First Real Snow in Boston! 5-6 December 2009

Thursday and Friday of last week the temperature hovered around 55-60 degrees. I went running both days in a short sleeve t-shirt and capri tights. Both days I walked to class only to get there hot and starting to break a sweat... All I could ask myself was when was this winter that everyone kept telling me about going to hit Boston?....

If only I knew it would come less than 24 hours later. A temperature change of roughly 30 degrees brought snow, ice, beautiful scenery, a little bit of Christmas cheer.

It snowed close to 2 inches, the trees were beautiful, the skyline was picturesque, and I got to test out my new cute boots.... so fashionable. I went for a 10 mile long run early on Sunday morning down along the Charles River. It was really pretty out, and boy is the city prepared for the snow. I went running around 8 am, and by the time I was out, the streets had all been plowed and the majority of the sidewalks were already salted... slightly different than Seattle, although I must admit it is pretty exciting when in snows in Seattle since the whole city practically shuts down - not around here though.

Here are some pictures of the snow, these pictures are taken right around the main entrance of campus:

The City that never sleeps... literally. New York City!

Since my family didn't love me enough to fly me home for Thanksgiving this year, my first year EVER away for the holidays, I was forced to make alternate plans (since being along without turkey to eat sounded miserable). I ended up going back with two friends to Long Island, New York, where they are both from. The drive is only about 4 hours long, and we took the ferry from Connecticut to Long Island, which was really cool. We got in on Wednesday night and later went out to an area on the water known as Port Jefferson. The area was really neat, it was loaded with restaurants, shops, and fun bars. We met up with a bunch of their (Krystle and Stephanie) high school friends at a local bar named Billies. I was pretty tired from the week, but those New Yorkers party hard. The bars in NY don't close down until 4 am... it is INSANE. I was so tired, but we rallied... for a while at least.

Thanksgiving dinner was fun, different not being at home, but it was good considering the circumstances. There were about 10 people over for dinner, and those Long Islanders can be loud! It was really fun to just watch and listen to them all interact with their crazy accents. We ended the night by watching one of the holiday classics.... Home Alone.

Friday morning we explored a little bit of the local area, and then decided to jet off to the city for the night. Stephanie's uncle works on hotels in the city and was able to get us a FREE hotel room right in Times Square!!!! We took the train into the city, Stephanie, Krystle, and I. The train takes only about 1 hour and 15 min and takes you right to Penn Station. We got to the city about 5 PM and set off to explore.

Our hotel was amazing. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in a newly re-finished room. It could not have been a sweeter deal. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat and got ready to go out. We were headed to this bar on the upper east side known as Pat O'Brian's. It is apparently the "Boston College bar of New York City". They play all of the BC football and basketball games there and lots of BC alums go there to hang out. That night there was supposed to be an alumni event going on too. My friend Krystle also knew the bartender that was going to be there - he is a 2009 graduate of BC and rowed on the crew team with her boyfriend.

The bar was really fun - the people there were fun, but it wasn't too crowded. They had beer pong tables in the back, and since we knew the bartender we got lots of free drinks.... which is always good.

We stayed there for a while, and then left for the hotel about 3:30 am.... these city people were wiping me out. I was EXHAUSTED - I don't know how they do it.... We finally got back to the hotel around 4 am... only to set my alarm for 7:30 since we had tickets to go to the Radio City Rockette's Christmas show the next morning at 9 am. I was SO excited.

Just before we got up I was graced with the best news EVER. My new little beautiful niece, Leila Lyon Miller was born at 4:47 am Pacific time. I can not wait to meet her. I am so excited for Kelly and Robin and am so glad she is healthy and happy. I am going to spoil her like crazy!

We accidentally overslept a little... I wonder why... and had to rush out the door to make the short walk to Radio City. Thankfully we had time to stop for coffee along the way!! :)

The show was absolutely INCREDIBLE. The Radio City Music Hall in and of itself is stunning. It is lined with gold inside and so beautiful. The show was amazing. The Rockettes were so fun to watch and the show was so well choreographed and well put together!! It really felt like Christmas season was here!

After the show we wandered around the city for a bit: we visited Rockefeller Center and saw the tree and the ice rink, wandered up to Central Park and saw another ice rink (Central Park was beautiful - it was a gorgeous day and the light was hitting the trees perfectly), walked along 5th Ave., and just had a fun time exploring.

Around 3 or so, the ever-so-fabulous New York City weekend came to a close.... What an incredible, lively, fun city!!

I will post some pictures soon so keep on the lookout! Missing everyone back home!

Kerry's Visit Part 2: Mayor's Cup Race and Arnold Arboretum

Kerry's Visit: Vermont!

The "Flavor Graveyard"... where 25 of some 70 'dead' flavors are described. Each headstone has the flavor, what was in it, the years it was in production, and a really clever poem as to why it failed.... This one, for Chocolate Comfort, reads: "It's curtains for the chocolate pair, I ate alone in the comfy chair, One pint per night it might have been, but 'twas low fat so it weren't no sin"

The ice cream truck which traveled around the country serving ice cream when Ben and Jerry's first got it's start.

On three, everybody say, "MOOOOO".... too many dumb cow references in Vermont...

View of Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont

The brightest red trees... located in a park in Burlington which overlooks the lake.

...More trees...

Kerry and I... We tried to blend in with the background...

Proof that we were actually in Burlington... the cobblestone street where there are lots of shops

A building on the campus of University of Vermont - a really pretty campus.

Trees on the campus... (Are you sick of seeing trees yet?)

The driveway/Private Road we turned down... in the middle of NOWHERE in New Hampshire... where our car battery decided to die... so, being as resourceful as I am, I braved the POURING rain and stood on the side of the road and flagged down drivers as they zoomed past. Some drivers misinterpreted my flagging down as a mere wave and honked and waved back as they proceeded to splash me with water as they drove by. Thankfully for the nice deeds of one man, we were lucky enough to have our battery jumped... oh those nice New Hampshire people.

Head of the Charles.... and the first snow.... in OCTOBER!

Morgan Clark was in town this weekend, so I met up with her downtown for a bite to eat. This is us in front of Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market.

Head of the Charles!! Go UW!

Of course Harvard would send their 20 person marching band out to parade across the bridge....

Snowing... but still snowing lightly (refer to a few pictures down to see how much worse it got...)

Harvard's boat house... Harvard Square and the main Harvard campus is on the left.

You can just start to see the UW Men's team making their way under the 1st bridge.

The start of the Men's Championship 8's.... the University of Washington is the first boat in the picture - they were boat # 1, an honor which goes to the winning team from the previous year.

University of Washington Men's Crew team (they finished 3rd overall)

View of the south side of Harvard campus....

University of Washington Women's Crew (they got 5th I think...) After they finally went by I was free to shiver my way towards the bus stop to try to thaw my icicle of a body.

Yep... It's snowing hard enough to stick now. I'm going to need to buy some boots soon.