What to do on a Friday night, when I don’t have any plans until Sunday… why not go to the Loj?
Friday through Sunday, 18-Apr-2014 through 20-Apr-14
Friday, 18-Apr-14
My favorite part about being on the Loj committee is that I can always escape the city if I want to, and go up to the Loj.
So when I found myself bored on a Friday evening, with no plans to meet people or do anything until Sunday afternoon… well, it doesn’t take long to pack a quick overnight pack, put my tent and sleeping bag in the car, and start out onto 93 Northbound.
First stop on the road to adventure was Chilis, for some delicious baby back ribs. Since it’s passover, burgers were right out… same with Nachos, I’m afraid. unfortunately the chef was a little mistake, and didn’t put any of the delicious into the ribs when I showed up; fortunately, I had Farenheight 451 with me to read, so that distracted me from the fact that the ribs were horridly dry. I think I’m going to start cooking my own ribs, from now on…
(Ed note: look forward to Ben posting a babyback rib recipe soon!)
From there, the highway called. So tunes were cranked up, the top was put down, and I roared off toward Gorham.
Saturday, 19-Apr-14
The night before I had set up my tent out back, in my usual little spot, and spent a bit of time chatting and catching up with the folks who’d showed up to the Loj. From there, and after a bit of breakfast, I started walking out toward Shelbourne-Moriah…
- I’d found a pair of snowshoes near the Loj, evidently just now thawing out from the winter. Nice. Took them along, because I heard rumor that the snowpack was pretty deep up near the top of the trail.
- Getting across connor brook was… interesting. The snowmelt had raised the river, so I had to do a bit of dramatic rock-hopping to make it across.
- Honestly, the rest of the hike blends itself together. I stopped by the river for an early lunch, and then followed the trail up into the woods as far as I could go. Snowshoes became necessary when I went above the melt-line, but aside from that it was just a standard-issue relaxing hike.
- Read some more of Fahrenheit 451; it’s a good book, once you get pack the excessive prose.
- Didn’t get all the way up, thanks to losing the trail in the snow, but it was still a quite successful day of walking and relaxing and eating.
- headed back to the Loj, arriving with a few hours to spare before sundown, and relaxed around the fire until it got dark, finishing up 451 and moving onto my next book – a Warhammer novel that my step-dad lent me.
- Dinner consisted of a variant stir-fry; apples, chicken, onions, pinapple, and some other extras thrown in on top. Quite delicious.
- Evening spent relaxing before bed, then heading back to the tent.
- Sleep was… difficult. The pad was comfortable enough, but unfortunately I was leaving early in the morning to meet a friend… which meant sleeping early. But I was the only one aiming for that – I’m pretty sure there was some full “ritual of spring” going on at the Loj that evening. Whatever it was, it required large fires, lots of pots and pans, and definitely kept on into the night…
**continued below**
Sunday, 20-Apr-14
- Woke up early, and made myself a nice light breakfast for the road. The goal was to be leaving before 8:30, and I was walking down the trail by 8:35. Not bad.
- Took a few things of trash – the advantage to a convertible is that it’s really easy to haul stuff like that, as long as it doesn’t leak. Thankfully, none of them did… but I made sure to put a small blanket down first, just in case.
- The drive back to Boston was ideal – relaxing, warm, and sunny. I enjoyed myself immensely.
- Once home, relaxing and working in the garden. Crysee was supposed to meet me around 14:00, but unfortunately she got sidetracked meeting up with some friends… which was actually nice, since it gave me some more time to work through the front yard, getting it ready for the coming summer…