My Maine Adventure

Last week I went to Maine on a much needed vacation with my brother.  We went white water rafting and climbed Mt. Katahdin.  We were supposed to skydive, but the weather just wouldn't cooperate.

My brother and I  took the seats up front

This is us surfing.  Basically it is sitting at the bottom of some falls and trying not to drown.

Yes, we are still on the boat!

these totems were all over Millinocket

not whitewater rafting, it is roaring brook a bit  above normal levels.

We did make it to the top and it only took about 5 hrs of an 11hr day on the trail.  

My Brother looking over the ledge at the top.  Would have been really scary  if  it was clear.  

The summit was cloudy so no real view from there, but the top of the saddle trail offered a majestic view.

Landscape version.  These get much bigger.

As the brook was above level so a rock hop crossing became a take your shoes off and ford  crossing.  This felt great on our way down as the water was Ice Cold and refreshing on tired and sore feet.

We had a pretty good trip.  It rained on us about the whole time.  We had fairly clear weather on the day of the hike, but it rained on us our last three miles.  I don't know if it is apparent from the pics but it was raining on us during the rafting trip, hence wet suits in June.  At one point it was raining so hard that I thought about jumping in the river to dry off.  

If you plan on hiking Katahdin, know that it is harder than you expect it to be.  It was really challenging.  Part of that might be that I am not in the best shape of my life.  My brother is in way better shape and it was a little challenging for him as well.  We went up and down the Saddle Trail from Chimney Pond.  We had intended to do the Knife Edge but the Park Ranger had suggested a 1pm cutoff to start it.  We got to the summit but it was already 1:15 and we needed a break and were pretty spent.  A group came off the Knife Edge after being on it for 3 hrs due to conditions and we just were not going to risk it.  I came away from this trip with the knowledge that I need to be in way better shape.

NYC trip

Last weekend we went to NYC with my brother and his GF.  I have to start out with where we stayed.  It was the Residence Inn in E. Rutherford.   Completely awesome place.  We got a discount on a two room sweet so that it was about $160 a night.  The bus ride into the city was only 15-20 minutes.  The room had a full kitchen and living room.  They offered free breakfast, and I mean eggs, bacon, and hash browns.  They also had free dinner on at least one night that we were there.  They even accommodated my brothers dogs.  Great place, great location. 

Word of advice if it is your fist time visiting NYC; taper your days.  You are not going to be able to get as much done on day two as you did on day one.  Day 3 even less.  You have to walk to take it all in and you can walk like 10 miles a day, so you have to be prepared.  I saw a lot of parents that were smarter than us with kids on razor scooters.  Living in Boston, we are no strangers to walking, but were still able to wear our selves out.  Flip flops are a serious no-no. 

Food-  We ate at the Shang Hai Deluxe and the food was okay but the service was horrible.  Other people seemed to be getting okay service so there may have been something wrong with us.  Like that it was white guys with Asian girls or something.  Needless to say, I won't be recommending this place at all. 
One the flip side Kum Gang San on 32nd street in Korea Town was awesome.  Great atmosphere and authentic food.  Prices are a little high, but you don't go to NY to save money.
Finally we come to Shake Shack.  Recommended by a fellow blogger, it was a good burger and great shake.  It was so packed in there and we had to fight for seats.  My family of four got out of there for about $40 but we only got two shakes and two fries.  You do the math.  We did stop in for lunch at Piccaso's Pizza.  It was okay, but just pizza really.  Lots of places better in Boston. 

We didn't do any shows or tours this trip as we were really just feeling out the city.  The on and off bus tours look to be a pretty good deal.  The lego store and Toys R Us are both pretty awesome and are highly suggested.  We went to ground zero and saw the progress on the new building.  It is going to be huge.  We did 5th avenue and Wall St.  We took the Staten Island Ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty. 

On the night of the 4th we went to the New Jersey State Fair.  Good times were had by all and we enjoyed the Kachunga alligator show. 

Visit to Salem, MA

Sorry, I have been away from the computer for a while and then trying to get caught up on things. 

This Saturday we went to Salem, MA to check out some haunted happenings.  The drive from from our house is about 20 miles so you know that it took about 2hrs to get there.  I think MA purposely makes local roads suck so that you have to take the turnpike.  Well, I refuse, my tax money already goes to pay for road maintenance, why should I be taxed twice. 

So we get there and have to figure out where things are and which witch museum to go to.  Our first stop was the Samantha statue.   Then we checked out the Witch’s Dungeon as it was supposed to be a better production. 

While in line, someone recommended the Witch’s Cottage as being really good.  We checked that one out as well.  Both were educational and you could tell that the people knew a lot about the local lore and were just itching to answer questions.   The Dungeon was only about the Salem Witch Trials and the Cottage was about the local lore and haunts.  The cottage is actually a play house and the production was really good.  I would say that it was a better value. 

The Salem Halloween experience is unique and there are lots of people in costume and crazy things going on.  It is tourist trappy but that is a lot of fun sometimes.  I would recommend checking it out. 

An Early Vacation

10 We Live

I wake up late this morning.  I am off tomorrow.  I call in for a long
weekend.  I try several different people.  Looks like they all called
in as well.  Maybe they should have just given us both days off.

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