Mountain Quest: Wachusett

Today at 4:30 pm I began Mountain Quest 2011 with a repeat of last year’s first climb. I went up the Mountain House Trail, and though it was very muddy from the week’s rain, I made the ascent in a swift 36 minutes. There were a lot of people on the trail (there were ten cars in the lot when I parked), but they were all headed down so I didn't get passed on the way up like I did last year. The final short portion of the trail above the summit road was closed for construction, so I hoofed it up the tarry surface to the top, which was dominated by a huge fenced-in area full of holes, digging vehicles and other non-naturey eyesores. I spent ten minutes or so enjoying the view (both Boston and Worcester were easily seen on the eastern and southern horizons, respectively), taking a few photographs, and reading while I ate an apple and drank some much-needed water.

 The descent took a startlingly swift 28 minutes. It felt like I hadn’t even made a climb today. On the way down as I listened to Ambrosia, England Dan & John Ford Coley, and Train on my iPod I passed several sets of dogs and their owners making a sunset ascent. I ended the afternoon down at the lake, where I floated in the middle of the water for a half hour, and then read my book (Dewey Lambdin’s “Jester’s Fortune“) for another half hour as I dried off. The sunset was amazing, as always, and I drove home tired and content, from an honest day’s outdoor exertions…

A Three Hour Tour

I only had morning appointments at work, so when I got home (after a great lunch of chicken and corn bread shared with my cat) I packed my backpack and cooler and headed down to the lake.

Everything has been packed up for the non-summer, and the big wooden shed is full of everything that used to go in the smaller plastic shed. The hammock is down and the port-a-potty is gone. All the chairs & tables are stacked near the shed too. So I grabbed a chair from the shed, rolled the spool over, and set up camp. I finished the last 20 pages of "The French Admiral" with a Magic Hat HI.P.A. (goooood beer), and then slathered on the sunscreen so I could paddle out to the middle of the lake with another beer to bask in the afternoon sun. There were a lot of planes flying overhead. The lake was deserted except for some jackass mowing the lawn of annoying neighbors on the other side of the cove. I floated for awhile, paddled in for another beer, paddled back out, and headed in for good after an hour and a half of peace.

Later I started a fire and cooked several hot dogs, which weren't very hot when I ate them, and they tasted a bit too much like lighter fluid. I also called Erik, Jay & Brian to see if they want to hang out Saturday night at The Cactus Club. After I ate I began Harry Turtledove's "A World of Difference". It's starting off well but I am going to wait and read the next 'Alan Lewrie' adventure, "Jester's Fortune" first. I left around 7 pm after packing everything up. What a great day.

Whattaday

Wow, today was a full and fun day.

I went to work at the Staples on Soldier Field Road in Brighton all day today, which meant i got to drive to, in and from Boston in the sunshine. It was SO nice to be back in my old stomping grounds. The Staples is in the same plaza as the IHOP that me, Jay & all my other old Circle Cinema friends used to hang out at on a regular basis. Not to mention Jeff, John and Darren, plus the rest of the Ann & Hope crew. What a flashback. I considered eating lunch there but I wanted to read "The Gun Ketch" in peace for an hour, so I went to McDonald's instead. Work flew by, and I got to work on my own most of the day while being helpful to many coworkers in a pinch. And best of all I got to listen to a lot of WZBC.

On the way home the sky was so blue with just the right amount of high white clouds that I couldn't stop staring. It was a great drive. I stopped at Depot Package to grab a 6-pack of Magic Hat #9, and after watching a wild turkey race across the road in front of me (!) I proceeded to the lake to float, enjoy a couple of beers, swim, and read my book. I had an apple to tide me over 'til I got home, and called several of the guys to see if they want to hang out down there tomorrow afternoon.

When I got home I made angel hair pasta with ground beef and Ragu to eat while I watched the latest episode of "Love Bites". What a great 'shared world' anthology. Each week there are three stories that feature and/or revolve around married couple Greg Grunberg and the delicious Constance Zimmer, and single surrogate Becki Newton (thankfully her character finally had the baby). They are short stories with interesting twists and satisfying endings, resulting in me constantly laughing and walking away with a good feeling.

I am glad I lived this day.

Lake Again

I mowed most of the lawn for Dad and then at 1 pm I headed down to the lake again today. It was basically a repeat of Monday, except the beer was Opa-Opa IPA (SO much better!), the book was "The King's Privateer", and my sketchpad lay untouched on the table between paddling & floating and reading. Another nice day. I am worn out!

Laketastic!

After working with Dad from 11:30 to 3:30 I went down to the lake for a few hours. Got down to the lot, unpacked all of my stuff, and popped open a Wachusett Green Monsta IPA (see my review here). Then I slathered on the
sunscreen and took a second beer with me out onto the lake. I paddled around and floated in the middle of the water, enjoying the sun (and to a lesser extent the beer), exercise, and white clouded blue skies for awhile, and then headed in for a bit, to read the tail end of "The King's Commission" and do some inking on my 'X-Men' drawing of "Colossus vs a Sentinel". After that I grabbed a third beer and headed back out onto the water for a second round of summer revels. However the beer spilled into the lake on my outward paddle, and so I enjoyed the sunny scenery and watched the other denizens of Wyman's Pond as they jet skied, motor boated, or party boated around the water.

As I lazed away my afternoon I aired out two old boxes of comics that Dad had stored in the basement and hallway. He had an old issue of 'Superboy and The Legion of Super-Heroes' that I hadn't read (#218, cover dated July 1976) and it was packed with characters and plot elements that are still relevant today (Absorbancy Boy, who grew up to be Earth Man on the team now, Infectious Lass and her futile second attempt at joining, and most importantly, new member Tyroc's final initiation test). What a great find! And the scent of old comics always brings me back to my childhood.

I could have spent the whole evening down there, but by 7 pm I was hungry for supper, so I packed up the car, satisfied with my combination of productivity and recreation, and headed home...

Lake Scouting

 

I went down to the lake today to check out melting and winter storm damage. I am happy to report that there was very little mayhem this year, with only a handful of sizable branches fallen. The water is still very solidly frozen, but there is negligible snow on the ground, with perhaps 30% of the ground still covered with less than an inch of granular slush.