I Should've Ordered Pancakes...

I've been couped up in the house for far too long between this brutal winter and not feeling well. I'm still not feeling well but the sun was shining and the temps were up so I forced myself out of the house. With the windows open and the music up, I hit the road around 11:30am. It was 37 degrees, warm and sunny day! I headed North from I95 to I91 then East on I84 from there I jumped on CT-74. The playlist on the way to my destination consisted of Ziggy Marley, Michael Franti, Ray Lamontagne and Van Morrison. The air smelled of a wood fire burning. I was starting to get hungry about an hour into the trip so I was happy to see a diner as soon as I got to CT-74. The Track Nine Diner, located right next to the train tracks was packed, a good sign. I pulled into the lot and headed in. As I walked in I immediately felt awkward. You could tell it was a local hot spot and here was this stranger walking in, all alone for lunch... Well breakfast. I ordered an egg, home fries, toast and a side of bacon with an OJ. All eyes were on me, the girl who hates being center of attention. I eventually got over the awkwardness and enjoyed my meal. The food was good as was the service, I'm glad I stopped! 

I left with a full belly and a good feeling. Aside from the brief moment of panic when I thought I locked the keys in the car as it was running. I was grabbing something from the trunk to put in the passenger side, I swear I hit the unlock button before I closed my drivers side door but the passenger side was locked! I automatically think I hit lock instead... An hour away from the spare key. That part wasn't too much fun. There was a huge wave of relieve when the drivers side opened. 

Fifteen minutes later I was at my destination, Rivers Edge Sugar House, located at 326 Mansfield Rd (Route 89) in Ashford, Connecticut. As I pull up I notice a sign saying they are boiling today, which I'm glad I'll get to see the process and fully enjoy the experience. 

I've come to the conclusion that the best places are kept at the end of a long, winding, narrow driveway. As soon as I parked and stepped out of the car there was the faint scent of maple syrup. You walk into the storefront where they sell their syrup and honey, go through the doorway and into another small room with a doorway into yet another room. You can see the steam and smell the syrup right away. I walked into the room and the aroma was heavenly! Sweet, but not sickening. I love maple candy. Which is what I immediately thought of. The steam filled the area where the machine was, rising up to the roof which was open to let the steam out. As soon as I came into the room the woman handed me a sample of the syrup. Nice and warm.  So delicious and sweet! 

The owners Amy & Bill were such nice people! Amy told me some details about the machine and the process. I learned that they rent trees from land about five miles away. They have around 2,000 taps. The fee to rent the trees is a certain percentage in cash or final product, she said mostly people take the product... I don't blame them! The sap is actually clear in color and the consistency of water. Not at all what I expected. I don't remember all of the details but the syrup goes into the machine where it is boiled by a fire underneath to evaporate the water. Once Bill opens the door to throw more wood on the fire the syrup stops bubbling and becomes still. As he closes the door it starts to bubble and foam again. He puts a few drops of a clear liquid in to stop it from foaming over which would not only make a mess but also cost them syrup. The syrup has to reach 7 degrees above the boiling point of water, as soon as the temperature hits that seven degrees they can start pouring the syrup. After this process it goes through filtration. 

I learned that the season typically starts around Presidents' Day and ends around March 24th. I also learned that the process is highly dependent on the weather. It needs to be below freezing temps at night and above during the day.  This years winter was so cold that they were unable to start until March. Amy was saying they lost time at the beginning of the season but she doesn't think they will make it up at the end. 

I asked if their product was sold elsewhere. They sell from the sugar house, online, to a local restaurant, UCONN and Yale. They were in a Whole Foods until they had a slow year a couple years back where they couldn't keep up with the demand. They hope to get back in there again this year. Amy said they get really busy around the holidays since people like to give their product for gifts. 

They have to snow shoe out where the trees are to dig out the lines and collect the sap after the snow storms. The lines stay out all year round however the taps come out at the end of the season so that the trees can heal. Then the fire wood needs to be chopped during the off season. There is an area out back right next to the open doorway by the machine where the wood is kept so that it can easily be put into the fire. I have no clue the size but it was full when the season started just a few weeks ago and there isn't much left. At one point they would go through five times that in a season until Bill started using reverse osmosis which speeds up the process and saves firewood. 

I asked about the honey they produce as well. Bill thinks this will be a harder year. He mentioned he went into the winter feeding them a lot but that it wasn't fattening them up. He said he has to get down there to check out the hives after the syrup season. I also asked out of curiosity, if he sees the difference in the declining number of bees which is a huge issue and sadly he has. We can't live without honey bees, literally can't live. Scary thought. 

Bill told me it all started with a lasagna pan in the garage... Now twenty-two years later he has grown to having machinery where he can use reverse osmosis with two thousand taps in the trees. Incredibly inspiring story! 

The drive home was still sunny, the temperature hit 47 degrees, the windows were open wider and three of my favorite songs came on: The Mamas and The Papas - California Dreaming, The Zombies - Time of the Season and The Band- The Weight. Perfect road tripping scenario!

If you're looking for something different to do I highly recommend you check out a sugar house next season. If you can make it to Rivers Edge Sugar House even better. Such a comfortable, warm and friendly atmosphere! 

Much peace & love

   - Marie 

Are We Home Yet!?

Right after I mentioned my grand idea (see first post Soul Searching ) to my sister she sent me the link for an attraction she saw on the local news. It is called Ice Castles and this one was located in Stratton, Vermont. An approximate three hour drive. PERFECT! I knew I had to add this to my list. I also knew that I wanted my sister and her kids to join me. After a couple of postponements we settle on Saturday February 28th. We end up bringing my nephew, RJ's best friend which is good because it'll keep him from getting bored. So we have a 22 month old, a 12 year old and an 11 year old crammed into my backseat. 

About two hours before we plan to leave I have to make a stop. I pull up to the gate in my driveway so I can open it up to leave, I hop out of the car and that's when I second guess this trip... As I'm rolling around on the ground, moaning after slipping on ice. I fell down pretty hard on one knee and both of my hands. In my own driveway. Before we leave. On the ice. To go to ICE Castles! I eventually get up, brush myself off and call my sister laughing hysterically. I come back from my errand, I go upstairs and shower to get ready to leave. Here it is 10 am, our original departure time and I have completely lost one of my shoes. Yup, just one. Cannot find it anywhere. I finally find my shoe, in my closet mind you. We are ready to start this adventure. The fighting begins as we load the car. RJ has a tendency to not listen or follow directions at times which can be annoying. I yell at him, then I feel bad and we hug it out. The baby starts crying. Someone is surely testing my patience already and we haven't even left the house yet. We are finally on our way... or so we thought. 

I realize I have no idea where my wallet ended up as I'm entering the highway the next city over. I brought it down to the car in my camera bag which was in the trunk but I planned on keeping the wallet up in front with me for when we stopped for lunch. Did I leave it in the bag? Put it on top of the car and drive off? Drop it on the floor of the car? I get off the very next exit so that I can check my trunk. As I get off the exit my sister reminds me that we forgot to stop at the bank. We turn around and head towards home, where the bank is. My nephews friend mentions he is feeling car sick, not long after my sister mentions she is. We haven't even gone anywhere yet. We head to the local drugstore after finding my wallet in the trunk and stopping at the bank to get them something for motion sickness. We are finally on our way, around 10:50 am. 

Now here's a little back information. My sister and I are annoyingly silly together, except when we are swearing at and hating each other. My father has been known to say on numerous occasions "I can't stand when the two of you are together". Needless to say we have had some great road trips in the past, so we both are pumped for this day trip north into the mountains. We pack snacks and pick out a fun Pandora station. Everything is awesome!

Cue the kids!

"Are we there yet!?" "When are we stopping for lunch!?" "Move over!" "Put your elbows down!" "Olivia stop crying!" "Where are the goldfish!?" "When are we stopping for lunch!?" "How long until we get to Vermont!?" "Is there a Disney store near there!?" "Can we stop at the mall!" "I ate all of the goldfish, can I have Doritos!?" "I'm going to fart" "I'm cold" "I'm hot" "I hate this sweatshirt!" "How long until we are there!?" "I have to go to the bathroom!" "I don't have enough room!" "Why didn't we take the truck!?" "Ma, I told you we shouldn't have gone, this is boring!" Every sign that listed which fast food places were off of each exit we would get the "When are we stopping for lunch!?" "I want McDonalds" "I want Friendly's" "I want Subway" "ohh On The Border!" Every single time. Nine minutes passed between the "how long until we get there!?" question was asked again... By the same kid, in a serious tone. This is all we hear coming from the back seat of the car and we haven't even left Connecticut yet! Oh and the GPS. "Take the left four lanes and continue on 91N". Really!? There only were four lanes! 

After a lot of yelling on the adults part, we convince the boys to calm down, stop annoying each other and that they have to wait until 12:30 for us to stop for lunch. Welcome to Massachusetts!!  Then, on the dot: "It's 12:30, are we stopping for lunch? You said 12:30" 

Wasn't this supposed to be fun? Get me out of this car!!!

We finally feed the monsters and get back on the road. The 11 year old and baby fall asleep. All is calm. Welcome to Vermont!! 

The views are breathtaking! Since taking up photography I've been able to appreciate nature more. Being the driver stinks in that aspect. Multiple times I'd say "ohh that would make a great picture! Hurry up. Take it!" To which my sister would respond "I don't see it" and then the moment is gone, it just passes you by.  People can look at the same thing but actually see two completely different things, so the chances of the pictures matching my vision weren't good to start with (no offense Sissy!). Of course pictures never do Mother Nature justice anyway. 

(Cell phone picture I took through the windshield) 

Knowing that cell services cuts out and I'd lose gps we printed directions to get there as back up. My sister and I discover we have two different addresses in two different towns for our destination. Sure enough we lose service. This trip is a disaster so far. After a few wrong turns and u-turns we find it. We are here!! Sun Bowl Lodge, Stratton Mountain Resort, VT. I've never been skiing, the lodge wasn't what I expected. But it is packed!! 

(Stratton Mountain, VT)

We approach the Ice Castles, it is all man made using ice and water. At night they put on lights in the ice sculptures which is really cool. Although the slopes are busy, Ice Castles is not. There's a small slide made out of ice, a tiny igloo to crawl through and tunnels. 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

We spend about an hour or so exploring the place then we head in to the lodge to warm up with some hot chocolate. ... "I'm hungry". Here we go again! A friend of mine went up about a month before us and mentioned a pizza place which we planned to go for dinner. About a 15 minute drive away. Now we are New Haven, CT based - home of the best pizza anywhere, no debate. We don't eat pizza out of state and actually enjoy it. Tony's Pizzeria in Winhall, VT proves us wrong as it is very good pizza! We order a cheese, a Grandmas (fresh marinara, basil, garlic and oil with cheese) and a few slices of a white fresh spinach and broccoli for RJs friend. 

(Cell phone picture of a slice of Grandmas, so good!)

We finish our tasty pizza and head back to the lodge since it's after 6pm and the lights should be lit. Lights are on, music is playing and it is packed. We explore again but it's so cold, 9 degrees according to my dashboard, so we don't stay very long. 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

(Ice Castles - Stratton Mountain, Vt) 

(Cell phone picture - Sun Bowl Lodge, Stratton Mountain, VT) 

My sister decides it would be best to separate the big kids with the car seat to give them more room, it helps. Why didn't she do this to begin with!? The kids fall asleep and my sister and I eat our snacks, listen to fun music and chat on the ride home. 

Despite the craziness and yelling, at the end of the day I had a great time and am glad we went because I love these people! 

It was in the lodge before heading to dinner when my nephew said "I'm hungry" and I told him he needed to learn patience that I realized the lesson this trip was giving me. I don't know how many times I had yelled at my nephew that he needed to learn patience this day. I yelled at kids because they were cranky. If I was hungry and squished in a backseat I'd be cranky too. Maybe I'm the one who actually needs to learn patience here. 

Soul Searching

*** Disclaimer *** I've never really blogged before. If you intend to follow please know that my intentions are to keep myself motivated while hopefully inspiring others. I'm also blogging to maintain memories and share my experiences with anyone interested. I'm not here to be a writer, I will make grammatical and spelling errors. I probably won't post on a scheduled basis and I've been known to have a hard time articulating my thoughts into words so please bear with me. Here goes ...

 I have so many wonderful ideas brewing in my mind. I'm sure they won't manifest exactly how I envision them but that's quite alright! Life doesn't go according to plan as I've learned. So my plan is to have no set plan during this journey. I'll have starting points, ideas and minimal direction however I'm trusting myself: my intuition, my soul, my heart, my body, my mind. I'm trusting ME. Speaking of me, I should probably give you a little background. 

 My name is Marie, I'm 34 years old. Born and raised in Connecticut. My only kids are a sweet yet spunky Beagle named Kona and a cute, not so little Red-eared Slider named Kai. I'm single. I work full time at a large well known corporation, I own a small photography business and I occasionally work the door at a local ballroom dance. Im an aunt, a sister, a daughter, a niece, a cousin and a friend. Im a lover with a huge heart. I'm a giver. I maintain a full schedule. I'm busy. Yet somehow I have realized that I am, and have been, lost and alone. Living a redundant life. I wake up, go to work, come home, eat, clean, work some more, go to bed, rinse and repeat. I know there is more to life. I merely exist but I want to LIVE! Now don't get me wrong, I have a social life, I've traveled and I've had some incredible experiences. I have accomplished things that I never thought that I could or would do. However there's that dreaded yet simple question I cringe upon hearing when talking to people, "What's new?" or "What have you been up to?" .... I can't come up with a single thing and we all know you don't want to hear my rinse and repeat. It's lame. 

 2014 was very eye opening for me after reflecting on the accomplishments I mentioned previously. It made me realize the potential I have in me to truly live. This is part of why I've come to the decision I have. Another huge factor is the desire to meet new people. More specifically a man; ya know being a 30 something year old childless single lady and all. As much as I know how to be alone let's face it, no one wants to end up alone. And to you "Oh you have plenty of time!" people I can not stress enough how annoyingly frustrating it is to hear you say this. You can only say that because it's not you. Ideally I'd like to meet someone, court them, enjoy an engagement and a marriage before popping out kids and that my friends takes time, more time than you think about when you give your line. In this department I am not desperate nor will I settle, some may say I'm picky but I don't think that's the case at all because I have truly loved someone who was far from perfect. I've never been one to really date, I just always ended up with guys I knew. I've had relationships with the right guy at the wrong time, the wrong guy no matter what the time, the it meant nothing more than the moment(s) guys, the guy who's heart I broke and of course the one guy who broke my heart. All of those experiences led me to try the online dating thing but I learned quickly that option was not for me. (I would've loved to see a report user to their mother feature implemented on those sites) It got old fast, I found I was on there for the wrong reasons and I learned that Im just simply not ready to meet someone at the moment. But that road led me to the realization that people don't know how to interact properly anymore and led to my question of "How do you even meet new quality people these days!?"

 The reason I'm alone and not diving into the dating pool is not complicated. I'm a firm believer that you need to love yourself before you can expect anyone else to love you. Sadly, I didn't love myself. I still don't 100% but I do love myself more than I ever have. I know that I can and know that I will love myself completely one day. As of right now I vow to date myself. I vow to put myself first for once. The first step in dating is getting to know each other. The best way to do that is to spend quality one on one time together. 

 All of these things mentioned plus many more crazy thoughts (my mind never stops) have led me here.  I've been inspired by people I know well, people who I barely know and people who I thought I knew. People who have loved me and people who have hurt me. I've read different articles and have seen many motivational pictures/quotes. It has all brought me to my "unusually grand idea" (hahaha NP!).  I ran my idea through a few of, but not all of, my best people and the few I have are supporting this decision. I know, you're all dying to know what this plan, this idea, this decision is. Here's where I tell! 

 At least two weekend days out of the month starting in March or April, depending on our weather, I am hopping in my car and going. Preferably out of state but I know some will be here in Connecticut. Mostly day trips. Hoping to get an occasional overnighter or weekend trip in there somehow too. Sometimes completely alone but most times with my pup, always with my camera. I want to explore little towns, hike trails I've never taken, listen to waves crash on a beach I've never sat on. I will visit little shops, local coffee houses, thrift stores, diners and restaurants. Some days I will have dinner all by myself in a restaurant even allowing the occasional glass of wine. Nothing commercialized. I will leave earlier in the morning hours with no set arrival or departure time. I will have a destination, one I've never been to before. If I am compelled to stop off along the way I will. If I decide to stay there rather than continue to my original destination I will. Should I decide my original destination just isn't doing it for me then I'll go. I'll end wherever the day takes me. I will be doing this unplugged *gasp* during the adventure, aside from keeping my sister updated on my whereabouts for safety measures. I'm sure I will grab the occasional Starbucks or make a few social media posts, I'm not perfect. But one of the goals I hope to gain from these experiences is to get back to basics. Which leads me to my rule that I must have at least one full, real conversation with a complete stranger each trip. My goal is to gain at least three new friends, ya know the exchange numbers and go back to visit type by the end of the journey. I will be pushing my boundaries and stepping out of my comfort zone. I will be touching base with my creativity, allowing me to photograph the things I want to. I will still be doing my photography and yes I love working with the kids but I got so hung up on it last year I barely took any photographs for myself. I admittedly lost some of my drive and just want to be passionate with it again. I am overall looking for that lost excitement in all aspects of my life again. A few years back I traveled with just Kona up to the Catskills, I'm a fairly independent woman but I learned that there is just something about traveling alone that awakens and empowers the soul of a woman. I know this is what I need to do. It's time for me to live, to learn, to grow. 

 I will journal my travels and intend to blog about each one. See all that rambling, everything actually comes together and had a reason to be said in the end. 

 Welcome to my on a very tight budget, I still need to work and have responsibilities version of Eat, Pray, Love! Let my soul searching begin! 

 Peace and love, 

                      Marie 

 Ps I hope y'all know I'm a pretty private person so some of this, although easy to type made it very hard to actually press publish.