1. “If it’s after 3am wearing anything more than a wife beater is being overdressed.” –Ben
Well, excuse me because I completely put on on airs at Fuel City at 3:30am.
We left on Friday evening after work, and drove straight through without stopping for 17+ hours. I’ve driven that long before so that wasn’t a problem, but I haven’t done it while going 48 hours without sleeping. We were a little punchdrunk by the end.
I mean I ate a breakfast biscuit from a gas station for heaven’s sake. Well, I thought it was a biscuit. It turned out to be a sandwich with pancakes as the bread. Oh, Pennsylvania – I think I love you. (Ben looked at my hotcake biscuit & said, “The Amish sure do make weird food.”)
2. “This bed is like the Sarlacc pit. I keep trying to get out of it but I can’t.”
For the week, we stayed at this amazing hotel with the most comfortable bed in the entire world. It’s a good thing for the hotel that mattresses are too large to slip under your shirt & out the door. It was like sleeping in a warm biscuit. Of course, it had a few other good points as well. Like an outdoor chess (or checkers) board:
A picturesque barn:
with great animals.They had these highland cows which in the winter get HUGE because of their fur.
They had two Llamas and one Alpaca. Here’s Ben with Whiskey the Llama.
These are goats not sheep! Angora goats that they let keep their horns because they curl back. (They usually burn off the horn buds when the goats are little because they stick straight out.)
They also have two miniature donkeys that they let roam free in the morning (although they keep their little leashes on).
They also had Axe Throwing each morning. Surprise, surprise – Ben took right to it!
3. “Just made reservations to go on a trail ride on horseback tomorrow afternoon. I hope Ben knows the theme to ‘The Man From Snowy River’ by heart as I expect that to be playing as I gallop through the woods.”
Well, Ben didn’t hum the theme for me but I survived horseback riding and that was good enough for me. Trail riding on a horse named Buddy is really the way to go. Saying, “Woah, buddy!” and “Hey! Easy Buddy!” is really second nature to me. With my lack of grace, wearing head gear should be second nature to me but it isn’t.
Here’s our trusty trail leader, Nicole.
4. In New Hampshire you don’t hike the trails – the trails hike you.
My favorite spot was the Flume Gorge. This is a natural gorge that extends 800 feet at the base of Mt Liberty. The walls of granite rise to a height of 90 feet and are only 12 feet apart in places. A 93 year old woman discovered this back in the 1800s while fishing. (I hope I’m able to go fishing by myself when I’m in my nineties.)
We also hiked around the top of Cannon Mountain. Ben’s shirt caused trouble again. We passed another lady on the trail who tripped and commented, “Sorry, I was too busy trying to figure out his shirt.”
5. There’s more to tell (bears!, trains!, a wolfman!) but I’m going to cut this entry off here for now to be continued next week. We have another 48 hours of sleep to skip and more weird Amish food to taste.