Massachusetts Recap
11.08.2004 @ 9:18 amWe left New Jersey around 4pm on Friday. Lauren stayed here the night and went to work but got out around 2ish so we could leave early. I packed the night before but got nailed in traffic on 1&9 on my way to Lauren's and I lost my keys for about 45 minutes. Turns out I packed them. Ugh. Anyways,
We hit some traffic in Connecticut so we stopped off at a rest stop for McD's and coffee, which would be the first of about a trillion coffee stops during the weekend. Even Charity got in on the coffee addiction which she never does.
We pulled into UMass. Campus center around 10ish.
We couldn't really see too much of the campus cuz it was too dark but we could tell it was really big. We had to park in the parking garage, AnneMarie went to check us in, Caitlyn did the happy dance for about 20 minutes (UMass. Amherst is where she went to college) and then it was off to the hotel room.
Again we had a need for coffee so we jumped into my truck and went into town looking for a D&D. After hitting a food store for oreos, candy and chips (New obsession: Lay's Dill Pickle potato chips!!), we finally grabbed some coffee on the way back and headed up to the hotel room for the night. We hung out, chatted, drank coffee, smoked and hit the sack around 2am.
We all got up around noonish on Saturday and after five showers we headed out to catch a bus to go walk around Amherst.
The UMass. campus is huge and really pretty with the leaves changing and Caitlyn was still doing the happy dance as we waited for the bus.
When we got to Amherst it immediately reminded me of New Hope, only smaller. We were all starving so we went to Amherst Crepes for breakfast. I've never had crepes before but let me tell you, I had the best mozzarella, tomato and mushroom crepe breakfast on the whole planet. Complete of course with coffee, again.
We wandered around for a while and hit two hippie shops sort of off the beaten path. There wasn't really any agenda to follow so we were all really relaxed and having a good time. Off the beaten path of the beaten path, we found a CD/action figure store called Newbury Comics. Lauren's weakness. AnneMarie and Lauren (of course!) went in to browse and Caitlyn, Charity and I went across the street for coffee at the Blacksheep Deli.
We were only gone for ten minutes I swear. When we got back, I found Lauren wandering around the sock section with her arms full. Not only did she find 2 pairs of crazy socks, 3 tins of mints, but she found the jackpot of all jackpots - Doozers!!! Not just one doozer, but two, count them, two doozers. Oh joy of joys!! So of course she bought cotterpin for herself and since there were two in the whole store, she had to buy architect for my mom. She doesn't need to suck up cuz my mom really likes her but trust me, throwing a doozer into the mix doesn't hurt the situation at all.
We headed back to the hotel room to drop our stuff off then headed out to Northampton for dinner and general window shopping.
First off we decided to grab some dinner. After wandering around undecided for about a half hour, we all agreed on some Chinese food. Good stuff and always great to fall back on. I don't think I've ever had 'bad' Chinese food ever.
After dinner we found this little tourist trap called faces. It has t-shirts, Northampton t-shirts, silly little gag gifts, cards, specialty items and crazy furniture and lamps. In other words we got sucked in for almost 2 hours.
Of course in 2 floors of crap, Lauren finds the one Peanuts t-shirt in the whole place and buys it. I swear she has radar for that shit. She headed outside with Charity and I snuck over to the register and bought her a disco duck!!! It's a rubber ducky but it's clear and when you smack it, it flashes all these cool crazy colors for like 10 seconds.
We then proceeded too entertain ourselves by smacking the duck around for a while.
We were standing outside and I got all sly and asked Lauren if she'd do me a favor. There was a photo booth in the store and you could get a strip of black and white pictures at 4 bucks per strip. She of course refused. I pulled out the big guns, pouted and threatened to squeeze out a few tears if necessary and she relented! Yayyy!! Of course she hates her picture taken which is why it was such a big deal - and also is why we are in fuzzy-glory in the pic here. I took a picture of the picture with my webcam. I figured it was a fair enough compromise.
After that we grabbed the bus back to the campus center. I headed out for coffee while everyone else got settled and changed to hang out for the night. Same stuff as Friday night. Munchies, coffee, smoking, talking, rinse and lather and repeat.
We headed out of the hotel room on Sunday around noonish and went back to Northampton. We had breakfast/lunch at Jake's - a really cute little diner type place across from where we parked. Omelets all around, few cups of coffee each and we were off again to meander around town.
Anne Marie and Caitlyn wanted to look at an antique store so Charity, Lauren and I went scampering off for some coffee. Also, I was eyeing the cupcakes the night before so Lauren treated me to one. Hey, it was a chocolate cheesecake cupcake. Who in their right mind could resist that??
We hit a few shops including a candy store so I could get my mom some peanut butter meltaways and gummy fruit salad and fudge.
Then Lauren and Charity spotted an Army Surplus store. Heavens gates opened up, the angels sang and they bonded over shopping. Lauren was on a never-ending quest to get camouflage pants and refused to come out empty handed. She bought black/white ones and olive/green ones as well as t-shirts for AnneMarie and Caitlyn as a thanks for inviting us. Charity of course didn't come out empty handed either.
Again a little stop for coffee then we hit the vehicles and headed home around 5ish. There was traffic again in Connecticut so we stopped off for more coffee and hit Lauren's house around 10ish. We came back to my place to give my mom her gifts and settled down for a nice little viewing of the Fraggle Rock DVD. Which Lauren has been all excited about ever since I told her my mom picked it up. We'd been dying to watch it and figured after a long trip across 4 states, it would be nice to unwind with a movie type activity. There are three vintage fraggle rock episodes on the DVD. We promptly fell asleep in the middle of the second show.
We had a great weekend.
. . .where i've been // where i'm going. . .
Last Five:
08.02.2005 - Untitled
07.20.2005 - Obligitory link
07.03.2005 - till then
06.16.2005 - Multi-bulleted Update
06.16.2005 - Coldplay, 'Green Eyes'
