Having Furniture is Overrated

With ten days to go before Billy starts school, we are finally getting back on the road tomorrow. Let me clarify that this is not because our furniture arrived. Because it hasn't. The moving company has informed us that they "have no idea" when our furniture will be here. Fantastic!

Coordinating with the second moving company to get the furniture from Indianapolis to Denver has now become even more of a nightmare. We've got to find a place to live, so we're leaving the furniture in Billy's dad's capable hands. Hopefully it won't be too much of a hassle for him. Moving is an adventure! At least everything fit in the car!

Regardless of the hot mess that is our moving experience, we've had a lot of fun enjoying Indy. Billy had some time to play tennis with Mia during the weekend (we got here last Thursday). After Mia wore Billy out, they picked me up so we could go downtown. Mia came up with the idea to climb to the top of the Soldiers & Sailors memorial, which is approximately 300 stairs.

 

View of Memorial Circle from the top!

Afterwards, we stumbled upon the most excellent FroYo place on the planet, Pearings. It was so amazing I may never be satisfied by another FroYo experience ever. We continued on to the Arts Garden, which is a big glass overpass (not really the right word, it's very pretty!) over Washington Street that's inside the Circle Center mall. It doesn't have a ton of arts or garden, but it was still really pretty! It obviously hosts some sort of live music, since there was a stage and tons of lights.

We walked around the mall for a while, stopping into the toy store to goof off for a while. Mia and I found these awesome mustaches:

Sunday night we went out for dinner and drinks with Chris and Emily (we missed you, Atman!) which was a blast. We always have a good time with them. They're looking for a house and talking about school districts for future kids, which was so exciting!

End of the night selfie

By the end of this week, we were starting to freak out a little bit about the furniture. Fortunately, we could push back the pick-up date with the second set of movers, and eventually we had stressed ourselves out enough that we gave up and went wine tasting. Billy planned an awesome date night for us at the Easley Winery, followed by dinner downtown and catching the Indians minor league baseball game! We met up with Billy's dad at the game and we all had a great time!

Billy diligently rated all of our wines

We decided to go with a bottle of the state grape of Indiana-the Tramainette!

 

We also got to watch Mia's tennis match yesterday, which I'm so glad we were here for! It's been so much fun getting to know her better and spend more time with her. I wanted our furniture to get here already, but I was more happy that we got to spend extra time with Mia and also got to see her play! Unfortunately I'm an idiot and didn't take any pictures. FAIL.

Now, it's time to pack up again and hit the road to Denver! Don't worry, we have an aero-bed!

On the road again...

After a brief 14 hour day of driving, we have arrived in Indianapolis-our first stop on our route west.

We spent the morning jamming everything we own into Billy's car (and by that I mean I brought everything to the car and watched Billy strategically pack). After sneaking in a few more pairs of shoes (ok that was just me) and giving my parents and the dogs LOTS of hugs, we were off to Indy.

We stopped at my favorite Sheetz in Morgantown for gas on our way up, and lo and behold, we saw the Google Streeview car! Unfortunately, we won't be appearing on Google Streetview in Morgantown anytime soon since it was just stopped to get gas. There's always something interesting in Morgantown!

We stopped for dinner in Columbus at my cousin Karen and her boyfriend Jason's house, which was a welcome break after driving all day and suffering through lunch at McDonald's. We have officially visited the entire Lewis family (Karen is Sarah's sister/Aunt Sue and Uncle Randy's daughter), which has been really fun! 

Karen and Jason have a great apartment and we had a blast swapping funny stories and catching up. I almost snorted ice cream out of my nose at one point we were laughing so hard. They are both architects, so their apartment was expertly put together and we also really enjoyed getting to see their new office project that Jason has been working diligently on! He had a photo montage of what the building looked like originally, all the improvement they've been doing on it, as well as drawings for what they plan to do. They're both really talented, so it's cool to get to see what their next project is!

Jamie gets a cameo. Gus the cat not pictured.

 After dinner, we pressed onward to Indianapolis, finally pulling in at around midnight. Billy drove the entire way (he's super-human when it comes to driving) and was exhausted by the time we got in. Since it was so late, we'd have to wait until the morning to see his dad and step-mom (and until the afternoon to see Mia), so we quietly dragged our stuff upstairs and went straight to bed.

Now, we're waiting in Indy for Billy's furniture to (hopefully) arrive! The last time we talked to the moving company, they informed us "there's no guarantees in moving." Wee!

Until then, we started off our time here with a rousing slam dunk contest. Videos for your entertainment:

The Big Move West...finally revealed! We're going to Denver!!

That's right, we're headed to Denver next! Not on vacation, not for a horse show, but to actually settle in one spot for a while! 

Remember when Billy went to that Tech Stars conference? He met the co-founder of Galvanize, a company that serves as an umbrella organization for a bunch of start-up companies in Denver. One of these start-ups is called gSchool. gSchool is a coding (as in computer programming, website building) school that was created to provide students with a high-caliber, immersive education in coding that spans 6 months.

If you're wondering, "Why coding school?", the answer is simple. The number one frustration Billy and Tony have had while working on Military Traveler, especially with the recent website launch, is knowing nothing about coding. Having not only a basic knowledge, but an in-depth knowledge with great training, will make their daily lives MUCH easier. I'm really excited for Billy and he is too. It's an amazing opportunity, plus it's in a really cool city!

We're really looking forward to getting to Denver...emphasis on being excited to actually be there. Right now, we're attempting to coordinate our cross-country move, but all of Billy's furniture from his apartment in DC is tied up in military storage. I'd always heard horror stories involving depending on the goverment to move you, but now I'm living it. It's really not that bad, but it is a logistical nightmare since the stuff is en route to Indianapolis and can't be changed. So, we have to wait in Indy to see when it arrives (sometime between now and the 28th of August) and gSchool starts September 9th! Yikes. Not very much time, but we'll figure it out...we always do :)

Plus, if we can live in a hotel room together for five weeks without killing each other, I think we can get through anything!

"Horses Haunt My Life" ...and other signs that Billy is getting sick of being at the horse show

Billy has dutifully followed me to Vermont and we had a great time, but I could tell that being completely immersed in horse show life was beginning to wear on him when he uttered the phrase that spawned the title of this blog. It was towards the end of our time in Vermont, and as we pulled into the hotel parking lot after a long day at the show (Billy came to work with me sometimes to get out of the hotel room), we were greeted by a massive horse trailer.

"Horses haunt my life," Billy groaned. At this point, I understood. As much as I love have an unhealthy obsession with horses, I know he can only handle so much horse stuff. The hotel room was littered with horse magazines I'd brought back from work. A dry erase board full of horse show "to do" lists for work was in front of our (only) window. He went to the show with me to get out of the hotel room, but was then completely immersed in the horse show for the entire day, only to return to a hotel full of more horse people! Oh, and then there's me blabbering on about horse things all day to top it off. It's enough to make anyone crazy!

Needless to say, it was exciting to get rolling on our trip home. I have family in New England, so we decided to take a few side trips to get in some family time (especially before our Big Move...more details on that next blog!). Our first stop was Boston. My cousin and her family live south of the city in Norwood and our friends Pat and Katie from DC also conveniently just moved to Cambridge!

We left Vermont Monday morning and set out for Massachusetts. The drive was remote, but beautiful, and we were excited to see Pat and Katie. Pat and Billy worked at the Pentagon together and he and Katie had just gotten back from a month long trip to Europe to celebrate Pat getting out of the Navy, so it was perfect timing to visit them and see their new place in Boston. 

They have a GORGEOUS house in Cambridge and gave us a great walking tour of Boston. We walked around the Public Garden, Beacon Hill, Newbury Street (where all the shopping is), and the Commons. We also saw plenty of the city as we drove around, including Harvard and Harvard Square (very cool neighborhood!). It was great to catch up with them and hear about their European adventures, plus Billy and I totally fell in love with Boston.

All four of us at the Garden (Pat is growing a "I just got out of the Navy beard')

 We said goodbye to Pat and Katie and set out for Norwood around dinner time. The rush hour traffic was not as bad as I feared, but we did have a slow drive around the city! My cousin, Sarah, and her husband, Bob, met and got married in Boston and now have an adorable 4 year old, Jack! We saw them last year on our family vacation, but it had been a long time and I was thrilled to get to see them again!

Billy and I were really looking forward to not being in a hotel room and having a normal meal at home, and of course Bob and Sarah did not disappoint. They are the best hosts!! Dinner was awesome and Sarah made a bunch of yummy desserts that we stuffed ourselves with! Jack also gave us a fantastic rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It." He is a riot and it was so much fun playing with him and getting to spend time with everyone.

Unfortunately, Bob had to go to work Tuesday but Sarah had the day off. Billy actually accompanied Sarah to 5:45 am spin class, which I will forever be impressed by! Sarah and Bob both get to the gym about 5 times a week, even with a toddler! They have quite a system worked out and I definitely admire their commitment (to being good parents too, not just working out haha!). 

Sarah, Billy, Jack, and I all piled in the car to go to Gillette Stadium for lunch, where there is also a huge shopping center called Patriot Place. It was very cool to see the stadium, plus I've never seen one with so much development around it! There's a ton of shopping and restaurants in this huge complex next to the stadium, including Toby Keith's restaurant where we went to lunch-I highly recommend it! Especially their kid's meal corn dogs, I may have stolen some of Jack's...

When we got back, Billy was wiped out from spinning, so he took a nap while I played Play-Doh with Jack. The smell of Play-Doh is intoxicating and brought back lots of childhood memories, although as Sarah pointed out, I realize now why our parents never wanted to bring it out--it gets EVERYWHERE.

Jack was extremely camera shy, but I did manage to sneak this one of him sucking down some applesauce in the car on the way to lunch. He's getting so big!! 

 
We tore ourselves away from Boston later that afternoon to get on the way to Newtown, Connecticut, where my Aunt Sue and Uncle Randy live. Since we had just seen them in Manchester a few weeks ago, it was fun to be able to have another visit! There wasn't too much catching up to do so it was nice to just enjoy hanging out with family. We had a blast, especially the next morning when they took us out on their usual morning walk around one of the parks nearby. It was perfect weather and great to get out, but I was especially happy to see my Uncle Randy power walking along! He recently got his second knee replacement, and has been in so much pain for so many years that it was great to finally see him completely comfortable and out and about!

We got back from our walk Wednesday morning to finish the last leg of our trip home. Since we were out of fun places to stop, we powered through the Jersey turnpike, 95, and DC traffic to finally get back to Ogden Road! 

Now we're busy getting ready for our next adventure....out west! I've gone on long enough so I'll save the details for tomorrow :)
 

Tubing, the Vermont Country Store, and to the Top of Mt. Equinox

Fridays are usually a short day for me, which makes up for the fact that the rest of the world is gearing up for the weekend and I've got two more long days ahead of me. Last Friday, I finished up at work earlier than usual and the weather was perfect, so we decided to make the most of the afternoon and go tubing on the Battenkill River.

From anyone reading this from home, the Battenkill is MUCH more low-key than the Potomac River, so don't worry haha! I got a "buy one get one free
coupon" (turns out you can get something good from Citi Easy Deals!) so for $22 we were off on our afternoon of lazy river tubing.

Besides being a nice day to get outdoors, Billy and I had both been working a ton and were getting a little tightly wound (Can you blame us? We've been living out of a hotel room for five weeks!). We both got hit with a bunch of work when we came back from Burlington, so we were both in dire need of an afternoon to "unplug." 

I only brought my phone along as a camera (you don't get cell service out there!), so it was nice to have a whole afternoon enjoying the sunshine and not worrying about what was in our email inbox.

 It turned out to be especially good that we took an afternoon off, because we both ended up working through our "days off". We did take a break to go to the Vermont Country Store, which has every old-school game/toy you could think of (seriously...you can buy an Etch-a-Sketch there!!).  We were told we couldn't leave Vermont without going there by some friends of mine that used to ride at the Horse Center-The Liebermans.

Which reminds me, I can't believe I skimmed over our dinner with Ali and Melissa! Melissa (mama Lieberman) and Ali (one of her three daughters) were in town for the horse show. I ran into them in Florida too and it's been so great to see them whenever I'm in an unfamiliar place. I love seeing friendly faces from home, even though they moved to Chicago several years ago, and the Liebermans are some of the most genuinely nice people in the world. We had a great dinner with them and I was really glad they got to meet Billy. Since they've been coming to Vermont for a while now, they gave us lots of good tips on where to go, including the Vermont Country Store!

It's hard to capture the Vermont Country Store in pictures, but one of the highlights was this sweatshirt:

At this point in our trip, we were starting to sympathize with this shirt. We have loved the vacationing aspect of Vermont, but being in such a rural (although beautiful) area was starting to wear on us. Being more than 20 minutes away from a Target is just not something I can deal with long-term.

We also snuck away for a few hours on Tuesday to go up to the top of Mt. Equinox, which has an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet! We drove up to the top and then hiked around for about an hour. The trees were mostly evergreens, so the entire forest smelled like Christmas trees. The most remarkable thing, though, was how QUIET it was. I have never been somewhere that is so tranquil.

We also got an awesome view of the entire town of Manchester:

Getting out in the fresh air was good for us. It's nice to get out of our box (the hotel room) when we can! We both had a lot going on, so it was another chance to recharge and take a break from being slaves to our laptops.

We're on our last weekend here, now. The end of every horse show is always bittersweet for me. The shows are really hard work, so I'm happy I'll be getting a break, but they're also so much fun! If I'm not at a show, I'm just working from home, so it's nice to be surrounded by so many interesting people (good and bad haha). Vermont has been a great opportunity for me and I've had a blast...but I sure am excited to be going back to civilization!

Tour de Burlington: Our Biking Odyssey to the end of the Lake Champlain Causeway

Inspired by an article in the Washington Post, Billy and I decided to go for a scenic bike tour of Burlington/Lake Champlain. There's a great bike path that starts down town at Local Motion, a bike rental place, that continues all the way out to the end of the causeway across Lake Champlain.

Despite my bike riding experience being limited to riding around the neighborhood as a child, I was 100% certain this would be a fabulous idea. And it was. Until we hit the end of the causeway and I realized I had to bike ten miles back. Yes, that's correct, I elected to go on a 20 mile bike ride. Keep in mind I haven't been riding and have barely been running while in Vermont, so it's safe to say I'm not at my peak performance level.

I was riding high the entire way out, thinking to myself I was in such great shape and mentally patting myself on the back for being such a pro biker. This all changed once we hit the causeway. After getting all the way out there, I wasn't about to turn around before actually reaching the designated end point, so I churned my way out to the end. What I hadn't thought about was the fact that I had to immediately do that all over again plus the rest of the bike home. 

As we turned around, naturally the wind kicked up. At this point, my quads were on fire and my rear end was begging for mercy from my not-so-padded seat. Not surprisingly, Billy was fairing much better than I was. I'm not sure how he manages to constantly stay in such fantastic shape, but I am very envious.

The trip back

 We then began the trek back to Local Motion but my body was not cooperating. Billy, the saint that he is, stopped with me a least five times before we even got off the causeway. This turtle pace continued with Billy shouting encouragement from behind me while I silently cursed myself for ever going on this bike ride.

As anyone who has ever spent any time with me can tell you, sometimes I can be a little bit stubborn. At one point, Billy started suggesting that we call it a day, he would keep going and get the car and then come and pick me up. I was having none of it, especially because I didn't want to have to blog about the time I went on a bike ride and quit 3/4 through. If I had suffered this much, I wanted to say I at least did the whole ride!

Many hours later, we finally made it back to Local Motion. I have never been happier to see a local bike store in my life. While I definitely suffered through the second half of the bike ride, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment when we got back that I had pushed through and done it! 

My butt was hurting and my legs were shot, but I staggered after Billy to the nearest ice cream stand for a famous Vermont maple creamee. This may sound disgusting, but it is actually the tastiest thing you may ever experience (if you're lucky enough to do so!). It's vanilla soft serve flavored (subtly!) with Vermont maple syrup. It's AMAZING.

Thank god we're back!!

We'd taken so long to get back thanks to my struggle that we were now running late for our dinner date with my aunt and uncle, who were vacationing in Manchester for the weekend. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat in Burlington and headed back south to meet up with them for dinner.

After showering, downing ibuprofen, and rubbing arthritis cream on my knees, we met my aunt and uncle at their gorgeous room at the Palmer House. I hadn't seen my Aunt Sue and Uncle Randy for almost a year, since our family vacation last August in Cape Cod. I try to catch up with them via email and Facebook, but it's so much better to be able to see them in person! They have been coming to Manchester for a long time and my uncle is a big history buff, so they had lots of cool stories to share with us and good advice on where else to go before we left.

We had a delicious dinner at the Barrows House in Dorset before heading up to the Equinox Resort for a nightcap. The Equinox has a fire pit/bar that you can sit around on a huge deck. It was a beautiful night and we really enjoyed getting some extra time with my aunt and uncle and enjoying the ambiance of the fire pit (and pretending we were guests of the Equinox!).

It was a great visit that ended too soon, but we'll be stopping by Connecticut on our way home from Vermont to see them again. We can't wait!

Birthday in Burlington

Thanks to the wacky schedule of working at a horse show, Billy's birthday fell on a weekend for us! The 29th of July (yes, for everyone who is friends with Billy on Facebook...his REAL birthday is NOT April Fool's Day!) fell on a Monday, which in horse show world is my Saturday, so we decided to take the "weekend" and spend it in Burlington, which is about two hours north of Manchester.

Our first stop was the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, about 20 minutes outside of Burlington. We were actually surprised that there is more to Waterbury than Ben & Jerry's. This was discovered after I realized that I was starving to death immediately upon arriving at the Ben & Jerry's factory. How unlike me!

Anyways, Billy worked his Yelp magic and found us a great sandwich place to go to, where I indulged on a bacon cheeseburger with fries. I was actually excited that my system was put into shock by this assault on my arteries because I've been trying really hard to eat less junk food. Obviously, it's working!

Now that we were properly satiated, we drove back to Ben & Jerry's to buy our tour tickets. We had already scoped out the novelty t-shirt situation online the night before and had settled on buying possibly the greatest shirts on earth. Without further ado, I give you the Moo Shirts:

If you're wondering what we're standing in front of, that would be a replica of the Moo Bus that matches our t-shirts. Ben & Jerry set out in the original Moo Bus across the country on a grassroots PR campaign for Ben & Jerry's. The biggest news of their trip was when the Moo Bus caught on fire in Cleveland and burned to the ground.

If you're also wondering whether Billy and I wore our matching Moo Shirts throughout the tour and our time at the Ben & Jerry's factory, the answer is yes. And yes, we did get a high five from our tour guide. And someone that passed by us exclaimed "What the hell?!"

We had some time to kill before our tour, so naturally the next stop was the free spin art station. Tragically, Billy had never made spin art as a child, so I was thrilled to be able to expose him to the fantastic arts and crafts experience that is spin art.

After completing our spin masterpieces, we strolled through the Flavor Graveyard, which is exactly what it sounds like. Not every flavor Ben & Jerry's comes up with is a success, so the Flavor Graveyard is a collection of flavors that were a bust. I was heartbroken that I missed the Creme Brulee flavor by only a year and Billy was also bereft over never experiencing Chocolate Cookie Dough Peanut Butter. It was mind boggling that neither of these flavors were universally popular.

We did actually go on the tour, where we got a peek at the factory floor and also a free sample of Triple Caramel Chunk. After further spiking our blood sugar by splitting some Phish Food post-tour, we set out for Burlington to continue the birthday celebrations!

Our first stop in Burlington was Lake Champlain. Actually, our first stop was the (very questionable looking) Burlington K-Mart when we realized we had stupidly forgotten our swimsuits. $30 later, Billy had two new swim trunks (it was buy one get one free!) and after another stop at TJ Maxx for me (everything left at K-Mart was size XL..shocker!), we were newly outfitted and ready for the lake!

Lake Champlain was stunning (see the new header photo of the blog, above). The lake was HUGE and completely surrounded by mountains. There were lots of sailboats anchored out on the lake and a great public beach to lay out on. We decided to check out the kayak rental place to attempt to burn off the Ben & Jerry's (and my cheeseburger...). The guy working there informed us they also rented paddle boards, which Billy and I have always wanted to try out. Since it was getting late in the day, we got a great deal on them and had a blast stand-up paddle boarding around the lake.

We followed our trusty kayak rental man's advice to stay close to the shoreline to see some great cliffs...I wish we could have taken our phones with us to take pictures! The trip back got a little bit tricky when we tried to cut across the inlet we were in because the wind really kicked up. I got semi-blown out to sea (well, the middle of the lake) but made it back thanks to Billy's guidance and a tremendous paddling effort. I now fully understand how Jennifer Aniston gets her rockin' beach bod from paddle boarding all the time.

Once we were back on dry land, the sun came out so we decided to lay out on the beach for a while and soak up the sun. I am forever attempting to even out my "rider's tan," which is going strong even though I haven't ridden since leaving for Vermont. My arms are very tan and my legs are very pale. Sigh.

Our final stop of the night was for Billy's birthday dinner at American Flatbread, which is basically fancy pizza. Since pizza is Billy's (okay and mine) favorite food group, it was perfect! 

The birthday boy and our pizza!

Great food, great drinks, and a great birthday with Billy! The next day was our bike odyssey out to the end of the bike causeway on Lake Champlain...that's a story in and of itself that I'll have to save for tomorrow! Spoiler alert: I bike more in four hours than I have in my entire life. Also, the most fantastic froyo experience in the world, aka the maple creamee.

Billy Goes to DC, Followed by Our First Foray into the Green Mountains

Billy went to DC to meet his business partner, Tony for the Tech Stars Patriot Boot Camp conference that took place over the long weekend. Tech Stars is a company that supports start-up companies in their endeavors, usually via fairly substantial investments and by fostering a "think tank" environment to help mentor entrepreneurs. They hosted Patriot Boot Camp as a condensed version of the mentorship experience and invited veteran/service member-owned businesses to attend. 

There was an application process, but naturally since Military Traveler is AWESOME they got in. Billy had an awesome time, did a lot of great networking and got to meet some very cool people. He also really enjoyed all of the speakers and overall just had a blast being in that environment with so many other creative people. Plus, he hadn't actually seen Tony in over a year, since he moved to DC and then Tony was in Afghanistan. They got some time to catch up, which I think Billy really enjoyed.

 If you're wondering about the "Base Directory" t-shirts, let me explain! Military Traveler recently launched the website version of the app, which is called www.basedirectory.com. The website is great (and so are the t-shirts-they are extremely comfy...), so tell everyone you know about it!

Billy came back with lots of stories and new contacts and was really encouraged by all the positive feedback they got from already established start-ups and well-known companies. I missed him a lot during the week, but I am so happy that he got this opportunity! It's led to another great opportunity this fall that will need a post all on it's own...

He also sent me lots of cute photos and videos of Hannah, which was great because I've been suffering from major dog withdrawal not having any canines of my own in Vermont!

Enough with the pictures...put down the phone and rub my belly

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I did nothing but watch Law and Order and eat Easy Mac while Billy was gone, so when he got back I was eager to get out and enjoy Vermont. We settled on the Lye Brook Falls hike (Billy naturally found this gem on Trip Advisor while I haplessly Googled). It was all up hill on the way out, which definitely kicked my butt. We had a great time just talking and catching up from the last week, though, and it was nice to actually get out and do some physical activity. Not to mention the forest was absolutely beautiful.

Even more spectacular was the reward at the end of our hike...the Lye Brook Falls! I'd never seen anything like it. It was awesome, and totally worth the butt burning few hours we'd spent climbing upwards. Full disclosure, I did not take this picture but instead Googled one since mine came out absolutely awful thanks to funny lighting.

As we are admiring the falls, it begins to POUR. Fortunately, we found a giant boulder to sit under but we didn't get to spend much time actually looking at the falls. We stayed pretty dry, though, which was good because it cooled off quite a bit after that and being wet would have been pretty miserable. I can say that for certain because we passed a pair of hikers on our way down that had gotten stuck in the rain and they looked like they were completely miserable.

While it was wetter than expected, we still had a great time and it was nice to be disconnected from work and just have some time to catch up with each other and talk about life. This was the first time we hadn't been around each other all day everyday for a few months, and the cell service in Vermont is horrible, so we were really happy to just be able to spend time together. On that note, it's also been great to figure out that we don't hate each other after spending all day everyday together for extended periods of time ;)

That's enough nauseating couples talk for now. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update...our trip to Burlington for Billy's birthday!!

Back by Popular Demand...Reporting from Vermont!

This blog came with much more responsibility than I was aware of...after completely neglecting it post-road trip, I began receiving several inquiries from our families as to what happened to Pictures with Hansel. The pressure has gradually been building from both sides, but the final straw was when my mom actually wrote on my Facebook wall to request the return of the blog. I didn't even know she knew how to do that on Facebook, so the least I can do is acquiesce to her request!

Anyways, we're about to leave Vermont. We've been staying here while I work at the Vermont Summer Festival, a six week long horse show in Manchester, VT. One of the best parts of Billy being able to work from anywhere is that he could come with me. He was gone for one week (for the Tech Starts Patriot Boot Camp conference...more on that later!) and I ended up going into work early and leaving late and watching an unhealthy amount of Law and Order episodes.

It was an easy drive up here, and Billy naturally found a scenic route to take that was a great alternative to the interstate! It was like being back in West Virginia...the mountains here are huge and the town of Manchester is nestled down in a valley with the mountains surrounding it. It makes for a gorgeous backdrop for the horse show:

 

And all of the mountains means a ton of outdoorsy adventures were waiting for us! We took the first week to settle in. This show was a lot more low-key and laid-back than the show in Florida, and everyone that works there was really welcoming and friendly! I've really enjoyed being able to be a little more creative with some human interest stories and also having more autonomy over the writing and coverage that I do. I have learned a ton being here and being able to write more. 

I feel like I have a much better feel for the riders/horses/big names on the circuit than I did when I arrived in Florida essentially clueless of the hunter show circuit world. I also got to try my hand at covering some grand prix classes (biggest jumps, pro riders, lots of prize money) and my first week at the show I got to interview Olympic gold medalist Peter Wylde!

Not to brag, but I also made it onto the Tredstep Ireland Facebook page...

 Anyways, enough about the show! Beyond exploring the outlets (of which there are many!) our first adventure was the weekly party put on by the horse show. The Bromley Ski Resort also has a summer "Adventure Park" that has a zipline, alpine slides, and a lot of other fun rides! They were all open for free (or heavily discounted) for the party and we got a yummy catered dinner...yay for free things from the show!

View down from the ski lift

 We took the ski lift to first try our hand at the alpine slides. We were enjoying the view (see above) until we realized we were being eaten alive by bugs. This was our first, but certainly not last, experience being attacked by the oddly ferocious bugs of Vermont.

Alpine slides!

The only way to recover from such an attack, naturally, was to enjoy a cold beer and get some courage to take on the zipline. We didn't realize how high it was until we spotted the GIGANTIC tower next to the alpine slide entrance, so we decided to psych ourselves up before making the next trip up the mountain. I'll let this photo montage do the talking:
 

Liquid courage!

Well this looks higher than I imagined it being...

Maybe this was not a great idea.

Fortunately, once you got to this point, there wasn't really any going back. Also keeping us there was the fact that a bunch of ditsy teenage girls were also scared but intent on going. I was not about to chicken out in front of them. Plus, they loaded you into these basket harness type things that had you smushed up against a gate that opened against your will. I imagine it's kind of what a racehorse feels like in a starting gate. They pop open and then you go hurtling down the mountain! It was great!

Post-zipline adrenaline rush

 As you can see from my face above (which is about on par with the face I made when I fed a giraffe...so obviously I'm ecstatic), the zipline turned out to be an awesome idea and another instance of me being happy I didn't chicken out.

Not that I have ever done a short post, but I'll stop here before this one gets out of control. There's plenty more to come, and I promise I'll actually keep up with it until we're all caught up. We've got an even bigger adventure to come after Vermont.... :)