I woke up feeling AWFUL the next day. It was one of the worst nights of sleep I've ever had- from me not being able to get in the temperature zone to Wyatt waking up screaming every hour (how on earth do parents do it?), to me slowly getting sicker over the night, it was pretty horrible. I woke up gasping for air a few times, just totally not able to breathe, snot and drool everywhere. Horrible. I don't know if I was allergic to something down there, or if it was the dust- maybe it was just my body finally catching up from a whole lot of stuff over the week before, I don't know- I just felt AWFUL.
Needless to say, even after a shower and some food, Camel's Hump wasn't happening. I really wanted to hike though, so we decided to do a family-friendly hike Tara and Jake had hiked the week before- Mount Philo. We loaded up in the car, and brought good ole Damien along. Here's us posing:
2 chinese damiens
We drove there and started the hike. I took some pictures but for some reason, they all came out blurry until this one- 3/4 through the hike, the trail splits. Jake had always done the main trail, and we were both pretty curious about what the hell the DEVIL'S CHAIR was. So we went that way.
I'm not sure if the Devil's Chair is a specific spot on this trail or if it's just all of the cliffs, but it was AWESOME over there. We walked along the side of an enormous cliff the whole way. It ruled.
We even saw a few enormous nests crammed into some of the corners. Maybe a falcon or hawk? Or Pterodactyl?
The trail even got pretty interesting at times:
There were a few spots where you could do some rock climbing too. Can you find the Jake in this pic?
Damien's face makes this picture quite ridiculous, as if Jake wasn't already ridiculous enough:
Towards the end, it looked like some people had been doing some pretty serious partying at the top of the mountain, just chucking picnic tables... Or there was a huge storm.
Here are 2 awesome pictures of Damien drinking from my water bottle being dripped into his mouth:
pppbbbtttttttt
And lastly, of course I had to take some HDRs- the rock looked so awesome:
And fairly quickly, we were at the top. Mount Philo is pretty reasonable- only steep in a few spots and pretty friendly. There are steps throughout the beginning, and it's only about a mile and a half I think. The top has a camp and road, which means there will probably always be people up there, but it was a pretty great view for not a ton of effort. And it was the perfect hike for someone who wanted to hike but was sick. I think it absolutely helped me feel a little bit better.
widescreen for those interested
Yea me and Jake hanging out!
From there, we had talked about meeting Tara to go blueberry picking, but I realistically didn't care all that much about picking blueberries. Jake proposed instead that we go to the Magic Hat Brewery and meet up with Hannah's boyfriend, Tom. I was game.
There's a weird tower thing outside of the brewery that you can walk up. I found that looking directly up it made for an awesome picture, and once filtered in instagram, made for quite the shot. I love this.
I've been to a few breweries before, but none of them have the commitment to a brand that Magic Hat has. The place is like a circus in there. So much random crap everywhere, weird lighting, etc. It's pretty awesome. If you're a fan of their beer and are in Vermont, you should absolutely go.
I particularly liked this display:
Tom showed up and Hannah did too, so we hung out at the bar for a little while, trying all of their beers. I only liked 2 of them, so I decided to mix them together in a growler thing for a pretty sweet price. I think the highlight of this trip (and maybe even the day) is this picture, taken in the Magic Hat photobooth:
Jake and my pure excitement mixed with Old Man Damien's wrinkly faced misery... classic. He was tuckered out- even though he's half cyborg, that mountain had taken a lot out of him.
We headed home, and then right back out to go to a skatepark. I haven't been on a skateboard in probably 8 years, but Tom is pretty good and Jake and I thought it would be hilarious to fill out the day with some skating.
Jake has retained some of his skill though:
killin it
Tom was pretty good though. He was doing some ridiculous stuff, at least for just some random dude who casually skates:
I don't think any pictures were taken of me, and that's probably a good thing. I was able to sort of do a manual, I could do that quick spin around thing from a manual, and I did at least 2 quality ollies, but not while moving. My feet still remembered how to do stuff, I just had lost all balance. What a weird feeling to be on a skateboard again. Soooo easy to wipe out horribly.
We headed home again, and I hung out/got in the way while everyone else packed up for a picnic dinner by the side of a lake.
We went to Lake Iroquois, which wasn't too far away and was pretty nice. Cute happened:
These are somehow the only pictures I took.
I was too busy eating Tara's delicious pulled BBQ chicken to take pictures. Then we went swimming, threw the B in the lake, etc. Wyatt loves water and it was super fun and adorable to swim up to him spitting water at him and getting him like I was a sea monster. Gotta have fun with that now before he's old enough to realize I'm just some stupid guy swimming at him making dumb noises! The sun set and it was a perfect end to a pretty full day.
UNTIL we decided to get ice cream. THEN it was the perfect day.
he has one in his hand, yet he wants Jake's... Friggin kids.
Here's a really good picture of Tara that she asked me to delete off my camera. Oops, I "forgot."
Clearly, this was right after Wyatt threw his ice cream on the ground.
I decided that since sleeping there was tough and I was getting sick, I should just head home that night instead of the next day. 89 South was a loooong drive, but I was very happy I headed home. I slept like a king that night. What a great chunk of days visiting friends and new spots, right after a full week of doing pretty much the same thing. This was what summer is supposed to be.
currently listening to: Arkells- "Michigan Left"
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