"Babymoon" Part 2

SATURDAY 5/24:

We awake in Montpelier, VT and head into town for the farmer's market to check out what the locals are up to on a saturday morning. To our surprise we saw a nice combination of average americans, kids, dogs and hippies. Everyone moved around the small alley/parking lot sampling food, greeting dogs and listening to a guitar player/singer. Of course we had to try the spicy Indian kebabs and hippy tent featuring Goo Balls and no-bake raspberry pie. Interesting and pretty filling to our surprise! Ok, enough of that for now...

Off to Mt Washington, New Hampshire!
But first, how about a stop at the Cabot Creamery to see how cheese is made and of course sample all of their cheeses. (You would think we were on a culinary tour!) http://www.cabotcheese.com/
Below you can see the long troughs used to drain/separate the whey from the curds.
This is also where the workers add the salt by hand.


The molds that they use to make cheese wheels are in the front of the picture, behind is a huge block of cheese that is being vacuum packed and getting ready for the aging process.

A Crown product (with Francis Mfg parts) moving cheese to be aged in a warehouse.
A view of the scenary along the way. Beautiful...

and not so much.

The drive from Cabot, VT to Mt Washington, NH proved to be a little bit longer than we originally thought, though it was a pleasant 2.5 hour drive. The weather had been 65 and sunny since we began our journey on Friday monrning. In the evenings it was about 45-50 degrees or so. So with the sun in our eyes and nothing but luscious green fields/trees we came to the conclusion that:
1. without a Garmin GPS system we may not have found our way on the backroads (Thanks Dave!) and 2. the happiest cows are in Vermont!

Beside the point... if you look at the link for the Google map of our journey (previous blog entry) you can see the route followed. After some bad advice from the lady at Cabot, we went south instead of going north and had to backtrack down our path. But eventually we made it to the Mt Washington Auto Toll road. http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/

So for $27 we received a terrifying drive up the mountain, a CD that told us the history of the mountain and of course the "This Car Climbed Mt Washington" bumper sticker. At the bottom of the mountain the temp was 65degrees and the sign showed that at the top it was 28degrees.

The ride up the mountain...

(no offense, but Joe I don't know if you could make it on this drive, love ya.)

freezing at the top...50mph winds and 28degree temp = 10degrees with the windchill...brrrrrr.

Walkway to the tippy top.

Mark at 6,288 ft.
Marie with the park sign and the cog train that you can also take to the top.

The trail that leads to the top, part of the Appalachian Trail.

The house at the top that is chained down so it doesn't blow away.

Now back down...
the scary drive...


and the stupendous driver...
After the descent and a 30 min drive we made it to our next destination - North Conway, NH.
Here is our B & B, The Merrill Farm Resort.
We checked in and went into town to find something to eat. The choice for the evening...Flatbread Pizza Co (A fabulous chain of restaurants in the Northeast. http://www.flatbreadcompany.com/2007Home.htm)

They use all organic ingredients and free range meats, and they cook the pizzas

in a wood fire oven.

That is it for Saturday's adventure. We will post more later.

Map of where we were

Here is a map that shows the route that we took on our little journey.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=43.687736,-70.999146&spn=1.779535,5.119629&z=8&msid=103414031369476849621.00044ec652c3eb5df1e18

"Babymoon" to New England

THURSDAY 5/22:

As a last effort to get out of dodge before junior arrives, Mark and I took off for Memorial Day weekend and went out to New England for a few days. We flew into Manchester, NH on Thursday evening and stayed overnight in Manchester. Friday we woke early and went to a famous diner that (for all you Food Network fans) was featured on "Diners,Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri. The Red Arrow Diner is a teeny place that has many regulars, not a lot of seats, frequented by Adam Sandler and makes their own Twinkies called "Dinah Fingers". Of course we tried one and they were better than Twinkies!

FRIDAY 5/23:
We left Manchester and headed Northwest towards Montpelier, VT. Part highway and part backroad driving allowed us to see quite a bit of Vermont backcountry. It was so beautiful and green, but there were definitely some run down homes that had been severely weathered by the cold, bitter winters. My mom turned us on to a company called the Bowl Mill and since it was kind of on our way we decided to make a stop there as well...Granville,VT here we come. http://bowlmill.com/ After talking to an older gentleman, he showed us how they make the bowls and explained that they have been making them that way for over 150 years. Pretty incredible. We packed the bowls up and got on the road for a much anticipated icy treat!

Another 45 mins on the road lead us to Waterbury, VT where we found the headquarters of Ben and Jerry's ice cream! This pregnant woman's dream! And we were just in time for the next tour of the factory. If you are ever up in the area definitely go for a visit! It is very kid oriented, quick and delicious. We were able to taste Cinnamon Bun, good but only a small dose please! After a stop at the Flavor graveyard (where the flavors that have been discontinued are buried) we got some ice cream for the road and headed to Montpelier,VT.

We checked into the hotel and headed into town to see what the capitol had to offer us. A great recommendation for dinner allowed us to eat a fabulous meal made by culinary students at the NECI Main Street Grill. http://www.necidining.com/main-street-grill Those kids can cook! First time we had ever had Calamari Buffalo style, delicious! And a virgin mojito can be very delicious!! Maybe even my drink for the summer!

Stay tuned for the rest of the vacation pics and updates. Just a small time out for now. Hope you all had a great Memorial day weekend!

Pregnancy Update!

I am sorry that I haven't posted much to date about my pregnancy. There isn't too much to discuss. I am now 26.5 weeks into the pregnancy and still no morning sickness. I have been feeling great! I am still giving massages and also have continued taking my pilates class(which I love). The baby has been kicking quite a bit which is crazy and awesome at the same time! Mom was able to come to my 25 week checkup with me, which was great. We heard the heartbeat and it was around 155 bpm. My belly button hasn't popped out yet, but it isn't too far off at this point. After questions about how big the belly is...I have attached some pics so you all can see! Enjoy! And for all of those who do not know...we will not be finding out the sex of the baby. We look forward to our big surprise in a few short months! Look for more updates soon!

While you were out!

While Mark was gone on a golf trip to Tennessee, the "While you were out" crew came in and did an overhaul of the guest bathroom. My parents and I managed to keep it a secret for over a month that we were going to remodel the bathroom and surprise Mark when he got back on Sunday night. Mom and Dad (the best and hardest workers I have ever known) came down to Troy on Thursday night. I began pulling tile off of the bathroom walls on Thursday after Mark left for work. It helped that all of the new items were purchased and in a holding area (many thanks to Dave and Clarice for letting me use their garage)until Friday. To my dad's dismay, we didn't begin actually working until Friday morning. The job consisted of painting (not by me), new floor tile, new vanity, new toilet, new medicine cabinet, new trim, and of course touchups! Unbelievably, we got it all done by Saturday night with time left over to celebrate at La Fiesta with a margarita! Ok, of course I had to have a daquiri sans alcohol, still delicious. Mark and I cannot express how thankful we are for all the work that my parents put in to our bathroom. By the time it was all said and done, the number of times we went up and down the stairs in the house would be equivalent to climbing up Mt Everest (or close). Oh wait, on Sunday there was still time for the crazy workers (Mom and Dad) to fix the kitchen faucet, put up a new towel rod, mow the grass and of course cut down a dead tree in the front yard! Could we cram anything else into one weekend?!?! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad! You are the best!

Today is Nia's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nia! Nia is 2 yrs old today, but it doesn't really show. Still a puppy at heart. Have a great day!

Happy 29th Birthday, Mark!!

I would like to say a happy birthday to my husband, Mark. His birthday was on March 30th, I am just a little slow on the posting. We went bowling at the fabulous and always good people watching Sherwood Lanes in Troy, OH. And then we finished up the evening at Monkey's, a newer bar in Troy. Boy are there some interesting folks there. I have never seen so many tatoos and piercings at one bar! And it was the first time that I saw a line dance performed for rap songs...didn't know that was possible...interesting to say the least. Plus the music was so loud we could barely even talk to each other! How old do I sound! The boys enjoyed the darts and beers as big as your head for $3!
Happy Birthday Mark!