my weekend up north

if you have been keeping track, one of my new years resolutions this year is to travel more. specifically, i have decided that i need to take a trip out of town at least once a month.

i took my first trip of the year this past weekend. i thought i would take advantage of the three day weekend and drive up to vermont to visit my cousin brianna. that plan morphed slightly, and i ended up meeting bri in rhode island on friday night. it was a much shorter post-work evening drive for me that way, and i was grateful.

friday night we went to dave & buster's in providence, and played video games. but mostly, bri and i drank and ate warm donut holes while amylynne remained stuck to the trivia game. she earned thousands of tickets and only left her post when the bar was closing down around 1:30.

the next day, slightly hung over, we headed up towards vermont. we stopped for a few hours at the most amazing outlets, where i bought my wonderful boots and gorged myself at gap and ruby tuesday.

after a lengthy drive northward from massachusetts through new hampshire, we arrived in burlington, vermont around 8:30, exhausted. yes, i drove through all the new england states except maine this weekend. jealous?

we had planned on possibly skiing on sunday, but scratched the idea when the thermometer was hovering somewhere around 10 degrees that morning. instead, bri and i went to a movie and then vegged on her couch all afternoon. later, she made dinner and invited a few friends over to play a rollicking game of apples to apples.

(i quick note about apples to apples. if you have never played, or heard of, this game, you are really missing out. go out to a toy store, buy the game, call at least three of your closest friends and pop open a few beers, and you are guaranteed a night of good, clean fun. i was introduced to this game by a couple of friends a few summers ago, and i introduced brianna to it. when she went home, she went out and bought herself her own apples to apples, and the cycle continues. this christmas i bought it for my dad and my whole family, including my grandparents, spent hours playing it over christmas vacation. everyone is playing apples to apples. why aren't you?)

we capped off sunday at a bar in burlington, where another cousin of mine, suzette, bri's sister, was playing bartender. after another late night where the temperatures dropped to around 7, i ended my weekend in vermont with brunch with bri and susu on monday morning.

then...the worst drive of my life. what was supposed to be a 5-hour trip, no short feat by any means, turned into a 6-hour stress bomb. i blame the massholes, since i was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic through that entire state, and not only were stupid drivers stepping on their brakes for no reason and jamming up the whole operation, but i still got beeped and flashed at as the jerks behind and around me urged me to drive right up the ass of the car in front of me. keep honking and flashing buddy. there is no where for you, or me, to go.

so, the moral of the story is, no matter how i travel, i will always be frustrated and unhappy and delayed. i think this is a sign that maybe i should perhaps give up on my resolution to travel more and just stay at home, avoiding traing, planes and cars. they just hate me. but unfortunately, i have already booked my february trip. so i'll see how that goes before planning future travel, i think...