Back to the Rack...

Okay, where to start.

No matter how extensive a list you think you've made when you go camping, you always forget something. Or at least, think of something you'd wished you'd brought. For instance, a wine bottle opener. It certainly wasn't on our list, but after buying a couple of wines from North River Winery up in Vermont, you realize it's going to have to wait until you get home. We got one bottle of Vermont Harvest (apple with maple syrup and spices) and one bottle of Rhubarb.

Other fun places to go are Ben & Jerry's headquarters in Waterbury, and Cabot cheese headquarters in Cabot, VT. Obviously they're just tourist traps, but fun enough that they take you through their factories. Both places feature short 10-minute intro videos telling "their story". The B & J's one is funnier because they've been bought out by Unilever, so the founders are "off doing their own thing" at this point. My highlight was seeing the people on the floor watching the tour go buy upstairs, looking out windows at them. I made eye contact with a relatively pretty woman about 30 years old, and flashed her. She laughed down on the floor, and I could see her telling her co-worker...but no flashback, unfortunately (which my wife said would have been funny!). The Cabot factory tour is on the same floor. The guy closest to the window had lots of tattoos, including "KILL" on his knuckles. Erika *dared* me to flash him, but I'm not freakin' crazy. Their store had tons of good cheeses, and the pre-requisite maple syrup. It's a law that every business in Vermont must sell maple syrup, I believe. Actually, we found some there that were infused with other flavors....Erika got vanilla chai maple syrup, and I got habañero maple syrup. Can't wait to try those.

Let's see, what else. The alpine slide at Pico isn't open yet until June 29. That sucked, because alpine slides are awesome. The campsites were all good -- Emerald Lake, Silver Lake, New Discovery, and Thetford Hill. I actually did my student teaching at Thetford Academy fifteen years ago. That place was too small, though, because we couldn't get a campsite away from other people. At New Discovery, we might have been the ONLY ones there Monday night. We rented the first six episodes of The Office. The original British version. Holy bleep, that show is hysterical. And it's funny, because I really like the American version, so we were trying to compare/contrast the shows. Even if it IS 2 versions of the same thing, they're both worthy. Like, you kinda wish the two shows could somehow co-exist in a crossover "parallel universe" thing -- like what if Dwight and Gareth were switched, or something?

Thetford's so close to Dartmouth that we stopped by the campus to sorta point out some stuff to Erika about my school, and have dinner. Of course, her school just had a mass-killing a few weeks ago, so a trip with her to Va. Tech. might only be kinda depressing.

Anyways, we had an appointment at her accountant's yesterday in Arlington, MA. Left at 4:10 to get back for a softball 6:30 game in Oxford. Got there just in time, a testament to the lack of speed traps along routes MA-2, I-95, I-90, and I-84. Went 4-for-5. Just missed a spectacular Willie-Mays catch in the first inning, and then suffered through a 10-inning nailbiter. We blew a 9-3 lead in the 6th. It stayed 9-9 through the 7th, 8th, and 9th (even though they left the bases loaded with none out), into the 10th, before the outfielder next to me let a single go through his legs and the guy at first raced home with the winning run as I tried backing it up.

As for now....catching up at work. I should be able to comment on everyone else's blogs tomorrow, for anyone concerned about my absence.