Trip to Vermont

I went snowboarding this weekend in Vermont with my brother David and friends Barry and Todd. We all piled into my Volvo station wagon Saturday morning and all I can say is thank goodness for the Thule box on the roof. We were able to get all our boards, skis, and some of our gear up there, leaving plenty of room for four grown men to ride in relative comfort. We went to Jay Peak which, if you've never been, is well worth the trip.

Some observations from the weekend (in no particular order):

• One can never have enough Fritos on a long road trip.
• Never underestimate the importance of Foosball.
• Men, left to their own devices, are usually up to no good. Harmless, but still...
• Ice fishing is alive and well in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (especially on Lake Seymour).
• Despite conventional wisdom, it's still possible to enjoy a ski mountain without keeping in constant contact with everyone in your party via remote radios.
• Driving in a snowstorm is inherently more dangerous if you're in an SUV with NY plates.
• Given enough alcohol and proper outside temperatures it's possible to move a Foosball table over 100 yards, in one foot of snow, and into a house without breaking a sweat.
• Liquids with names like Hot Damn and Barenjaeger are better left alone.
• When a driver brings up the topic of "chine walking" during a road trip over snowy roads it doesn't instill confidence in his passengers.
• The current incarnation of NASCAR is offensive to old school NASCAR fans.
• Watching the 4th quarter of a classic Celtics/Sixers playoff game (#7 of the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals) from the comfort of one's couch is a great way to wind down after a long drive.

That's it for now. I'll post more as they bubble to the surface. Photos to follow.

Road Rally Revisited

Well, we've rented the lakeside cottage for the week of August 27th - September 3rd, so it's official! The 2005 Pond Party/Road Rally will commence on the morning of August 26th (location tbd) and run straight through the weekend into the next week. For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition, I'll post some photos to give you the flavor of the weekend. For those of you who have never stayed through the weekend into Monday, consider it this year. Sunday night is especially peaceful.

I've been watching the latest installment of The Amazing Race and have been thinking of how I can implement some of their elements in the 2005 version of our "amazing race." It really annoys me when all the teams hit an unrealistic "hours of operation" that dissolves any lead a team may have had, so we won't have that in there. But I did like the episode when they had to eat 60 ounces of very spicy soup! Stay tuned.

Ninety Birthdays

We spent last weekend in Stowe, VT with extended family celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday. It was nice to see cousins, 2nd cousins, etc. I hadn't seen for a while. It was also a bit strange. I was so close to some of them growing up and now we have very different lives, locations, etc. Despite all the advances in technology and the ability to communicate over long distances, there's still no substitute for good old face-to-face communication. It was nice to re-connect and I hope it helps us all renew our commitment to stay in touch. Maybe this blog will help?

With help from my mom and aunt, I scanned a bunch of old photos of my grandmother and our extended family and put them together in a slide show for the party. I used my iPod Photo to drive the slideshow and it worked incredibly well! There were 162 photos in the collection and I had them scrolling through one each 20 seconds. The coolest part of the iPod was that I was able to combine the photos with a playlist from my music library I created the night before. We listened to Billie Holiday during the really old photos, early Beatles in the sixties and some grooving disco during the 70's shots. Click on any of the photos or the Flickr link to see/download the photos. Feel free to add comments, tags, etc.

Road Rally/Pond Party 2005

We're looking at dates for the summer gathering in Island Pond... right now we're floating August 26-28, 2005. What do you think?