NYC for a Day

The last time I was in New York City was seven years ago in the fall of 2007 (before I started this blog!). Mom, Rebecca, and I did all the usual touristy things, like the Empire State Building, Central Park, Times Square, and Broadway. Although those things were very fun, I never made it a priority to go back. NYC seemed like another world, and I was overwhelmed by the thought of navigating a new, huge city. But then I heard about the High Line. Suddenly, I really wanted to go to NYC.

I wish I could remember where I heard about the High Line, but I have no idea. I suspect it was in one of my classes at SNRE, since the High Line is a perfect example of brownfield redevelopment. The High Line is an urban park built on a 1.5-mile stretch of unused, elevated railroad in the meatpacking district of the city. The first stretch opened in 2009; the latest expansion opened this fall, and an additional stretch will open in 2015. The park winds its way along the Hudson River into the heart of the city, uses native landscaping throughout, and includes tons of benches, lounge chairs, and bistro tables to encourage community use. In the summer, there are food vendors and art events. In October, the High Line hosted a Halloween party where kids could trick-or-treat with ghostly characters from the West Side's industrial past.

Basically, the High Line seems like a little oasis in the midst of the city.

I mentioned the High Line to Colin earlier this year, and when we were making plans for last weekend, he happened to remember it. Trains run between New Haven and NYC every half hour or so, and it's an easy 1.5-hour trip. Saturday was supposed to be relatively warm (i.e., not freezing), and we had nothing else to do, so we decided to check this off my To Do For Fun list!

It was everything I'd hoped for.

The first section we walked, which was sort of in the middle of the park, was the more curated section. It was gorgeous. I loved how the designers incorporated the old railroad tracks into the walkway, and I loved the plantings. I imagine that the park is actually a green oasis in the middle of the summer! We noticed a ton of new highrise construction alongside the park, too, so I'm guessing property values in this area have skyrocketed.

The High Line

The next section we walked was less curated and was intended to show what happens when nature takes over an abandoned railroad. In that section, a single, narrow walkway followed the Hudson River shoreline next to the old tracks and whatever plants happened to grow up - and over - them. It was neat to see the two different approaches to "greening the railroad."

We then turned around and walked to the southernmost end of the park. Most of the rest of the park was of the highly-designed variety, but I continued to be impressed with how fun and engaging the design was. One of my favorite details was the series of movable lounge chairs - built with old train wheels - that could be rolled along train tracks of their own. I didn't think to take a photo of them, but this one shows what I'm talking about. So cool! And given how crowded the High Line was on a sort-of-cold Saturday in November, I can only imagine how full those chairs are in the summer.

Colin and me on the High Line overlooking the Hudson River

Although the High Line was the highlight of this trip, Colin and I also stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Korean Town (which we didn't realize was a thing until Yelp told us that that was where we were) and for cupcakes on our way back to the train. We walked past the Empire State Building and saw the newly constructed Freedom Tower in the skyline.

That night, we returned to New Haven to check another item off my To Do For Fun list: a Yale a cappella show. I loved watching Brown's a cappella groups back in college, so I told Colin we should take advantage of his student status to see another show. Thinking he was picking the best-of-the-best, Colin got us tickets to a show by Yale's oldest a cappella group. Unfortunately, we could tell from the minute we walked in that it was not exactly what we were hoping for. The Whiffenpoofs (yes, that's really their name) perform in tuxes with tails and white gloves. They have no beatboxer. For goodness' sake, they have to remove their white gloves in order to snap along to their singing, so that tells you exactly how often they do that. The most upbeat songs in their repertoire were Cole Porter show tunes (Cole Porter was a Whiffenpoof himself). Colin and I had a good laugh about the show after the fact, but I'm keeping "a cappella show" on my To Do For Fun list. I'm confident that Yale has some more fun a cappella groups somewhere; otherwise, we'll just have to plan another day trip, this one to Providence for some good old Brown Derbies singing.

Bacchus and Artemis Do Halloween

This year, Colin and I decided to keep Halloween low-key. Instead of hitting up various parties, like the huge one thrown each year by the Yale School of Forestry, we decided to throw our own. Unfortunately, our guests apparently wanted an even more low-key holiday than what we were offering because they all backed out and decided to do totally un-Halloweeny things like visit girlfriends in DC or schedule music lessons in NYC.

I wouldn't let Colin skip out on dressing up, though, even if it was only for ourselves and the trick-or-treaters. Costumes are the best part of Halloween! In honor of his Greek research, we chose to get in touch with our inner god/goddess and go as Bacchus, the god of wine and parties (because our party was so very much fun, even if no one wanted to come), and Artemis, the goddess of forests and wildlife (because that seemed appropriate for a party hosted by two environmentalists).  Colin filled an empty wine bottle with water and enjoyed gulping it down all night, although he left it behind when answering the door for the little ones.

Bacchus and his "wine"

Artemis the huntress

We spent the early part of the evening baking apple crisp and carving a pumpkin while manning the door for trick-or-treaters. This was my first time handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, and although it was fun, it made me miss St. Louis. In St. Louis, kids have to "work" for their candy by telling a joke. Some of my favorites: What do you call a hot dog with nothing in it? A hollow-weenie! And, how do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it!

My first time handing out candy to trick-or-treaters!

Pumpkin carving.

Colin had the great idea to bring our jack-o'-lantern into the 21st century by foregoing candles and instead using a string of remote-controlled, multicolored LEDs inside. (This idea might have come about because we didn't have any candles.)

Halloween still life: LED Jack-o'-lantern, empty Nerds box, bag of apples, pumpin carving supplies.

The finished product!

 We had about 20-25 trick-or-treaters before 7:00, when it started raining, and shortly thereafter, two friends showed up to watch Sleepy Hollow with us. It was a party after all!

The only deadline that matters: Happy Halloween!

Come Sail Away

I've been joking for years about how I'm "solar-powered." Every year around the first of October, I get a little panicky, knowing that my time in the sunlight is running out. It takes a lot to keep me indoors when the sun is shining. I start my countdown to spring on October 31st, when CBI closes for the season.

But last Saturday, the sun came back out to relive summer for one day. It was in the high 60s, and the sky was a bright, cheery blue--good enough for a sail on the Charles! Colin was in town for his fall break, so we sprang out of bed early in the morning, threw on our sailing clothes, and hurried down to the river. It was a solidly yellow-flag day: enough wind to keep the boat sailing, but light enough wind to make it not scary. I sailed us most of the way to MIT, where their sailing team was out practicing, but Colin took a turn at the helm as well. He still remembers how to sail! I look forward to the day that he can chauffeur me around in a sailboat.

It was the perfect way to cap off the 2014 sailing season. The day was beautiful; the wind was ideal; the company was superb. I even launched and docked the boat so smoothly that you would have thought we had a motor. Smooth as silk, y'all! We stayed out for about an hour and a half, zig-zagging our way up the river and trying (unsuccessfully) to sneak up on seagulls. I hated to leave, but I couldn't have asked for a better last sail of the season.

As an aside to illustrate how amazing Saturday's weather was: later that afternoon, Colin and I were hanging out on his aunt's porch, and a bee flew up my skirt and stung my thigh. This was extremely uncomfortable and a little shocking, but the important points are that: (1) I was wearing a skirt, and (2) there was a bee.  

The following day, after Colin left for New Haven, I headed back to the river for the last time this season. Since sunset is so early these days, I knew I wouldn't be able to get to the river during the week, so last Sunday was my last chance. As it turned out, Saturday had been a total anomaly--Sunday was cold, gusty, and gray, just like it had been for the past couple weeks. I bundled up and hopped in a kayak since sailing was impossible. It was a super strong red flag day, and even paddling was tough. I ended up paddling upriver via the lagoons then riding the waves in the river back to the boathouse. It started drizzling about halfway through my paddle, and the waves looked like the ocean. Nevertheless, it was great. I couldn't stop grinning because I was outside with the wind, the water, the sun, the boats...

See you again in five months, CBI!

Surprise Date Night

Five years ago on October 2nd, Colin and I met at a Paul Krugman lecture in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan. I had tagged along with two mutual friends, one of whom was meeting Colin there. "You should talk to Colin," our friend Emily told me. "He is also a ballroom dancer." But Colin and I were sitting three seats apart in the auditorium, so our first conversation went something like this:

Emily: Claire, this is Colin. He's also a ballroom dancer!
Colin [leaning awkwardly across our friends in the seats between us]: Hi! I'd love to talk about dancing sometime!
Claire [also leaning awkwardly]: Hi! Yeah.

I'm a charmer, what can I say? Luckily there were many more opportunities for Colin and me to hang out that fall, and eventually talking about dancing turned into actually dancing, and then to dating. And through all that, October 2nd would continue to be... well... forgotten.

Until Colin recently decided to google "Paul Krugman University of Michigan" and found out the exact date, time, and location of our first conversation. As far as anniversaries go, October 2nd isn't all that meaningful, but if you're looking to plan a surprise date night, it's pretty good.

So Colin secretly coordinated with two of my Boston friends to ensure that I'd be free for dinner on Thursday, October 2nd. They emailed me weeks ago to set up a "girls night" dinner, then on the day of, one cancelled because she was "sick." Shortly thereafter, the IEc receptionist handed me a card from Colin. "What?" I thought. I assumed Colin had mailed it to the office, until I opened it to read a sweet note asking if he could pick me up at 7:20 that night.

"Are you coming here?!?" I texted Colin. "ARE YOU HERE?!!!" All of a sudden, I realized that my friends must have been in on it. "Did you tell Ashley to be sick today??"

It was torture to try to focus at work for the rest of the afternoon, but I knew that Colin had a draft of a major grant application due to his advisor that night, so I couldn't skip out of work to hang out with him anyway. Finally the end of the work day came, and I ran home to shower, put on a dress, and get ready for date night.

Colin deserves major gold stars because he made reservations at one of the swankiest restaurants in the city. Top of the Hub is on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Center, the tallest building in Boston (or is that honor held by the Hancock Building? I can never remember which one is officially taller), and has amazing views of the city, river, and harbor. I've been saying for a couple years now that I wanted to get drinks there to enjoy the view, but we never found a good time to go.

The food was better than I had expected for such a "destination" restaurant, and the views totally lived up to expectations! Colin had also found a venue with salsa dancing on Thursday nights, hoping to celebrate our "five years of knowing each other" anniversary by reliving our first dancing dates. But by the time we finished dinner, it was 10:30, and we were both yawning. We opted to call it a night and go home; salsa dancing can wait for next time!

Our table, with a view of the Charles River, the Hancock Building, and Logan Airport.

View of the Hancock Building and Boston.

The following morning, we met Colin's brother, who coincidentally happened to be in town for a friend's wedding, for a breakfast of crepes and coffee (or chai, if you're me). And then I headed into work, and Colin headed back to New Haven to get back to business as usual. But from now on October 2nd will be a little bit more memorable!

Charles River Misadventure

During previous summers, I've had a series of sailing misadventures (like running aground, drifting into the bridge, and capsizing) that made for entertaining blog posts. This summer has been relatively misadventure-free. I just go out for a sail or a paddle, soak up some sun, and head back to the dock when I get hungry/thirsty/tired. It's been totally great, but totally boring for blogging. Until yesterday, that is, when my kayak nearly sank.

It was a beautiful summery weekend (80s!), so I spent it all at the river. I left work early on Friday to go paddleboarding (I hate how early the sun sets these days), tried to sail in nonexistent wind before turning back and taking out a paddleboard instead on Saturday, and met a friend to go kayaking on Sunday. We grabbed our paddles, shoved our boats into the water, and headed out onto the river. After 20 minutes or so, I realized that I was getting extremely wet. Now, CBI's kayaks are the sit-on-top variety, which means that they are a hollow plastic shell with drainage holes that allow some water through to your seat. I have kayaked many times at CBI, so I know this. I expect my butt to get wet--but just damp, not dripping. Yet for some reason, something made me wear my swimsuit underneath my clothes yesterday. At the time, I just wanted to relive summer. Now, I think it was a sign. Anyway, I was not just "damp" as I sat in the kayak. I was dripping. I complained to Emily, who was in a slightly different style kayak than mine, that I really didn't like my boat. "I'm not taking one of these again!" I laughed.

But because it was such a beautiful day, Emily and I were in no rush to get back to the dock. We drifted slowly, watching the other boats go by. After about an hour, I began feeling like I was riding low in the water. My boat became harder to handle, as any movement I made would rock it dangerously close to the waterline. Without saying anything to Emily, I began investigating. Was I really riding lower? I haven't kayaked in a while; maybe these boats are tippier than I remembered? Maybe the waves are getting bigger? It was still a green flag day, but every wave had me fighting to steady the boat. It wasn't until I turned around to see why I was getting so wet that I began to suspect a problem. I was sitting in a couple inches of water, and the bottom of my cotton t-shirt was soaked. I'd never had my shirt get wet from kayaking before!

At that point, I knew. My boat was taking on water and slowly sinking.

The water inside the hollow shell of my kayak sloshed with every movement, turning small waves or weight shifts into unsteady rocking. I said a little prayer and paddled as smoothly as I could to the dock. 100 yards to go... 50... would I make it? I honestly wasn't sure. When I finally grabbed onto the dock and crawled ashore, water rushed down my legs from my sodden shorts. I grabbed the kayak to pull it ashore, too, but I couldn't. The front end of the kayak immediately dipped below the surface of the water when I tried to pull the back end. I was stuck: it was too heavy for me to lift, but if I let go, it would fall further underwater and sink.

Luckily, a strong guy happened to be watching from the dock. He grabbed the boat from me and in a minute had it ashore. He looked at me quizzically and said, "You paddled that?! It's full of water! I'm surprised you didn't capsize!" Me, too, buddy.

He and I examined the kayak but for several minutes couldn't figure out how to drain it. Eventually we turned it upside down in just the right way, and a second Charles River's worth of water began gushing out of a tiny hairline fracture. It was like a waterfall coursing out of the boat, down the dock, and into the real Charles River. The three of us (Emily had by now docked her non-sinking kayak) watched in awe, mouths agape. Then we started laughing, imagining the scene if I had stayed out much longer:

Me [waving frantically as my kayak sinks]: Help! Help!
Sailors who can't hear me [waving back cheerfully]: Hi! Beautiful day, isn't it?
[a few minutes later, after my boat has sunk and CBI has come with the rescue launch]
CBI: So you capsized, huh! Are you okay? ... Wait, where's your boat?!
Me [pointing as I tread water]: Down there...

That would've been a much better story, wouldn't it? But yesterday was enough adventure for me for one day. Conveniently, it was hot enough that I had been wishing I could go for a swim. Little did I know that I practically would, albeit in my clothes and in a boat!

And now for some gratuitous river pictures taken over the course of the summer:

 

It feels silly to say it, but CBI is the best thing that's happened to me in the past three years. Before I discovered the river, I was pretty unhappy with life in Boston. Now, I can't imagine leaving.

Of Birthdays and Beaches

I've had some really great birthdays recently. Like last year, I went to Greece--and although I wasn't actually there on my birthday itself, it was close enough and special enough to count as my birthday present to myself. I returned just a few days before my birthday, so I spent the day itself hanging out with my friend Patty, who was visiting from NYC, exploring Boston landmarks like the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, eating delicious food, and kayaking. The year before, I spent my birthday celebrating my friend Aaron's upcoming wedding at a water park in Ohio. While she wore her "bachelorette" crown, I wore a "birthday princess" crown. That weekend was the first time I had seen most of my grad school friends since graduation five months before, so it was one of those days when you stay up talking until 2 a.m. and you don't even notice because you just have so much to say. The year before that, I had a picnic with friends at a park on the Huron River, one of my favorite places in Ann Arbor, just days before packing up and moving to Boston. And the year before that, I spent my birthday in Madagascar, where Patty made chocolate chip cookie cakes (with frosting!) for me and Brennan, my almost-birthday twin, in our solar oven. And this year--this year I got a family beach trip for my birthday. Now that I think of it, I haven't had a boring birthday ever. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a summer birthday!

Anyway, this year's birthday trip was exciting from the moment it started. Colin and I flew out on Thursday, stopping in Nashville with enough time for a leisurely dinner at an airport restaurant. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, we got word that our plane was delayed... by an hour. The plane kept getting more and more delayed, and eventually word came that the plane had hit a bird en route to Chicago, where it was coming from to Nashville. "Everything's fine," the gate agent reassured us, "but they have to do a thorough check to make sure." Well, by the time the plane made it to Nashville, they'd pretty much had time to build an entirely new plane. I think Colin and I spent five or six hours in the Nashville airport. We finally landed in Panama City beach just before midnight, which meant that we finally arrived at Lake Seminole around 2 a.m. You know your family loves you when they drive four hours round trip to pick you up and wait an additional two hours in the airport parking lot because your plane hit a bird and there's nowhere more comfortable to wait in rural Florida.

The next couple days were spent lazing around Lake Seminole, boating, swimming, and sharing happy hour on the dock. Colin even learned how to drive the boat! He was less enthusiastic about the swimming part, though, because his Maine roots have led him to believe that anything warmer than 60 degrees is "too hot." I beg to differ. It's not "refreshing" if you come out of the water with goosebumps, Colin!

Colin takes me, Grandaddy, and Mom for a ride through Seminole State Park.

Grandmother and Mom during happy hour.

Grandaddy and Colin during happy hour.

And then, on Sunday, it was my birthday! Happy 27th, Claire! We packed up the car and left for Mexico Beach, where Rebecca and Peter would meet us. It was a little gray and cloudy at first, but it never actually rained on us. I was so impatient to get there! I think my toes have a magnetic attraction to sand and water. It's like an addiction; I just can't stay away. I tried not to complain, though, because I was 27 after all. Rebecca announced when she was 26 that she would stop whining when she turned 27. Unfortunately for me, the second child always has to follow the precedent of the first. Thanks a lot, Rebecca!

We finally made it to the beach, and Rebecca and Peter were already in their swimsuits lounging in front of the hotel. Colin and I ran to drop off our things in our room and changed into our swimsuits, too, before heading over to the beach house where Mom, Grandmother, and Grandaddy were staying to help them unpack. Many hands make light work, so soon we were stretching out on the snow-white Gulf Coast sand.

The week totally flew by. I woke up early every morning to start my day with a walk on the beach before breakfast. Then it was time for reading, sunbathing, playing frisbee or paddle ball, flying kites, swimming, and hunting for shells. If I was lucky, I could fit in a little of all of that before lunch. After lunch was naptime, reading time, and/or ice-cream-at-Tommy-T's time. More beachbumming until 5:00 or 6:00, which was happy hour--sometimes happy hour on the beach, sometimes happy hour at the picnic table on our porch. Then dinner. Then hunting fiddler crabs with flashlights, then bed. x7.

Happy hour on the beach.

 One day, I told Colin that I wanted to build a sand castle. When I've built castles before, they were small and fairly traditional. But Colin is a lot bigger than me, so I guess he thinks bigger, too. He convinced me to build a castle of epic proportions and complexity. It ended up looking a bit like a ship's prow, and it had multiple terraces, turrets, bridges, moats, and intricate seashell decor. The moment of truth came during happy hour when two small kids ran by and stopped in their tracks to gaze in awe. Next thing we knew, they had excitedly dragged their parents over to show them the masterpiece.

The artists with their castle.

Sadly, the week ended much too quickly. I'm not sure I got my fill of seafood, sand, sun, and surf. But, because I had inadvertently booked our return flights for one day later (that's not the first time it's happened...), Colin and I had one more day at Lake Seminole. That made leaving the beach a little easier. We spent the rest of Saturday boating, swimming, and eating juicy burgers at Big Jim's, which is just about the best possible way to spend a day if you can't be at the beach.

I convinced Colin to swim with me in the lake even though it was "too hot" for his taste.

Love the flowers on the Chattahoochee River, even if they are horribly invasive.

So many lotus flowers and seed pods for the taking!

Hi there, heron.

Kids these days just don't know how to live without their cell phones.

Colin had three goals for his trip to Lake Seminole: see an airboat, see an alligator, and eat a hamburger from Big Jim's. We managed to fit them all into that last Saturday! He actually saw several airboats, including one that drove across the grass (no water necessary with a fan that big...). As for the alligator, we often see small ones off Grandmother and Grandaddy's dock, and this trip was no different. But then, while riding to Big Jim's on Saturday, we saw a huge one resting just under the surface of the water near the bank. It was like a sea monster. Grandaddy idled up towards it as it saw us and started swimming across the channel. Colin stood up to get a better look as the gator passed underneath our boat. I was biting my nails and holding my head in my hands, remembering every horror story I'd ever read about gators angrily flipping boats or leaping into the air to grab their bait. I was sure it was going to come for us. Again, because I'm 27 now, I tried not to whine. But eventually I suggested that I really didn't want to die and maybe we could just drive away now, please?!

Obviously we didn't die. But Lake Seminole gators are the stuff of nightmares, guys. Anyway, Colin checked that off his list so now we don't have to do that again.

Other than freaking out over alligators, I had an amazing birthday trip! It was so much fun to bring Colin along on our annual family vacation and to introduce him to Mexico Beach (not counting the one day we spent there in pouring rain three years ago). It was fun having Rebecca and Peter there to hang out with. And, of course, it was fun to take eight days off work to work hard at beachbumming.

Mirapalooza!

In early August, I went to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, with Colin and his family--all 45+ members of his maternal grandmother's extended family. This was my second family reunion of the summer, since I went to Blalock Lakes with my own maternal grandmother's family in early June. In many ways, the two trips were similar: the presence of a nearby body of water, seafood for dinner, water sports, meeting new dogs and kids, and being a "foreigner" surrounded by a bunch of local family members (Boston is pretty foreign to all my family still living in metro Atlanta--and they think it must be about as cold as Canada).

That's where the similarities end, though. Most obviously, the reunion at Blalock was almost an order of magnitude smaller than the reunion on Cape Breton Island. Colin's family reunion - dubbed "Mirapalooza" for the Mira River on which it's held - was a gathering of the old Scottish clan, the families of Colin's grandmother and her two sisters. I'm not sure Colin knew everyone who was there, and I'm pretty sure I said goodbye to some people that I had never said hello to in the first place.

The trip began with a beautiful 12-hour drive from Colin's parents' house in Maine. I had taken the bus from Boston the night before, which was a good thing because we left at 6 am. I watched for moose the whole way to the Canadian border, thinking that the morning mist made for excellent moose habitat, but I didn't see anything. One of these days I'll see a moose in Maine...  Anyway, we crossed the border, drove across New Brunswick, which looks a lot like northern Maine and was pretty uninteresting, also with no moose. Soon enough, we crossed into Nova Scotia and began the truly scenic portion of the drive. By late afternoon, we were on Cape Breton Island, driving along the shore of a giant, brackish lake, Bras D'Or. (Oh right, they speak French in this part of Canada. And all the road signs use kilometers, which is always disconcerting when you momentarily forget and think that the crazy Canadians set the speed limit at 110 miles per hour.) We followed the lakeshore for quite a while, until we turned south to drive through very rural Canada to the Mira River. Colin's grandmother's sisters have summer cottages ("bungalows," in Canada) on the river that serve as base camp for the reunion.

Conveniently, we arrived at the bungalow just as the family was gathered for a prayer before dinner. It was like a receiving line! Colin, Colin's brother, and I all walked in, totally disrupted the prayer-gathering, and greeted everyone in quick succession. I didn't remember a single name from that moment.

After dinner, Colin's immediate family and I headed back to the bed and breakfast where we were staying. This was the view of the Mira from our B&B:

Not bad! But we didn't spend much time there. Most of the three full days we were in Nova Scotia were spent hanging out at the bungalow, swimming (in the refreshingly cold water), playing cards, skipping stones, and kayaking. We did go for a boat ride one day, getting picked up by Mark, one of the relatives (Colin's, um, mother's cousin's husband... what would that be?), at our B&B and riding down the river to the ocean.

Waiting at the B&B for Mark to pick us up in his boat.

The ride down the river was gorgeous. Much of the Mira River is built up with summer cottages (apparently the Canadian hockey players have started buying summer homes there, so you know it's the place to be!), but towards the ocean, it's mostly undeveloped. The water was crystal clear and so, so green:

And once we made it to the end of the river, the ocean was like a mirror:

Colin's brother Ross and what Google Maps tells me might be called Mira Bay.

On the ride back, we stopped to look for eagles. Mark has apparently done this many times before because he was prepared with a box of frozen mackerel and a particular sandbar in mind for our "hunting" ground. As soon as we spotted an eagle perched in a tree, Mark drove the boat close and threw out a frozen mackerel so that it would float in plain view of the eagle. Then, cameras poised, we waited for the eagle to take the bait.

Eagle spotted: will it take the bait?!

This particular eagle (see it in the bare tree?) did not take the bait, so Mark waded out onto the sandbar to retrieve the mackerel to throw again.

Colin waits for the eagle to grab the mackerel.

Colin's brother waits for the eagle to grab the mackerel.

Super blurry picture because I wasn't prepared, but the eagle came for the mackerel!

We ended up seeing three eagles, although only one flew down to grab the fish. Both Colin and his brother had huge, fancy cameras, so I quickly gave up taking pictures. And unfortunately I was not at all prepared when the one eagle flew down to grab the mackerel, so the only photo I got of a flying eagle is blurry. Oops.

Since the eagles weren't flying for us, we all got out of the boat and splashed around on the sandbar.

We did see some terrifyingly huge, purple jellyfish, though. Colin's mother's cousin (Mark's wife) had picked one up the day before and insisted that they didn't sting, but I was content to stand back and take photographs. I wish there were some way to show the scale of these things. They were like basketballs. And there were at least 500 of them (luckily mostly in deeper water, not the sandbar we were wading on).

We were surrounded by huge purple jellyfish. Apparently they don't sting, but they look terrifying.

I would not want to swim with this guy. 

Other than eagle-baiting, the highlight of the trip was digging for clams. Unfortunately, the tide schedule was not at all cooperative, so we had to go clamming at 6 am on Saturday. Nearly 30 people came! We drove south to Fourchu (sort of at the other end of the Mira River) and ventured out onto the mudflats at low tide. With 30 people, it didn't take long to find enough clams for dinner. I had so much fun digging for them. The razor clams in particular run away from you. I never really thought about clams moving - they seem like they ought to just sit there - but razor clams are speedy little things!

Before we could dive into eating freshly steamed clams that night, though, Colin, his brother, and a few other young'uns had to go through the family "initiation." Each initiate is handed a raw clam and a beer and, in full view of all 45+ family members, has to swallow the clam and chase it with a swig of beer. Colin and Ross both passed with flying colors. Colin opted to chew his clam, resulting in a collective gasp from the audience, and Ross slurped his for full effect. I managed to dodge the initiation this year, arguing on a technicality that I am not yet a family member. But, actually, I've already slurped a raw clam--back in 2004 or so, after raking clams from a boat in Rhode Island during BELL. It wasn't so bad. It's the beer chaser that I'm worried about.

Anyway, Mirapalooza was so much fun, and it was great to meet more of Colin's family. I've just about got their names down, and by the time the next Mirapalooza rolls around in five years or so, I might even understand the family tree.

Catching Up: Summer Travels Edition

Wow, it's been a while! I can't believe how little I've blogged this summer. But I have a good excuse--I've been on vacation for the better part of the last month. I can count the number of days I've worked during the last month on my fingers, and that is just the way I like it. Oh, how I miss the days of being a student and having long, lazy summer vacations! The working world is awesome in many ways (e.g., the lack of homework and tests, the salary), but less awesome for vacation.

So to catch you up, here's the abridged version of my summer:

• July 17-27: Lake Seminole and Mexico Beach (for my 27th birthday!) with Colin and my family
• July 28-30: working
• July 31-August 4: Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, for Colin's extended family reunion
• August 5-8: working
• August 8-11: Mom visits Boston
• August 11-13: Mom and I visit Colin's family in Maine
• August 14-15: working

Yep, nine days in the office in one month, and not a single five-day work week in that time. Perfect. What I'm going to do next week when I have to work five days in a row, I'm not sure. I'm a little out of practice.

I have a bazillion photos from some of those trips, so I don't want to cram them all into this post. I'll plan to put write a little bit more about my travels later on, but here are four of my favorites in the meantime:

Colin driving the boat on Lake Seminole.

We had, for the most part, gorgeous weather at Mexico Beach!

I told Colin I wanted to build a sandcastle, so we built one of epic complexity.

And then I traveled all the way up the Atlantic coast to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. This is the Mira River, where we were staying.

 

Happy 4th of July! ... been there, done that.

Happy 4th of July, folks! I hope you all have fun plans! As for me, well, I celebrated already.

Due to the impending Tropical Storm Arthur, which is currently drenching Boston with nonstop rain, Boston decided to celebrate July 3rd this year. Even though the day isn't a federal holiday and everyone still had to go to work, they moved the Pops concert and fireworks to Thursday night and started shutting down roads between noon and 5 pm. (Another good reason not to have a car in Boston! What a nightmare that must have been for all those people who live or work downtown.)

I got off work around 6, made quick dinner, and headed downtown on the T. My friend Emily and I were immediately caught up in the herd of people - thousands of people - weaving their way through police barricades and security checkpoints onto the Esplanade. At one point, we actually declared defeat and decided that the line for the security checkpoint onto the islands was way too long and we'd rather watch from the unsecured side of the Esplanade. As luck would have it, we found about eight square inches of space each in a location that afforded a perfect view of the fireworks and was near enough to the speakers projecting the concert for us to hear the music. (The Pops! The Beach Boys! And a bunch of different renditions of "Let It Go" from Frozen.)

For about an hour, we enjoyed the nice, albeit very humid, summer night along the Charles. Then, shortly after 10, the organizers decided to skip ahead to the fireworks--Tropical Storm Arthur was on his way! Sadly, that meant that the Pops never played the signature 1812 Overture with cannons booming and all that jazz. I have yet to be on the Esplanade to hear the Pops play the Overture in my three July 4ths in Boston! Anyway, the fireworks show was very nice, although the music was weird. Instead of nice, feel-good patriotic songs, they played "Let It Go" (again), some Katy Perry pop, and other things I'd never heard. It made me wonder if the D.J. couldn't change his schedule to show up on the 3rd so they had to rely on some employee's iPod. Or something?

The fireworks were gorgeous, and I was thrilled that I was finally getting a perfect fireworks-viewing experience. When the show ended, Emily and I packed up and headed back to the T, again weaving through the streets of downtown with thousands of happy spectators. Before we were halfway to the T stop, just as I was noticing some lightning in the distance and commenting about how lucky we were that the rain held off for the show, we heard a roar behind us. Then shrieks. People running. It was the rain!!

It was a torrential downpour, and we were drenched in about half a second. There was no way to run fast enough, no shelter near enough, to avoid it. The wind was whipping bucketfuls of water our way, and we had to splash through massive puddles. Emily and I looked at each other and at the other drowned-rat-like people surrounding us and started to laugh. Had I jinxed it? Will I never have that "perfect fireworks-viewing experience"? We eventually made it to the T station, where we wrung out our sopping hair and t-shirts before crowding onto the subway. By the time I got off the T in Cambridge, the rain had already stopped.

So anyway, it may not have been a picture perfect 4th 3rd of July, but it was fun. Good fireworks, good friends, and a nice cool rain to wash away the sticky humidity. Of course, all those people wanting to barbecue today probably aren't thrilled with the weather, but I'm personally looking forward to a quiet night in my PJs with a good book. I'll try again next year for that awesome night of fireworks and the 1812 Overture on the Esplanade.

Summer Solstice

Last weekend, CBI had a big celebration for the summer solstice. They started the day off with a sunrise sail at 5 a.m., had yoga and other fitness classes on the dock throughout the day, grilled burgers and hotdogs all day, and ended the day with a night sail from 8-10 p.m. Longest day of the year--most time for fun!

I didn't participate in all of that, but I did end up spending most of my day on the river. I started by paddleboarding for about an hour after lunch, but the gorgeous sunny day and light winds made me wish I were sailing instead. So I came back to the dock to get a drink (unlike sailing or kayaking, you can't really bring a water bottle on a paddleboard) and people-watch for a while. Then I took out a sailboat for another hour. By the time I brought the boat back, I was hungry. It was the perfect time for a hamburger! Then, because I didn't have to rush home for dinner any more, I wandered onto the Esplanade to lie in the grass reading a book (re-reading Mary Roach's Stiff).

It was a beautiful day full of sunshine, water, and bare feet--just as summer should be. And I wasn't the only one out enjoying the day, either:

Kayaks, gondolas, sailboats, and windsurfers crowd the Charles River just before sunset. There were probably some paddleboards, Duck boats, river boats, and yachts out there, too.

Nearly all of CBI's sailboats were out on the water that afternoon! It was just about the most crowded I've seen the river.

Happy summer, everyone!

Changes!

Well, look who updated her blog layout!

For a while now, I've been wanting a fresher, cleaner, brighter look with more space for content. I overthink everything, though, so I kept second-guessing myself. What finally convinced me to make the switch was when I realized that I am only 26, and hopefully this blog will be around for decades into the future. That's an awful lot of technological change to resist. If I fall behind now, when will I ever catch up? (This is the same argument I made to myself two weeks ago when buying a train ticket to Providence on my phone. Boston is the first city in the country to roll out mobile ticketing for public transit, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be an early adopter. It was worth it.) So, finally I dove into redesign, and I'm pretty pleased with the result!

As part of my redesign, I decided to add labels to my posts to facilitate searching and browsing. (Because I don't want my blog to be public - meaning that it would show up in Google search results - the standard Google search bar that I could install won't work.) Labels are the little green links at the end of each post; if you click on the word, Blogger will show all the posts I've ever written with that label. You can also see a nifty word cloud of all my labels below the archive list. The larger the font in that word cloud, the more posts are in that label--you can see that "travel" wins hands-down! And since travel and family/friends are just about the top priorities in my life, that sounds about right. :)

Here are a few more fun facts:

• We already know that "travel" is my most frequently-used label. But how frequent? Of the 336 posts I've published since starting this blog in January 2008, 107 are about my travels.
• Likewise, there's a huge range of geographic diversity to my posts. I have posts about Ann Arbor, Botswana, Brown (Providence), Cambridge/Boston, Greece, Madagascar, New Haven, Paris, and South Africa. And those are only the places I chose to create labels for. Others, like St. Louis, Georgia, Mexico Beach, Cleveland, and Cape Cod, show up occasionally.
• The one label I purposely chose not to create despite it being a recurring theme to my posts was "weather." I complain about the weather a lot! Sorry, guys. I always said I wanted to live somewhere warm, and then I moved to Rhode Island, Michigan, and Massachusetts. There are more posts than I want to admit about the unfairness of it all and why won't spring just freakin' come already. I'm afraid "weather" would look almost as large as "travel," so I chose to omit that data point.
• The fastest-growing category of posts in recent years is probably either "sailing" or "exercise." Both are closely tied to the quality of the weather.
• I have a label called "crafting," which also includes posts about cooking. I probably could have changed the name of this label to be more descriptive, but to me, cooking is a craft. Unfortunately, it's one I don't have much patience for these days.
• One of my very favorite labels is the "poetry" label. There are only a handful of poetry posts (they take so long to write!), but GREek! is one of my all-time favorites.
• Another all-time favorite is Words, Words, Words. I also filed this one under "poetry," even though it's not really, because, like poetry, it's all about the meaning and significance of individual words.

Anyway, hope you like the new layout! I realize I've been horribly slow to post lately, and I'll do my best to keep the most important updates coming. It's just that right now is when I actually like the weather in New England, so I'm outside every chance I can get. If you want to know what I'm up to, just click on that little green "sailing" label and re-read last summer's posts. :)

I took this from a kayak a few weeks ago. I love Boston in the summer!

P.S. I've been sailing four or five times now and kayaking and paddleboarding more times than I can count. No capsizes yet, either!

1608 Miles - Part 3

When I left off in the story of our trip back to Michigan, we had just arrived at Kinsey's apartment after a frustratingly long drive through a winter storm. It was such a relief to be there! Colin and I hopped out of the rental car, grinning and excited, but exhausted.

After unloading and sending Kinsey on her way (she was also heading to a wedding that weekend), Colin and I collapsed on the couch. "What now?" we thought. Our plan had been to go salsa dancing at Habana, the bar where we had gone on our first dates. We were tired, though, and it was already 10:30. But I was not about to let the snowstorm ruin our weekend! I dragged Colin off the couch and convinced him that even if we only stayed for an hour, it would be such a special night to look back on. He agreed, we reluctantly changed clothes, and then, bundled up in winter coats and hats, walked downtown through the neighborhoods of Ann Arbor.

Interestingly, Habana had moved locations since we'd been there. It used to be in a stretch of bars on Washington (or was it Liberty?) Street, but had "upgraded" to a new location on Main Street. The entire walk over, Colin and I exclaimed over places we recognized and places that had changed. Mostly, Ann Arbor looked exactly the same. It felt like we had never left and could pick up right where we left off.

Habana was fairly crowded when we got there around 11 (the dancing starts at 10, and when we lived in Ann Arbor, we used to try to arrive early to maximize time when the dance floor was relatively empty), but we danced for about 45 minutes, then ordered a mojito to share. The mojito was mostly for old time's sake since we were both tired enough that one drink between the two of us was plenty. Around midnight, we decided it was time to head home to bed.

Mojito and dancing at Habana--where it all started more than four years ago :)

Friday morning, Colin got up early to meet with his masters thesis advisor, whom he is still collaborating with for his PhD. For some reason, Colin scheduled that meeting for 8:30. I was not that ambitious and slept in for another hour before heading out to meet a former coworker from IEc for breakfast and coffee. I took my time walking over so I could wander through the Diag and snap these photos of the Dana Building, home of SNRE:

The Dana Building during a very snowy winter.

Go Blue! Hi SNRE!

I left coffee (Espresso Royale on S. University) around noon and headed over to the coffee shop where Colin was still talking with his advisor (Espresso Royale on State St.). We'd planned to be at the same Espresso Royale, but Colin's advisor went to the wrong one. Just another excuse for me to explore campus on the walk between!

Eventually Colin's meeting ended and we began the most important part of our weekend:

Lunch at Zingerman's!

Still looks just like I remember.

And Zingerman's is so exciting that you almost don't notice the gross winter weather.

Zingerman's had changed. Expanded, mostly. I guess when you're popular enough for the President to drop by for a sandwich, you are always looking for ways to improve your facilities. Anyway, the new Zingerman's looks great and, importantly, the sandwiches and crunchy-like-a-cucumber pickles taste just as good as they always did. And the menu is just as overwhelmingly long as it used to be.

Colin can't wait to dig in.

I'm super excited for the crunchy-like-a-cucumber pickle!

Glamour shot of the food. Now if only Boston had a Zingerman's...

While walking through Kerrytown, we of course had to go by my beloved first apartment:

I loved those bay windows in my bedroom!

(I remember those giant icicles well! They were always just outside my bedroom window.)

We then made our way to the Michigan Union to play a round or two or three of pool. I should note that neither Colin nor I are any good at pool, and I am particularly bad. But pool at the Union is $4.50 for two people for an hour (it was free some nights for students) so it's just about the only place worth playing. 

It only looks like we know what we're doing.

I was so excited every time I hit the ball! It took us a while to finish the game.

After a few embarrassingly bad games, we wandered back through campus towards SNRE, making sure to stop and push "the Cube":

The facilities and operations staff clearly know it's important to plow a path in the snow around the Cube.

We obviously had to put on my Michigan hat for the photo op.

Back at SNRE, we smiled at all the students working in the commons and walked through our old classrooms, reminiscing about the many hours we spent listening to lectures and leading discussion sections there. I stopped to say hello to my advisor, Dr. Michael Moore. Unfortunately the other professor I was hoping to find, Dr. Rosina Bierbaum, was out. She's the one who was on President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and was deemed, by ExxonMobil, one of the three most worrying climate scientists. Given her national reputation, it's not too surprising that she wasn't sitting around Dana on a Friday afternoon.

So, since Colin and I had no other plans that night (despite it being Valentine's Day), we spent a few minutes just hanging out in the fourth-floor study lounge, which is light and bright and was always one of my favorite spots at SNRE.

Lounging on the top floor of the Dana Building.

This was my go-to study spot as a SNREd.

 

Colin, happy to be back at SNRE.

After a day full of exploring and reminiscing, Colin and I were ready for a quiet night. When talking about Valentine's Day plans, we decided we would much rather eat dinner at one of our old favorite restaurants (mostly local microbreweries) than make a reservation at someplace fancy. So, with no real schedule for the evening, we headed back to Kinsey's apartment to freshen up then wandered down Washington St. to Arbor Brewing Company (known as ABC). We had a tough time deciding between ABC and another favorite microbrewery, Grizzly Peak, but ABC ended up definitely being the right decision--because, as we had forgotten, they have free darts and shuffleboard! Colin and I were seated at a table right next to the games area, and spent most of the meal looking longingly at the people playing. Pretty much as soon as we finished eating, we hopped up to claim a dartboard. The bar wasn't crowded, so we played about three games. We were invited by some other people to join them for shuffleboard but declined because I don't really know how to play. Gotta love the good old Midwestern friendliness, though!

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm a cheap date who is thrilled with a burger, sweet potato fries, and beer for dinner.

I'll also note that, despite my total inability to play pool, I am a fairly solid darts player. Colin offered to let me stand closer to the board because I'm so much shorter but I refused, and I still beat him fair and square. I'm not sure if he ever even got a bulls-eye, and I got several. We had to document this first one:

Bulls-eye!

After several rounds of darts, we decided to head over to Ashley's, one of Colin's favorite bars, for drinks. Ashley's is known for having something like 70 beers on tap, and Colin wanted one Scotch Ale in particular. Unfortunately they didn't have it this particular night, but we still had a great time just chatting over fries and beer. And with that, we concluded the first day of our whirlwind trip to Ann Arbor. Day two, still to come!

Colin with his second-choice scotch ale and the book-length menu at Ashley's.