Tag Archives: Adventures

May14

Kayaking when the weather isn’t really the best…

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Sunday, 04-May-14

 

So a bit ago I got a full season membership to Charles River Canoe and Kayak.  I also bought a new waterproof camera as a prep-point for taking Spring Break in France.  Combining these two means that I can take pictures out on the water, and that I can get out onto the water for cheap.  So… why not, right?  It’s a medium-warm day in May, let’s get into the Charles!

 

  • Start out the adventure by texting everyone while I’m at brunch… btw, brunch?  Balling.  So good!  The brunch place that I usually go to upgraded its fare – they raised the price and cut out the menu options, but holy crap it was worth it.  Carving station, omelette station, extra snacks… yeah.  I enjoy going to the Foundry.
  • Emma’s the only one to reply, so we aim to meet up after I finish gardening
  • Finish gardening, get ambushed by neighbors (which is nice), and then meet up with Emma… late as always.  I’m sorry Emma!
  • It’s too cold to go in the water :/  Wait, they’re joking!  They call out to us as we’re about to walk away that it’s warm enough now!  Just barely… but they can’t rent to anyone if the water temp is below 55 Deg.F – and it just hit 55.5 Deg.F out.
  • They make us go through a whole slew of cold water release and waiver forms.  Emma’s a bit worried, but we get a really stable Kayak to make up for it.  Tie up the gear, get situated, and head out.
  • The channel is kind of choppy, but nothing too bad.
  • We’re about to get out into open water… Wait, the channel.  The protected, enclosed channel, was choppy.  Shit.  Now we’re out on the river itself…. The river?  3ft waves.
  • Emma starts to worry, but we’ve got this.  Water spraying as we bash through the waves, paddles straining deep.  Cue battle-music and some old grizzled sea-dog screaming orders over a hurricane.
  • We can’t work through these waves… we need to make a break for shore, so we turn toward the esplanade and make landfall on a small dock.
  • Beach in the esplanade, reorganize, and have a snack.  Give Emma my waterproof layer.
  • Now that we’re in the sheltered esplanade, it’s really nice!  We take our time and mosey through the small channels.  The trees are all in bloom, and it’s gorgeous with the cherry blossoms sprinkling down.
  • After we get to the far end, we turn around and head back.  Once we’re out into the river the waves aren’t super bad this time.  The wind died down, I guess.
  • Bike back, via the Harvard Square May Day event.  Listen to some cool music and roll out home
  • Have dinner, have a fire, and relax the night away.  Nice.

 

 

Apr13

A roadtrip to the gunks: Driving and hostels, pizza and beer towers.

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Friday, 04-Apr-14 through Sunday, 06-Apr-14

 

So, it’s been months since I did a legit roadtrip… this doesn’t really count, since it was only four hours or so of driving.  But it’s all the way out to New Paltz, NY, and it was awesome, so yeah.  WOO adventure!  First adventure of the spring!

The drive itself was pretty boring; Daniel and I listened to tunes, then some standup, then some more tunes, and then we were there.  “There”, this time, was the New Paltz hostel.  It was raining on Friday and Saturday, and was more than a little cold, so we decided to play it boring and safe, instead of camping out…

Friday

  • The hostel itself – we got our own room, complete with a queen bed, a bunk bed, our own bathroom, and even a fridge in a small entry room.  Dang.  I am not used to being treated this well in a hostel.  Major recommendation – thought it is kinda expensive.
  • Paintings at hostel – Holy hell.  The hostel had an amazing painting hanging in our room – I tried to take a picture of it, but nothing gave it credit for how perfect it actually was.  It was a painting showing a small farmhouse on the plains, but it was perfectly minimalist… with tons of detail where it mattered.  Extremely evocative and perfect.
  • Bacchus found us having dinner & drinks Friday

Saturday

  • Bagel breakfast, and then grocery shopping for lunches and Sunday’s breakfast on Saturday morning
  • After hiking around all day, Daniel and I hit up a small Coffee shop to relax and read Saturday afternoon / early evening.
  • Erin met us at the coffee shop, then we all went out for Pizza dinner… & Daniel / Erin had a few drinks.  More than a few.  It was entertaining, to say the least.

Sunday

  • For breakfast, we cooked up some eggs and heated up leftovers.  Quick and simple
  • Random stuff for lunch while climbing
  • Dinner found us at the Gilded Otter, and I had a burger.  It was delicious, as they usually are when eaten at the Gilded Otter.
  • As we’re leaving, Daniel is staring at another table, because they have a huge beer tower.  They are drunk.  They don’t take kindly to Daniel’s staring, and they get a bit angry.  Thankfully, I am the king of dirty jokes, and thus make a few choice comments about beer towers, their size, and how impressed we are.  Thus, bad jokes end up saving us.  Success!
  • Drive home?  Ehh.  Boring.
Jan17

New Years Eve 2014

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Wednesday, 31-Dec-13

New Years… it’s one of my favorite holidays, though I honestly can’t really tell you why.  I think it’s partially because it’s a time for new beginnings, and it has a “people should make out!” element added into the countdown.  Ohh, and popping champagne corks is always nice too.

So this year, Daniel hosted New Years… I think he held is last year too, but I’m not 100% sure.  Either way, it was EXCELLENT!

I dressed up, as usual, in my Kurta from Jig and Dave’s wedding… if anyone hasn’t seen a Kurta before, look it up quick – they’re amazing.  Very bright colored and lots of sequins… not the best with dreads, I’ll admit, but I survived and thrived non-the-less.  Mine was bright emerald, with perfect aquamarine fancy slippers, so I was definitely the belle of the ball for this one night.

The party night itself was a bit of a  blur – Terese and I took the train out, since the plan was to crash at Daniel’s place anyways, so there was no concern about cars or parking or any of that nonsense.  The train was completely packed, but that’s just the price you have to expect to pay on New Years Eve.  Nothing too bad, though I was a bit saddened by the lack of crazy people or interestingly dressed folks riding with us.

Instead, we got to the party, helped set up, and then proceeded to party down!  There wasn’t one overarching story to the party, so let me sum it up with a few fun points:

  • We had TONS of random and amazing drinks – Daniel and I both spent time playing bartender, though I have to say that I’m pretty sure that my Baileys and Frangelico coffee was basically the best thing ever.  I did make that, right?  Not a dream?  Hmm….
  • Brian (Daniel’s brother) and Mike LeVasseur were both able to make it out from Florida and California, respectively.  Thus, lots of time was spent catching up and hearing about various enterprises.  Damn, both of those guys are getting stuff done!
  • Terese pulled off a VERY nice outfit… I do enjoy events where people dress up.  It’s fun, and is a good excuse to play the fancy card.
  • The countdown was awesome, and lots of champagne was drank by all.  Daniel, I apologize for how messy your floor must have gotten.  My bad.
  • Some people are nice guys, and feel bad about crashing in bed with a girl who’s ex is in the same room with them.  Mike and I are not nice guys, so when the nice guy is drunk and just wants to sleep, we drag him to the room and toss him in the bed with the girl (they’re both clothed, don’t worry about it.  He’s a gentleman) and leave the annoyingly drunk ex to deal with it himself.  Laughs were had by all.  And high-fives.

The night ended well, basically with all of us crashing at random places throughout the house.  Terese and I found ourselves in the downstairs bedroom, on a sleeping pad that Daniel had laid out.  It wasn’t the most comfy thing ever, especially when on a hardwood floor instead of outside in the forest, but it was definitely acceptable, and we slept pretty well.  Very well, when you count everyone getting up constantly, people leaving at 5 in the morning, and the partiers outside.

 

Thursday, 01-Jan-14

The next morning started slowly and painfully… but honestly not nearly as painfully as I expected.  Chirag and I were the first ones away (technically Brian was, since he came downstairs, but that doesn’t count because he went back to sleep), followed quickly by Terese.  After I got up and put Terese back to bed, we got dressed and headed out for a constitutional… AKA a walk to Dunkin Donuts to get stuff for everyone.

Was a nice walk, doubly-so for seeing everyone taking the walk of shame, or being painfully hungover waiting for their coffee.  We got a box of coffee and a ton of donuts, said hi to a few police officers who were just too tired to deal with any of this shit, and headed back to start making breakfast.

Three Bostwicks later, everyone was awake and downstairs, eating bacon and sausage and eggs and other delicious concoctions.  The day went quickly from there, leading us on a few light adventures as we tried to shake the hangovers.  The Hobbit was watched, snacks were had, and the new year started out with a nicely comfortable sigh.