December 23rd 2012: Snowboarding at Waterville Valley

Today, my friends and I decided to use discount tickets to go snowboarding at Waterville Valley Ski Resort in the town of Waterville Valley, NH.

It was a long drive to there, but when we arrived there, my friend realized that he had lost his wallet, which had both his and his girlfriend's IDs, which were required for them to use the tickets. Here was a hard decision for me, as I had brought all my stuff and could snowboard here, while my friend had little choice but to drive all the way back home to find his wallet. Thankfully, another friend was coming in another car as well, so I decided to stay and go snowboarding.

Here are some pictures I took of the place before I went to rent my board. The views all around are beautiful to say the least.

After getting my board, I headed to the bunny slope to see how much I still remembered. I hated the J-line we had to use to get up the slope though, clearly not a good design, especially for snowboarders, who have to place their crotch on top of the bar, and then hold on for dear life as it slowly brings me up the mountain without slipping from my board.

In the end, I decided to head to the green slope, Valley Run, using a much better ski lift system to head up.

The view at the top was awesome as well.

Thankfully, I managed to find my friends in the end, and we had a fun time snowboarding for the rest of the day. I have come to the conclusion that snowboarding is definitely much more fun than skiing.

October 8th 2012: Ziplining in Lincoln, NH

It was a 2 hour drive from Lowell in Massachusetts to Lincoln, NH, where I actually was 2 days before, climbing up Mount Pemigewasset. As the White Mountains came up, I took several nice views of them from inside my car.

When I finally reached my destination at Alpine Adventures, I was running out of gas, and I still had some time, so I decided to fill up at a nearby gas station. Unfortunately, the filling was taking so long that I decided to walk around to take pictures of the mountains in the distance.

Finally, I decided it was taking too long, and ended after knowing I had more than enough to get home.

My friends were already waiting for me when I arrived. After registering with our Groupons, we waited a little for our time to come.

Area for the kids

When it came our turn to go, we were suited up in a harness and helmet, and brought to the mountains on a jeep.

Our jeep

There was a short stretch where we went off road, and the bumpy ride reminded me of my time driving a jeep during my time in the army, although this time I was the passenger feeling every single bump in the road. The driver did everything he could to make it so as well.

On the jeep going to the mountains

It was a short walk to our first zipline, which at first sight did not seem so scary, looking to hug closely to the ground from where I saw it while waiting for my turn to go. As it turned out, it led to a platform high up on a tree away from the hill we were on, so the adventure began here.

Me ziplining

Next I had to cross a suspension bridge, which I might not have been able to do looking at the the gaps in the bridge and its wobbliness.

Suspension Bridge

Log bridge

The lines became more and more challenging, with me having to run off for some of them, and the last one was a yoyo zipline where we keep going back and forth along the same line until we stop, to be helped down by a ladder. I did that by jumping backwards on my own accord instead of being pushed off by the guide.

Another of the lines high above the ground

The Yoyo zipline

The longest zipline

View of the mountain in the distance

My friends ziplining

After a fun experience ziplining on the Treetop Canopy Tour, which was over way too soon, we got back as the sun was beginning to set. We decided to head back to Lowell in Massachusetts for dinner, where I had a Groupon for dinner at Garcia Brogan's, a typical bar-restaurant serving Mexican food.

For the $40 I had to spend, we got the Carne Asada, an 8oz Skirt Steak with sweet plantains, mexican rice and pinto beans, which was cooked really well and tasty, the fish tacos, made with baked haddock, lettuce, pico de gallo, chipotle aioli drizzle and green onions, which were really fresh as well, and finally the chicken Fajitas, of which I only liked the chicken meat and not the peppers, onions and pico di gallo it came with.

Carne Asada

Chicken Fajita

Fish Tacos

Guacamole

The guacamole that came with the fajitas was interestingly laid out as well.

While we were eating, it turned out that it was trivia night as well, although I would not have fared very well at it as the questions were only about sports and entertainment.

Other than that, the food was not that amazing or special in my opinion, especially in a typical bar setting. I would say this place is alright I guess, but I've had better elsewhere.

October 6th 2012: Hiking at Mount Pemigewasset, Lincoln NH

 This morning, I had a meetup event to go hike up Mount Pemigewasset in Lincoln, NH.

I was to carpool with my friend from Worcester, so I drove to his place, passing by the Upper Room Family International Church at 75 Alvarado Avenue along the way.

After meeting my friend, we headed to the town of Lowell to pick up 2 other people before heading the rest of the way up to the Flume Gorge Visitor Center at the base of the mountain.

There were tons of people here today to see the fall foliage, which was ample here even in the parking area.

Fall Foliage

Flume Gorge Visitor Center

Inside the Visitor Center

At the Parking lot

 The path we took to go up the mountain is shown below in pink.

The ascent was pretty wooded and muddy, in light of the rain coming down on us. Thankfully I had my cap and coat on, so I did not feel much of it. A few of the people in the group got a little tired, so I offered to carry their bags for them as well. The extra weight did not stop me from reaching the top easily though. The views at the top at Indian Head were fantastic, however, even though the clouds blocked the views at times.

The walk down the mountain was much quicker, but a little more treacherous due to all the wetness.
Back at the trailhead, I took one more picture of the leaves blowing all around in the rain.

The day was not over for my group though. We decided to grab dinner back in Lowell, MA at the Red Rose Restaurant at 716 Middlesex Street, where I decided to get the Special Fried Rice with Beef Lok Lak on my friend's recommendation. And an excellent recommendation it was. The beef was crispy and tasty, definitely my first real taste of Cambodian food.

By now, I was so tired that I just slept all the way back to my car, and went home immediately from there. Another eventful Saturday for me, and the rain did not even ruin it at all.

September 22nd 2012: Biking on Block Island, RI

Today, I had a meetup event to go biking on Block Island, which is the town of New Shoreham in Rhode Island.

In order to get there, we had to take the Block Island Ferry, located at Point Judith in Narragansett RI. 

I arrived a little early, hoping that the current misty weather would end and not start raining, so I went around a bit on my bike after parking my car at one of the lots near the ferry area for $10. One interesting structure was the Fisherman's Memorial Monument, which apparently is supposed to have a steeple, but did not when I saw it. I climbed up the stairs to the top to take in the views from there.

St. Mary's Star of the Sea

Fisherman's Memorial Monument

A few of the people who were supposed to go on the event were already at the station when I arrived, so I decided to leave my bike with them to go and get breakfast at Bess Eaton nearby.

I decided to get the Garden Vegetable Egg White on Flatbread with bacon, which had spinach and basil mixed with egg white.

It was small, but not too bad.

I took back my bike and went cycling to the Salty Brine State Beach to take some pictures of Port Galilee.

Mouth to Port Galilee

Soon, it came time to leave, and I met up with everyone else to board the boat. While it was leaving the harbor, I took several pictures of the place we were leaving behind, including Port Judith Lighthouse. There were also people fishing at the entrance to the port.

Approaching the outlet

Port Judith Light in the distance

The views of Block Island as we approached were excellent as well, especially because the sun had come out.

As we approached the Block Island harbor, I took more pictures of buildings I could see from the boat.

National Hotel

Spring House Hotel

Harbor Church

Approaching Old Harbor

After we were done getting our bikes, we started off toward the Southeast Light, passing by several scenic areas along Spring Street.

Memorial, Spring Street and High Street

The Southeast Light is a pretty interesting structure. Even though it was open, there was a fee to go up, so I decided not to.

The views from this area are great as well.

We next headed to the Mohegan Bluffs area, where the walk down to the beach below was very steep, although the views here were simply awesome. The waves here were strong, and there were many piles of stones stacked up here as well. In the fun that we had here, including trying to escape the strong waves, which I failed to do so miserably, my biking helmet became part of the stone art here.

Down at the beach

Rocks Stacked on high

The Strong Waves

My wet pants

The cliffs above

My contribution to the art world

After lunch, we headed out toward the North Light in the northernmost part of the island, passing by a few places like Trims Pond and the Fred Benson Town Beach and even an old car show at Veterans Park on the way.

Block Island State Airport

Memorials, Legion Way and West Road

Old Car Show at Veteran's Park,
West Road near Legion Way

Trims Pond,
West Road near Beach Avenue

Fred Benson Town Beach,
~7 Corn Neck Road

At the northernmost edge of the island, we had to park our bikes to proceed toward the lighthouse. Pictures I took as I walked towards it follow.

I continued walking toward the northernmost point, taking more pictures of the lighthouse and of the beach in the Block Island National Wildlife Refuge where the waves met on both sides.

Northernmost point of Block Island

Heading back to the entrance

Finally, it was time to head back to catch the last ferry for the day. I do not know why, but when I started biking, my thighs immediately started cramping out. It also happened to 2 other friends of mine. I tried to continue cycling, but soon it became too much to bear. I had to stop at the side of the road while my friend help me to massage my legs. After eating some biscuits to get back some nutrition, amazingly my legs became good to go again. Back near the start, I took one more picture of cormorants resting on a rock in the harbor.

After arring, we still had some time, so we went to get ice cream from Old Harborview Takeout, where I got the bubblegum flavored Super Burst while my friend got the pistachio one.

After making a mess eating my melting ice cream, it was time to board the boat back to Point Judith. Back on the mainland, we decided to head to Buster Krab's nearby for a seafood dinner.

Apparently, it was their last weekend open, so they were out of a lot of stuff. Thankfully, I was still able to get my order of Rhode Island Clear Clam Chowder, which I never had before, and a lobster roll entitled "The World's Most Expensive Lobster Roll". It definitely was. But it was excellent as well, with the lobster meat being really fresh, and the roll being a French type of baguette completed the dish.

Restaurant Decor

Lobster Roll

Rhode Island Clear Clam Chowder

With that, we called it a day and went our separate ways back home. I'm glad that the weather turned out to be perfect for this island trip.