on Essex street for awhile.  

 

   Oh, and apparently cat squishing is an issue on this street. :(  

  Oh, Salem... you are so quaint. Hopefully we'll be able to make it up here again this month to fit in some more Halloween fun!  

 

 On a totally irrelevant note...

The window cleaners came to wash the windows of our building bright and early Sunday morning while we were still passed out in our bed.

I think the most perturbed one was this little lady - she was so concerned!

We eventually had to pull the shades to to give them some privacy from our curious cat.