Berkshire Roller Coaster Ride

We started off today with finally getting to eat at Bob's Country Kitchen in Lanesborough. Boy, were they busy! It was hard to find a place to park at quarter of 10. It was worth it when we got in, though. They make great breakfasts. They're a lovely little blonde wood building with photos of sunsets on the lake, local history, gingham curtains on the windows, and for some reason, artwork of the Disney Snow White and the seven dwarfs on the wall near the entrance. Lauren had white toast, a bacon omelette, and hash browns. I had fluffy berry pancakes with perfectly crispy bacon.

It was only about a 20 minute drive from there to Jiminy Peak Resorts. Their Adventure Park features a twisty fiberglass Alpine Slide and a roller coaster you can control how fast or slow the ride is. After we bought our tickets and signed a waiver, we passed the main buildings and went straight for the roller coaster. You sit on a gray vehicle and push heavy levers to control the speed. It takes a while to get all the way up the mountain...but when you do, whoosh! You go around and around and over small hills down the track. It's too much fun. 

After two runs, we took a ski lift further up the hill. The view from the lift was genuinely stunning. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for early October. Radiant blue sky peeked through green and gold trees; rusts and browns could be seen on the horizon. Ferns waving under us in the breeze, silvery green pine trees and falling gold leaves gave off a wonderful, earthy scent.

The Alpine Slide is a bit less complicated than the roller coaster. You get a slide from the conveyor belt near the ski lift, you drag it to the slide's starting point, you start down when you're given the go. There's an expert's lane for those who want to go fast, and a beginner's lane for newcomers, younger kids, and people who aren't up to it. I took the beginner's lane because it's been a while, but I think I should have gone on the expert's. I loved the feeling of whooshing down the hill, skidding around turns, slowing for hills...but I'd also have to slow down for people who really were scared, or who wanted to chat with their friends or enjoy the scenery. (They can do that on the ski lift!)

We spent the next two hours riding both rides. I have to admit, I enjoyed the slide slightly more. It's more nerve-wracking, and accidents and scraped arms and legs have been known to happen. The ride is also longer, and it's exhilarating, flying down that hill! The roller coaster is fun too, but it's a shorter ride, and you don't control it to quite the level that you do the slide. 

It was quarter after 1 when we finally decided we'd had enough and broke for lunch. We ate at Christiansen's Tavern, a beautiful dark wood building with hand-made 19th century farming implements hanging on the walls. I watched pre-season hockey in the lobby while we were waiting to be seated. (Bruins killed the Rangers 4-1. Flyers beat the Devils too, 4-3.) 

We ate outside on the patio...which, despite the gorgeous day, may not have been the brightest idea. Two remarkably persistent yellow and black wasps kept attacking our Diet Cokes! We had to cover them with the plates for our fried green beans to keep them away, and even then, they buzzed around. It's a shame, because the food was delicious. In addition to the crispy, unique green beans, Lauren had grilled cheese with tomato and avocado, and I had a mile-high turkey club sandwich. I suspect the thick chips that came with them were hand-made.

After lunch, we drove back into Vermont. This time, we ended up at Pastime Pinball in Manchester. This is one of my favorite places we go when I visit. This working pinball arcade and museum features more than 60 pinball machines ranging from the 1947 Humpty Dumpty (which is so old, the balls don't even fall down a slot; they just drop below) to an Elton John Superstar-themed console with a massive LED screen from two years ago. There's a lot of rarities you don't expect to see at a pinball museum too, like The Shadow, a pinball version of the flop 1994 film version of the pulp and radio character, a older Elton John console released after the success of Tommy, Captain Fantastic, the first of three consoles made around Elvira, and one for World Cup Soccer from 1994.

I played for an hour, including grabbing a Sparkling Ice from the snack stand upstairs, before moving on. Lauren remained with the pinball machines while I headed to the Northshire Bookstore across the street. This gorgeous old independent store is housed in an old restored inn...and as such, is something of a maze. It took me a while, but I finally found the section with the used and rare books. Picked up two books here, one from a series that I'd hoped had more titles, one I've wanted for a while:

Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios (who also wrote the wonderful book on early talkie musicals A Song In the Dark)

Reel Murder by Mary Kennedy

We met back again at Pasttime Pinball. Lauren led me down the street to a small shopping center. Sushi Boat is a charming little hole-in-the wall that sells sushi and Japanese food. I'm not a fan of sushi, but I was willing to try something lighter after two carb-heavy meals earlier. I had a tasty miso soup, a salad made with real greens, California rolls with seafood, and cucumber rolls. Sushi's still not my favorite thing in the universe, but I did like the California rolls better than the cucumber rolls. Lauren had a sampler plate of sushi. She ate the whole thing and one of my cucumber rolls. 

Headed home after that. Lauren did get turned around a bit in the dark, but at least we ran into no traffic anywhere tonight. We got in by 8, and I got organized. Finished the night with tonight's Match Game marathon. Tonight's episodes were random ones that are favorites of the channel's owner, like the one from 1976 with the pretty Asian contestant and the one who was extremely tan, to the point where she may have been a little too brown. Gene discusses a magical musical moment in the short-lived Broadway musical version of Charley and Algernon in a syndicated episode. Johnny Brown of Good Times was an adorable delight during his one week in 1975.

You'll never know what you'll see next in this random medley of delights!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Match Game Randomized - Featuring Specialty Episodes & 'Frozen Bananas'

And I spent a good chunk of the time when I got back getting my luggage organized...because tomorrow, I'm going home. But first, Lauren and I will be doing one last breakfast together. 

You Spin Me Round and Round

I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was when we headed out this morning. The sky was a searing blue, the clouds were gone, and the breeze felt great. It was just barely in the lower 80's. There couldn't have been a nicer day for a ride around Lauren's area, starting at a near-by Barnes and Noble. This was smaller than the other ones we'd explored, with no toys or electronic media area. Lauren didn't find anything she wanted. I looked at the Star Wars paperbacks, but I ultimately just grabbed a journal.

We had an early lunch at a rustic branch of a local coffee shop chain called Juice and Java. Lauren knows the owners, and she knows they make some of the best sandwiches in the Berkshires. We got there early enough for me to order off the breakfast menu. I had an egg wrap with peppers, cheese, and salsa and a Dasani Mixed Berry Sparkling Water. She had turkey avocado panini and a Dr. Pepper.

It was a glorious day for mini-golf. There's a course just outside the Berkshire Mall. Lauren grabbed a purple ball, I grabbed a red ball, and we played through all 18 holes. The course is small but wonderfully cheesy - Lauren said she played it as a kid. There's all kinds of typical traps that still work, like tiny houses with narrow openings that balls get stuck in (it happened to both of us) and fiberglass bears you have to navigate your ball around. There was a family - a mom, a dad, a pre-teen girl, and a grandma and grandpa - ahead of us. They were taking forever and finally let us skip ahead. The "19th hole" is a pinball-type game that allows you to either get points off your score or a free game. We each got three points off. Even with that, I still beat Lauren by 1 point in a very close game.

Since we were in the area, we swung over to the Berkshire Mall proper, first hitting their Target. This time, we both made scores. They didn't have the new Ever After High signatures (regular characters), but they did have most of the Epic Winter snow-themed dolls. I went with one of only two new characters introduced in that line, the limited edition Crystal Winter. Couldn't resist my favorite toasted coconut-covered marshmallows anymore. Lauren found Christmas presents for her Dad.

Unlike the other malls we've visited this week, the Berkshire Mall is largely dead. It's only half-full, mainly with mall mainstays like Bath and Body Works and Jay Street Video Store. I didn't get anything at the latter. Lauren picked up a Wii U game and a Sega Genesis port of several popular 80's arcade games she could play on her Retron (a machine that can play up to 5 older game systems in some newer versions).

The mall does have one new tenant - Toy Giant, a toy store that mixes in toys from smaller companies with a few selected items from larger corporations. It's a lot like Happy Hippo Toys in Haddonfield, or Toy Genius at the Cherry Hill Mall. I didn't find anything, but Lauren picked up an action figure of popular WWE wrestler "Uncle" Dean Ambrose for her dad.

Started out to Jiminy Peak around 2:30. Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort is mostly a ski lodge...but in the summer, it has a few unique rides. We skipped the swing and the trampoline in favor of our two favorites, the Mountain Coaster and the Alpine Super Slide. The really cool thing about these rides is you control how fast and slow they go via levers in the cars. You have more control over the speed of the slide car, but there's less around you. The slide is a fiberglass course, and it's longer and twistier. Lauren says she's gotten burns several times, and wipe outs have been known to happen.

You have to take a chair lift to get to the start of the slide, which is a nice ride in and of itself. The lifts pass over the slide, giving you a great view of people going down. At least two little kids waved at us as they whooshed away. (The girl with the Afro curls and sweet smile was adorable!) You get an amazing view of the mountainside and hiking trails right before you arrive at the top, too.

Our last chair lift ride of the day was marred by a family with a grade-school age girl who kept bouncing her legs up and down. Every time she bounced, so did the cable...and us with it. Instead of telling her to stop, her mother and her father and older sibling in the car ahead of us egged her on, and even joined in. Please, if the rules say "don't swing your legs on the lift," remember the people behind you and don't swing your legs on the lift...or encourage others to.

The Mountain Coaster is shorter and you can't control the speed as well, but it does have its virtues. It's a sturdy steel track that doesn't feel quite as wild as the slide; the car has a belt and shoulder harness. It can still go fast, though! While it does rattle, it mostly goes around. There's a few up and down hills, but no steep hills (except the first ascent), no huge drops, and no loops. Beats the heck out of the Comet for non-coaster people like Lauren and me.

(It actually reminds me a little of the Flitzer at Morey's Pier in Wildwood. That was one of the only roller coasters I'd ride on the boardwalk as a kid. In fact, it was my first coaster. Mom, who loves roller coasters, talked me onto it and rode with me. While you don't control the ride, the track is very similar, all turns, no dips, hills, or loops.)

(Oh, and incidentally, Lauren and I were both fine when we finished. No burns or wipe outs here today, or even pulled muscles.)

We went around on each ride five times before we finally decided it was time for dinner. Lauren drove us back down to the Berkshire Mall. This time, we hit their one and only sit-down restaurant, The Garden. The Garden is pretty much a smaller, slightly cheaper version of Applebee's, a neighborhood bar and grill. They have great sandwiches and pretty decent Mexcian, too. Lauren had a spinach and mushroom quesadilla. I had a Monte Cristo with raspberry jam and fries. My Monte Cristo was very filling, and very different from the open-faced sandwiches that Monte Cristos usually are in New Jersey. This had the same turkey, ham, and Swiss Cheese filling on French toast, but the sandwiches were fried before being sliced. Wow. They were so decadent and delicious, very yummy with the jam. They were also very thick, too much for me to finish. Lauren finished her quesadilla, though, possibly the first time she ate more than I did!

Full and tired from our rides, we just headed home after dinner. I went in the shower. Lauren watched the Toronto Blue Jays-Cleveland Indians game with her parents. (Cleveland won, BTW, according to Lauren.) When I got out, I had cookies, we both had water, and we went online.

Our last outing will be out and about in the area again to check out a couple of promising yard sales, then up through the wilds of Vermont to visit the Vermont Country Store.

Oh, and meet Crystal Winter! The daughter of the Snow Queen and King is happy with being in charge of the winter, partially because it allows her to play her favorite sport - ice hockey! She's the star of Epic Winter, the newest Ever After High special that has the kids searching for a rose to end eternal winter at the high school.

I Can See For Miles

We spent most of today at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, about 10-15 minutes from Lauren's house. Jiminy Peak is a generally a ski resort, but in the summer, they have several small rides. The one we rode the most was the slide. You control how fast or slow you go on the yellow sleds. We must have whooshed down the slide at least six or seven times between 11:30 and quarter of 4. We rode the slide so often, the operators of the chair lift that took guests to the slide and the guy in charge of the slide knew us on sight. (The young man who operated the slide, or at least told people when they can start, was nice. We had some good chats with him.)

We had lunch in Christien's Tavern, a round, dark bar-restaurant near the slide ride. Lauren had a quesedilla and fresh salsa. I had the Asian (Teriyaki) Chicken Sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a pickle. Both were tasty; even Lauren finished hers.

After lunch, Lauren and I took another chair lift, this one a scenic ride up the mountain. It was really gorgeous, hot, sunny, and breezy. The wind coming down the mountain felt really great. There's a small cabin/cafeteria at the top of the mountain where we paused for photo opportunities and to admire the magnificent view of the valleys, towns, and ski resorts below us. The bright sun was hot on top of the mountain. It wasn't much cooler in the cabin. The air conditioning must not have been on long. My legs felt cool, but the air in the cabin was hot as heck.

Went for another run on the slide after returning to Earth, then went for a short walk to the Country Store, the grocery store/convienece store/gift shop for Jiminy Peak. There were some stuffed animals, postcards, and t-shirts, but it was mostly food. Lauren bought a locally bottled root beer that she said was pretty good; I bought water.

Made two more rounds on the slide after that. It was about quarter of 4. We were sweaty and tired, but not quite ready for dinner or to go home yet. We opted for a round of the mini-golf course by the Berkshire Mall entrance. We had a family in front of us who were really funny. The little boy, who couldn't have been more than 5 years old, kept raising his club too high. As his mother said, he might have been better off on driving range.

Had dinner at one of Lauren's favorite local restaurants, Bob's Country Kitchen. It's a small, rustic little place about 10 minutes outside of Pittsfield. She had barely beef soup and a salad. I thought of having soup, but I was too hot. I had two blueberry pancakes. Unlike the pancakes I had a few days ago, these were just the right size, and not bigger than the plate.

We were still hot and sweaty, so we went straight home after that and had Friendly's Sorbet in Lauren's room. We've spent the rest of the night chatting and watching Good Eats dessert episodes.

No major plans for my last day here. We'll sleep in and do some more mini golf, maybe go for a hike on the mountains. We'll see.

Rocky Mountain High in a New York Minute

Yesterday was a very long day. Tropical Storm Hanna held off long enough for me to go for a short ride and make a quick trip to the Collingswood Farm Market. I bought a little pastry for my trip and a jar of apple butter for Lauren's parents as a thank-you present. The morning was cloudy, warm, and amazingly humid, but I wanted to get a ride in before I spent the rest of the day on the bus. Actually, it was a rather pleasant morning. I spent the rest of it watching Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake on CBS, baking the last of the Cinnamon Refrigerator Cookies, and getting my food for the trip together.

It just started raining after Dad and Jodie picked me up and dropped me off at the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Mt. Laurel, about 20 minutes from Oaklyn. Good thing I was there early, because just as it did last year, the bus to New York appeared more than 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I had no problems getting to New York. The bus was fairly full, but I did find open seats in the back.

I HATE Port Authority Bus Terminal. It's a good thing I had an almost three-hour layover there, because I got lost. Again. For the third damn year in a row. How do New Yorkers DO it? Even the employees couldn't figure it out. I spent over an hour in the wrong side of the building because the employees I asked directions from couldn't tell SPRINGFIELD from PITTSFIELD! And the place is dirty, dingy, dilapidated, and populated with some rather nasty-looking characters. (Never mind a few little construction projects - what that place needs is a total top-to-bottom, rip-it-out-and-start-over overhaul.)

The trip to Pittsfield wasn't much better. It's a good thing the bus wasn't anywhere near full, because I ended up spending over five hours on it. By the time we finally pulled out of Port Authority at 5PM, New York Rush Hour was in full force. Traffic was pure hell, especially going through the Bronx. The rain, which had abated shortly after leaving Mt. Laurel, had returned in full force by then, too. And of course, the Bronx seems to be about three-fourths bridges. We were supposed to have been at Danbury, Connecticut within an hour. We didn't get there until over a hour and a half later, by which time it was fully dark and the water was rushing across the sidewalks of Danbury in miniature rivers.

Even skipping two drop-offs that no one wanted to get off at, we were more than an hour late in Pittsfield. Thank god Lauren is one of the most patient and understanding best friends on the planet. She was there ten minutes after I called her and told her I'd finally arrived. It was still pouring, too. Good thing Lauren's parents new home has an attached garage. We spent the rest of that night playing Mario Kart on Lauren's Wii.

When we both finally dragged our rears out of bed around 9-ish, the sun was shining, the wind had diminished, and the trees on the majestic Greylock mountain range behind Pittsfield were as green as emeralds. Lauren and I slept in, then headed for Jiminy Peak, a ski resort/mini family amusement park a few miles outside of Pittsfield. We went there the first time I visited in 2006, but my knee injury prevented us from riding three of Jiminy's biggest attractions. With my knee in perfect working order, we were free to ride the Roller Coaster and the Slide as much as we pleased.

The "roller coaster" and slide rides aren't your ordinary coaster and slides. Both are self-propelled - YOU control how fast or slow you go, especially on the slide. The slide is on a bobsled-style course; the roller coaster looks like a scaled-down version of an ordinary small coaster. I liked the slide better. The ride's longer, you have more control of your vehicle, and there's more under you when you're on your way down.

(The slide has it's disadvantages, though. My third trip down was marred by a mother and her very young daughter who went suuuuppperr slloooowww. The little girl was so scared, she and Mommy just wouldn't move. The kid shouldn't really have been on the ride at all if she was that freaked. In fact, I'm surprised the ride's attendant let her go down - she couldn't have been more than 3.)

Jiminy Peak was fairly busy when we arrived. There was a line after us when we played the short mini-golf course. After the third run on the slides, we decided it was really getting too busy. We drove a few minutes away to Bob's Country Kitchen, a small, cozy diner-style restaurant. I love places like this. I had three big blueberry pancakes and hash browns. Lauren had baked sole, summer squash, and mashed potatoes with gravy.

We spent the rest of a quiet afternoon playing Mario Party 8 on Lauren's Wii, making a quick stop for take-home Taco Bell around 7. We're planning on spending tomorrow afternoon at the mall before Lauren watches wrestling with her parents.

Here's more on Jiminy Peak:

Jiminy Peak Mountain Adventure Park

(And in other news, the Philadelphia Eagles slaughtered the St. Louis Rams in their season opening game and first home game. It was truly a great day. ;) )