Scotland

The past ten days have been quite an adventure for yours truly. First, my brother Matt and I went to Mt. Snow, VT for a day of skiing. It was snowing the whole ride up which meant that we were in for some good conditions. Now, I haven’t been skiing since 2003 and at that time I did not enjoy it one single bit due to my back problems. Matt, on the other hand has been skiing consistently for many years. Last year he and the Ellis brothers climbed up Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington and skied down the bowl. A testament to his skills.

After arriving I rented a pair of skis and off we went. The mountain was ungroomed which made for some fine skiing. It took me a couple of runs, but I was starting to get some of my game back, not too mention having a lot of fun. After about a dozen or so runs, including some in the glades we called it a day. The snow had changed over to freezing rain, which meant for a long slow ride back home. Nonetheless, we had an awesome day.

Three days later I was on plane bound for Scotland. My friend Matt is pilot for a certain airline and he had a five day layover there and asked if I wanted to go. How could I not say yes? After a 6 ½ hour flight, in business class, we landed in Edinburgh. After a nap, we went and saw the Edinburgh Capitals Hockey team play a game. The arena was old & smelly, sort of like the War Memorial Arena in the movie Slapshot. It was a really good game which ended in the home team winning 4-3.

At the Edinburgh Capitals game.

After the game we made our way back to the hotel for some dinner before going to a pub to watch the Super Bowl. Some of the pub patrons kept asking us different questions about the game and what was going on. It was fun explaining it too them over a nice pint.

Edinburgh Castle

The next day we went on a walking tour of Edinburgh. The highlight was touring the Edinburgh Castle. I spent over 3 hours touring the castle and its various displays, including the Scottish Crown Jewels. One part that was very interesting was some of the graffiti left behind by the various prisoners over the centuries. After touring the castle we went to a museum of Scotch Whisky. The in the museum had one fine collection. I sampled a Balvenie 17 year old single malt aged in rum casks. Let me just say that it was one fine whisky.

A fine tasting Scotch.

Nessie, would we see her?

On Tuesday we rented a car and drove 3 hours north to Loch Ness. Upon arriving, we took an hour boat tour of the Loch. I knew that it was deep, but it got deep fast! The boat was about 200 yards off shore and the depth finder was showing us in nearly 700 feet of water. The tour took us to Urquhart Castle, which is shown in about every documentary about the Loch Ness Monster. Sadly, Nessie didn’t make an appearance.

She's getting mighty deep Cap'n.

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness.

After the tour, we made our way to the Cardhu Distillery. It was little over an hour drive from the Loch to Cardhu, but it was worth it. Cardhu is one of my favorite single malt whiskies. We took a tour of the distillery and our guide Irene was fantastic. The one question that I really had was why I haven’t seen Cardhu in the USA for a few years. Her answer was simple; they could not keep up with demand. As of right now, other than the distillery, it is only sold in France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Once the tour was over, I picked a bottle for myself, plus a couple of single malts that I haven’t seen before. I cannot wait to crack open those during a future Scotch night with the gang.

The name speaks for itself.

Where Cardhu is aged for 12 years in oak casks.

Just happy to have one. I'm a man of simple pleasures.

Wednesday we flew back to home and I made it too my place around 9pm or so. It was nice to be home, but I wish I had another few days to visit all the distilleries in the Speyside region. Thankfully, a friend took care of my mail and truck which was cleaned off after more snow was dumped on the Boston area when I was gone.

Sadly, I received some bad news over the next few days. The first was a postcard from an old Air Force friend who said that his brother had died suddenly. Having lost a brother, I know how he’s feeling, especially since his brother, like mine, was an alcoholic. Saturday, while at work, I received an email from someone whom I care a lot about saying that she had contracted Malaria while working for the UN in the Belgian Congo. To compound things, this is the 2^nd time she has contracted it (1^st time was in1994) and she tested positive for the nastier form of it. The last place I wanted to be was at work, so I left at 8pm to enjoy a nice pint and reflect. My thoughts and prayers go out to both of them.

Until next time…Aloha!

White Mountains

Tuesday morning I woke up, got my cycling gear ready, packed up my truck and off I went. Before hitting the highway, I stopped by and did my civic duty and voted. From there it was off to grab a nice hearty breakfast from Newcomb Farms to fuel the body. My usual breakfast partner could not make it due to working back to back double shifts at work. What a madwoman! Ha-ha…I know she’ll be reading this so I had to give her a little needling.

The drive up to the White Mountains in NH was fantastic. It’s so nice to get such an awesome day in November. A little over two hours later I pulled into the parking lot of Loon Mountain. My mission for the day was to bicycle up the Kancamagus Pass. I’ve done the pass at least once a year for the past three years, and usually in October. I wanted to mount my camera on the handlebars and film my decent. So I wrapped my mini-tripod with bungee cord and off I went.

My stead, before the ride.

From Loon Mountain’s parking lot to the top is almost 11 miles with an elevation gain of about 1,800 feet. I hadn’t ridden my bicycle in nearly two weeks due to work commitments & weekends away. I wondered how my legs would react. As I pedaled away, there was a thin dry layer of salt on the road with sand on the sides. Where there was shade, it was wet and slick. I made not of that for the decent. Thin tires, 40mph speeds, slick roads & sand do not make for a good combination.

Heading up the pass.

It took me just under 56 minutes to ride to the top. I wasn’t pushing it as hard I usually would because I was overheating. I put one base layer too many on and I was sweating bullets. I took a minute to catch my breath, flipped on the camera & away I went. Descending on bicycle is like skiing, it’s a lot of fun, but in the back of your mind you are always thinking that you are mere inches from total disaster. I rode down a bit more conservatively than I usually do, especially coming into the 1^st bend. One could easily hit 50mph here, but before coming into the corner it was very slick. So I tapped my brakes going about 40mph instead. The tripod and camera kept listing to the left and I kept helping it back to center. As always the ride down was so much fun! My trip down took just under 24 minutes.

A cold mountain river.

At the parking lot I stowed my bike and took a look at the video. I got a good chuckle at it. Since the memory card was filled, I downloaded it to my laptop. When this was done, it was time for the good ol’ shower in a bottle. After getting cleaned up and gear all stowed, off I went to take some pictures of nature’s immense beauty.

I grabbed a nice early dinner in North Conway and had planned on finding a nice little café to sip a coffee and bang out this blog. Along the way I saw a Starbucks, which I usually avoid like the plague, but I was sure they would have wifi. Now, I’m not a fan of Starbucks coffee, so instead I grabbed a hot chocolate, plugged my laptop in waited. Little did I know that Starbucks charges for its wifi! I must say that I wasn’t too happy about this and being quite disgusted, I got up & left. Just another reason to never, ever go into Starbucks.

By now it was dusk and it was time to start heading back. Along the way I kept and eye out for moose. I saw one back in August around dusk when coming home from the Mt. Washington race. This time I had my camera at the ready. Alas, no moose, nor squirrel.

Bridge over the river.

On the way back I met up with my buddy Pete in Somerville for a pint & burgers at a local pub. We went to O’Sullivan’s Pub which had some of the tastiest burgers I have had in a long time. After food & pints, it was time to go home. On the way back I stopped by the automatic car wash to clean the salt off the bike. I walked through my door close to midnight, my day complete.

Near the top of the Kancamagus Pass.

More views from near the top of the pass.

Another great view...how can you go wrong on days like these?

One more for the road.

Monday Surfing & Commie's Wedding

Today I got out for a nice morning session at Nantasket, but before I get on to that, I just want to send out a big congratulations to Commie & Pam, who were married over the weekend in Nantucket. It’s so nice to share in their celebration as they are good friends & people. I wish you both all the happiness, love & joy that you richly deserve. Godspeed!

Commie & Pam at the moment of truth.












left to right, me, Commie, Long Haired Jeff, Ando & Lil' Kevin aka the Surf Ninja.


With that, now back to today’s session…

It’s so nice to wake up, see the sun shining, check the surf cams and watch all those nice waves roll in. When I checked the Boston buoy, it was showing the water temps in the low 50s. In my surfing kit I packed the gloves and an extra undershirt. I ate breakfast, grabbed my board and off I went to Nantasket. Along the way I picked up the usual iced coffee to enjoy both before & after the session.


Right before I paddled out.


Upon arriving the waves were even nicer than on the cams. I got kitted up and paddled out in the usual spot, by the refurbished bathhouse. I’m glad that I packed the extra gear because the water is getting chillier. There were only a few other surfers in the water and I had my area all to myself. Although solo sessions are fun, it would have been nice to have some of the gang there. Alas, with work and other obligations, that wasn’t going to happen today.


My gear, after the session.

The waves ranged from knee to chest and very clean. How clean was it? I only missed one wave that I paddled for. Yes, I was on my game today and the good Lord truly blessed me. All green water rides and once again tried to walk out onto the nose. One of these days I’ll get my toes over the edge, but today wasn’t that day. I did manage to walk-out my board from underneath me. I got a good laugh out it because I was having so much fun. After a little over on hour in the water, I pulled up camp and made my way home. Yes, life is truly good and what makes it sweeter are gems like today. Stoke factor is off the scale right now. Until next time, mahalo for reading and aloha!