Blizzard of 2009

We got 21 inches of snow in less than 24 hours! So everyone I know in the Great Lakes and Northeast is laughing at that amount but it's enough to stop Baltimore for a day or two. Luckily we usually only have a couple of light snows each winter, but every 7-8 years we get dumped on. The last time it happened it was my first winter here. I wondered what I had gotten myself into by moving out here. But I have to admit it's fun to have everything stopped for a while so we get to enjoy the quiet and beauty that snow brings to the world in winter.

A few hours into the start of the storm.

Accumulation of a day's worth of snow ... and still coming

This is our driveway that Tom shoveled twice that day - you'd never know.

Good thing he loves the snow!

The Big Dig Out - Day 2

Tom in the snow before the dig out.

I think the amount on the trash can is the most telling of how much we got.

You never pay attention to how long your driveway is until you have to shovel it!

I thought the texture of the snow was so cool in the morning in the front yard.

The wind whipped the snow in to a strange pattern on the porch roof.

Since the weather stayed cool the snow stayed put and we had the first White Christmas in a while.

Timber!!!

We had a 110 foot Red Oak Tree in our backyard that died a couple of years ago. We knew it needed to come out because every time we had a storm huge branches would break off. But we kept putting it off since everyone who we brought in to give us a quote wanted $5,000 to $8,000 since it's so big and right next to the power lines. We finally found a neighbor who recommended these guys who did it for $1600. Tom had a fun time watching them cut it down and it's nice not to have to worry about it falling on us anymore.

The tree in the middle with no leaves is the problem child.

Since our neighbors saved us so much money we gave them all the wood.

They'll be set for a while.

Timber!!!

Bye Bye Oak Tree!

The Monster Mash

We love video fill ins so here are our latest Halloween creations. We couldn't embed Tom's version - so click here for the link. Mine is below:

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Lancaster 2009

We just made our annual trek to Lancaster, PA and loaded up on our Fall supplies at Cherry Hill Orchard. I love this place for it's wide variety of pumpkins, Indian corn, gourds, and freshly picked apples. It always amazes me how long these freshly grown and picked apples last and how great they taste. Each year we are able to make fresh apple pies for 4-6 weeks with the apples we buy here.

Here is a montage of all my favorite things about the orchard.

Vacationland - Vermont and New Hampshire

2300 miles in 10 days - I don't want to sit in the car again for a long time! We just got back from our first trip to New England and loved it! We wanted to go in the fall when the leaves were changing colors and it was so worth the wait. Maine wasn't the first stop but it was one of our favorites, and we loved their licence plates because it summed up our trip - Vacation Land!

We started the trip by driving up to Burlington, Vermont. We stayed by Lake Champlain and visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory and the Cabot Cheese Factory and got lots of yummy samples. Along the way we stopped at the Von Trapp Lodge (owned by the Von Trapp Family) for an Austrian lunch. We couldn't believe how beautiful the leaves were...of course the pictures don't do it justice!

Vermont on the drive up

Lake Champlain

Ben and Jerry's

The Von Trapp Lodge

More of the Changing Leaves in Vermont and New Hampshire

Vacationland - Cape Cod, Plymouth and Walden Pond

After another long drive we made it to Boston! We have wanted to go to Boston for a while so it was exciting to finally be there. Unfortunately we woke up to a drab and rainy day. We didn't want to wander around Boston in the rain so we decided to drive to Cape Cod for the day since it was a couple of hours away.

When we first got to Cape Cod we were surprised how marshy it was - but it works out for the many Cranberry Bogs in the area. We were surprised how swampy the Cranberry bogs look when the cranberries are growing. We thought we'd see all the bright berries floating in the water - but apparently that only happens on harvest day.

There is definitely a "Cape Cod" style house. We couldn't believe how small they are! As we got closer to the tip of Cape Cod we saw tons of these little beach houses all in a row - again we couldn't believe how small they were. The ones in the pictures are actually bigger than most we saw. I couldn't imagine spending the summer in one of those!

At the tip of Cape Cod is a beautiful beach that is surrounded by sand dunes and tons of bike trails.

Later we headed to Plymouth Rock. We were surprised by how little there was there but Tom liked it that way because he thought it felt more authentic to how it probably was when the Pilgrims landed there in 1620. There was a replica of the Mayflower there. We couldn't believe how small it was. Around 100 people spent several months crammed into this ship to see what opportunities they could make for themselves here in America. No wonder disease was such a concern - I can't imagine how tight the quarters would have been.

Statues of Plymouth Pilgrims

Here is the actual Plymouth Rock - it's just a big rock with 1620 engraved on it in a big covered structure. That's about all there is in Plymouth. Not too exciting but it was neat to be there and get a feel for how things were back then.

Last but not least we went to Walden Pond which Thoreau made famous. It was beautiful and peaceful with lots of trails. We got there right before sunset so we didn't get to spend too much time there, but it would be a fun place to go back to when we have more time to really enjoy it.

Vacationland - The Maine Event

We were excited to go to Maine to get to see our friends the Freemans and to hear about their adventures since they moved. We had a great time visiting, catching up, and playing with the kids. We kept Darrell from studying so we hope he didn't get too far behind! It was great to see you guys and we hope to be able to come and see you again before you move again!

The gorgeous leaves on the way up to the Portland, Maine area.

This is the Beach that is just a few blocks away from the Freemans. I was surprised how bright, sunny and warm it was! No wonder they spent most of the summer here. Not too far down the road we found this cottage - I'm ready to move in!

Next we headed to Cape Elizabeth. It was a gorgeous day with gorgeous views until it started pouring on us with hardly any clouds in the sky. We ran to the car and looked like we had just gotten out of the shower because we were so soaked! Since it poured for a while we decided to drive to Freeport to check the city out.

Freeport is a great little town with great shops and restaurants and the L.L. Bean Flagship Store. There are 4 - 5 buildings each the size of Costco that make up the store and they're open 24 hours! There is a store just for clothes, another just for hunting and fishing, another with home stuff and furniture, and another for bikes and kayaks. It was so overwhelming with so much to see - I think we could have spent a week in there!

Another of our favorite places was Wicked Whoopies. We had both heard of it but weren't that big a fans of the Amish whoppie pies we had had previously in Lancaster. We decided to buy some and try them out. We went to the car and split the Peanut Butter Whoopie and couldn't believe how good it was! We had to go back to buy some more and couldn't pass up getting one of the Giant Whoopies! Tom liked the variety of flavors and my favorite was the Red Velvet Whoopie.

Full of Whoopie Pies we headed to Portland, Maine to get some official Maine Lobst-ah. We were hoping to go to one of the Mom and Pop Shops that had Lobst-ah for $3.89/lb but they were all closed for the season. We finally decided on the Portland Lobster Company and got to eat out back on the patio on the water. It was a gorgeous night and the Lobst-ah was AMAZING! I can't wait to go back and have more of that lobst-ah! I got the lobst-ahs and Tom got a lobst-ah roll and lobst-ah bisque.

The view from our table

Our Lobst-ah Pager telling us our lobst-ah was ready!

Tom's Lobst-ah Roll

My Maine Lobst-ahs - Matt these were for you!