Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Jan15

Thanksgiving, 2023

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Friday, 17-Nov-2023 through Sunday, 26-Nov-2023


A few years back, I started up a rotation for Thanksgiving – Massachusetts, Arizona, Friends, repeat. 2020 was “Massachusetts”, in a virtual sense… 2021 was a flight down to Arizona for a lovely high-desert turkey dinner, and then 2022 found me driving down to Sacramento for a dinner that couldn’t be beat. This year, I flew out East for an equally unbeatable meal… combined well with a week of family and friends!


It’s hard to summarize an entire week in a blog, without rambling on too long or simplifying it to the point of missed joy… but I’ll try, keeping it short and sweet so as to not steal time and energy from the other posts and photos that deserve posting and attention.

So let’s see…

I flew out early – taking the full week to visit with everyone in Medway. I worked remotely, with many thanks to my sister for loaning me her work from home setup while she was in the office. It was lovely – and I definitely understand why so many people are so protective of their freedom to work remotely. On top of the joy of just relaxing and working all under the same roof… My friend Bri flew out to join us! This was her first year joining us, and it was awesome to be able to bring her along and share some of the Eigner family Thanksgiving fun with her!



I got to meet up with friends! Dillon and Liz, getting to have a lovely mid-workday lunch, and see their awesome new home, along with hitting my first climbing gym ever with Daniel and Bri! Turns out, the grades there are surprisingly similar to those in Portland… which is neat, since a few years back they were radically different. Advantage of a more interconnected world, maybe?



My Mom, Bri, Hannah, and I had a spa night! It was excellent, and led to some… slightly horrifying… group photos. No regrets, and they’ll make excellent Halloween decorations for next year.



Thanksgiving itself was in Amherst, at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I got to spend some excellent time with my cousin and her kids, and even let him fly the drone around a bit! Amazing food, excellent times… It really was a gift to be able to see everyone in person and spend time just relaxing and catching up.



Second Thanksgiving in Medway was, also unsurprisingly, glorious! My sister cooked up a storm, with assistance of course, making a stellar second meal along with dangerously decadent desserts.



We took a hike to the Stoney Brook, the Audubon society camp where I spent summers for ages and ages. It’s just as lovely as I remember it being, and was a great walk (literally) down memory lane.


I brought the drone along! As mentioned, my cousin’s son has a blast flying it around… and it did a pretty good job of getting a few aerial photos of everyone!

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Sep13

Exploring and climbing a new crag – Hanging Mountain!

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Sunday, 21-Aug-2022

When I confirmed my flights, I quickly reached out to Daniel. I miss climbing outdoors, as does he, and late-August is definitely a good time to get onto the wall. It’s hot, true, but also minorly less likely to be rainy… so I’ll take it.

After deliberation, we locked into a destination – Hanging Mountain, a new crag recently opened to the public. I’d first heard about it last November, when flying out for Dillon’s bachelor party, but honestly didn’t know much about it, aside from that it was in Western Mass. We dove into some research, locked in the details, and headed out early on Sunday morning.

Well… early-ish. I mean, it’s Daniel, right? And me. We do mornings… but not really.

As far as new crags go, it was amazing. As far as established crags go, it was also amazing. The rock was solid, the trails well cut, and the belay areas tolerably sized. The areas were beautifully close together, and it was basically abandoned on the Sunday that found us scaling the heights.

It.

Was.

Awesome!




So what did we climb, you may ask? Well. We climbed all the things!

Acorn Face / Squirrel Wall:
– Lost and Found, 5.7, Sport lead
– Radiant Sky, 5.10d top rope, one cheat move… I admit.

Progressive Buttress:
– Green New Deal, 5.7+, Sport lead
– Nevertheless, 5.8-, Sport lead
– She Persists, 5.8, Sport lead
– Feel the Bern, 5.10, Top rope

Sep12

A Massachusetts wedding!

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Friday, 19-Aug-2022


I went back to Massachusetts! My friend Allison was getting married! I’d get to dance, see everyone, and have a great time!

It was a near-thing, truth be told… Looking at flights ahead of time, this whole “gas is expensive and the world is falling apart at the seams” thing is definitely happening. Or, at least, the airlines are using it as an excuse to jack up prices? Either way – a normally $600 round-trip flight was looking more like $1,800, and my attendance at the good times, delicious food, and awesome dancing was looking unlikely at best.

Then, miracles! Two days before I had to make the call about whether to bite the expensive bullet… flights dropped! I found a round-trip ticket for $800… not the cheapest, but also not nearly as outrageous as the previous costs had ballooned to. I booked it, locked in a hotel, and launched my excited RSVP out to the bride and groom.

See… Allison is a swing dancer, and a DJ. Most of her friends are dancers, or DJs. When you combine that with excellent taste, a good palette, and a drive to rock every event attended… well, I was psyched for the wedding.



Weddings are a lot like hikes. Bear with me – the metaphor will make sense in a second.

They’re awesome, and enjoyable, and give lasting excellent memories.

But they don’t transcribe well to paper. I could type out about the food (delicious), the dancing (fun), and the company (stellar), but it wouldn’t come close to expressing the details and minutia of the event.

So I won’t type it out. I’ll just leave you, my dear readers, with this photo of myself, taken by Daniel, after I commandeered his sunglasses. Because obviously Daniel brought sunglasses.




I’ll also briefly mention the excitement of the evening afterward… we’d all made our way back to the hotel, after an excellent evening. We’d chatted, wound down, and had all retired to our respective boudoirs.

I was awoken to a distant chirping.

The chirping approached quickly, gaining volume and intensity, until the fire alarms in my room ignited into sound and light. Groggily, I threw on clothes and grabbed my wallet and room key before heading toward the stairway. Meeting Daniel and Erin on the way, we quickly learned through the grapevine that someone had lit something on fire in their room… but no one really knew any other details.

An hour, and a few fire trucks, later… we were back in bed. Fun times, but nothing too significant aside.

It made for some good groggy morning conversation at the diner the next day, though. I’ll tell you what.