help me pick a place, ill go (and trip report it)

[KRANTZ]

just finished the tr, sorry for the lazy delay, i'm too stoned to put all the pictures up now though so it'll be up in the morning 100%!

[KRANTZ]

After reading all the responses here and emailing a bunch of my friends who work 9-5s (the first response was always something like I [censored] HATE YOU FOR PLAYING POKER DIE), and receiving some very encouraging and helpful PMs from 4_2_it, I decided to head to Stowe, Vermont last Monday and to Trapp Family lodge.





But first, I grew a proper beard.


What follows is the running journal of my adventure.

Tuesday, 10/9/07
1:55 PM

Overslept. The past two flights I’ve had I’ve missed – it always seems like a good idea to book them for the morning and an even better idea to book them JetBlue (they only charge $25 for rescheduling a flight on the same day).
In the airport now reading a friend’s email with some words of wisdom pointed at my recent poker downswing. Stop tilting, don’t play bad, stop calling so much on the river. Stop expecting a winning session every time you play. Yeah, that’s about right.


8:17 PM

Bliss.

I landed and picked up a rental Hyundai Elantra and GPS (Garmin GPS is hands down the best one I've seen). A half hour later and I'm driving towards Stowe, listening to Broadway show tunes on XM radio, wailing to Don Quixote de la Mancha at the top of my [censored] lungs and find myself smiling just a littttttttle bit as I notice the mountains and reds, oranges and yellows of the foliage.


This is what I wanted!

4_2_it recommended I stop at the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. for some wine/cheese tasting on my way to Trapp. So when I saw it off VT-100, I pulled in. Fabulous cheese. The flavors were so sharp and pungent – I tried some aged cheddar (ok, a lot of different types of aged cheddar), some garlic and herb cheese, and a Habanero spiced one that was my favorite. I wasn't really in the mood to try wine but they were offering 4 tastes for $1 and I'll probably do that when I go back (I have to order some cheese for home, obviously). (Editor’s note, I didn’t go back, my flight flew out in the morning before the store opened :-()

Been pretty good about my diet but [censored], this is my vacation from the real world. When I got close to Stowe I stopped at a Chinese buffet for dinner. It was run by white people, which was really, really, really strange, and I was the only one there. Food was clearly terrible. But I did get this in my fortune cookie: "A romantic mystery will soon add interest to your life." Hmmm… Oh, and my lucky numbers were 1, 25, 26, 39, 11 and 11.

It's not often you get duplicate lucky numbers.

It started to rain as I pulled into the lodge. I've rented a guest house off the main lodge until Saturday, where I'm moving into a suite in the lodge for the weekend (Editor’s note – suite was suitably baller, no pictures, but I got wasted on sugar-free Red Bull and watched Kentucky upset LSU before I flew out). From what I saw of the lodge, it looks very cool and there seems to be a lounge with live music every evening. I also got an activities sheet from the front desk – I think I'm going to take a Yoga class in the morning (Editor’s note – never quiiite woke up in time for that). Then go for a run/shopping and get a massage. Probably some reading/DVDs in the evening before I really start thinking about THINGS.

As an aside, I feel like my writing style mimics that which I've recently read. Like right now, I think I'm writing to the caliber of a good twoplustwo trip report. Earlier, I was closer to my own style meshed with that of Stephen King (nearly done with On Writing).

Anyhow, I walk into the guest house and turn on the lights.

Yeah, this is what I wanted!


This is just so damn peaceful. I can see myself coming back here again and again.

Speaking of – there's a journal when I walk in. Each week, whoever has stayed here has left an entry in the journal. Ages vary from the elderly to the newlywed to children. Everyone gushes about their stay; some people have written poems.

My favorite, though, is an entry dated for Nov 25-Dec 9, 2006, authored by "Sal." It reads:

ALL ALONE – NO GUESTS
AFTER 19 YEARS
DID NOTHING
WENT NOWHERE
SAW NOTHING
TWO WEEKS OF BURNING LOGS
IT WAS INTERESTING!!!

Holla. Time to watch Sideways.


Wednesday, 10-10-07

8:16 AM

Just woke up. Had a really vivid dream about a cute girl named Emily. I don’t know an Emily. Heading to the lodge for breakfast soon and then going to do some shopping for the guest house in town.

11:11 AM

My eyes are still bright red in the corners from the blood vessels that popped when Dave hit me (Editor’s note – to illustrate just how [censored] in the head I was before this trip, I got in a fight with a childhood friend and ended up laughing hysterically, over and over as he slugged me in the face. No one pulled us apart right away because they thought we were joking since I kept laughing).
I look [censored] crazy and I'm half worried that if I do meet a cute girl up here she'll freak out at the sight of me (Editor's note: the cute waitress at Piecasso later in the week definitely stared at my eyes for longer than usual, likely thinking I was there to rob the joint and kill them all). I wonder what all the old people up here (seems like that's all there is, to be honest) have thought when they've looked in my eyes. Maybe it's just so strange that youth is up here that they just haven't looked yet.

Reading Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's definitely good, and I wonder if it's going to be great. Thinking about all the great books I've read, I realize that I barely have any of them anymore. The great books you read, you lend out to others to read, and they never return them unless you ask (and of course you can't ask, because you're either criticizing their reading speed and we all know it sometimes takes awhile to get around to reading a book, or you're a cheapskate – it's $5!). Then when they forgot where they got said great book from, they lend it to one of their friends, and the funny cycle continues. No one lends me books, though. I think I'm the only one of my friends who actively trumpets the fact that he reads.

3:16 PM

Time to go running. And sign up for meditation/Yoga. Have to free the mind before I can actually think, right? This haze on my brain has been here for a long while, now. How do I get rid of it? What will make me happy? That is why I am here.

Whenever I decide it's time, shaving this [censored] off my face is going to feel great (Editor's note: $400 wet shaving setup later, and it's gone, and oh boy is wet shaving NOT overrated).

5:50 PM

Went running along a recreation trail that runs through Stowe. Very, very peaceful – there was a nice little stream that it ran parallel to, with some footbridges and rocks. Thanks Joe (4_2_it) for the recommendation.



At one point I set off into a field off the beaten path, found a bench, stood on top and screamed. That felt [censored] good.

Thursday

11:32 PM

The haze on my brain is slowly lifting (I'm so surprised that it could be lifted so soon with such a brief trip). But it is. I just watched Sound of Music in the main lodge with a bunch of old people. I'd never seen it before and even though it's a bit long, I enjoyed it. Didn't realize that Do Re Mi and A few of my Favorite Things, iconic songs, that they're from this musical. Julie Andrews must have really been the origin of quirky/beautiful. The plot is definitely jumbled though – no subplots running truly parallel, but moreso subplots that pop into the main picture after another plot has been resolved (first the Captain loving his children, then the Baroness, then Maria leaving the house, then her return and the love proclamations, and finally the political subtext of the Nazis taking over Austria).

I’m such a gay sometimes.

Friday

5:45 PM

Went to Piecasso for some pretty good BBQ Chicken pizza. It's getting [censored] out, weather-wise. If I'm going to hike Mt. Mansfield tomorrow, I should be prepared. There's a decent chance that the weather will just suck and I'll end up hiking around the lodge area.

(Editor’s note – for some reason, I stopped keeping the journal here. I woke up too late to hike the mountain Saturday morning and ended up getting lost in the forest/woods behind the lodge. Made friends with these guys:



The trip was fantastic. Cleared my mind and got me off life tilt and I would 100% recommend Trapp to anyone looking for a similar type of journey. Got my emo rocks off for the next 6 months, I think.

Ah, and if I were to continue the journal for the day I returned…

8:45 AM
Just walked in the door, [censored] tired. Couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed after being gone for a week. Jordan (friend from high school) was passed out drunk in my bed, though. Oh, that's a little vomit on the floor, too.

<3 NYC

[howzit]

welcome back. great read.

[ahnuld]

wait, you got into a fight with david chang?

I went to the trapp family lodge on a family vacation when I was 12, I remember it was nice and very relaxing but a little quiet. I guess thats what you were looking for and im glad you found it.

[plzleenowhammy]

[ ] hookers
[ ] blow
[x] leaves

[4_2_it]

Krantz,

Glad you had a great time. I think I know which girl you are talking about at Piecasso. She was definitely cute and flirty. We never tried the Chinese place. Sounds like we made the correct call. Hit the Malt Shop instead next time.


Things to do on your next trip --- Get up early one morning and watch the sun rise over the mountains, visit the Ben & Jerry's flavor graveyard, baking class at the Trapp Bakery, Mt Mansfield hike, day trip to Burlington.

[KRANTZ]

[ QUOTE ]
wait, you got into a fight with david chang?

I went to the trapp family lodge on a family vacation when I was 12, I remember it was nice and very relaxing but a little quiet. I guess thats what you were looking for and im glad you found it.

[/ QUOTE ]

no no no not david chang different dave

[Kneel B4 Zod]

[ QUOTE ]
It was run by white people, which was really, really, really strange, and I was the only one there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Vermont is the whitest state in the US. it's good for many things. Chinese food is not one of them.

if you go back, go to the Materhorn, better pizza than Piecasso. it's also one of the best apres-ski bars anywhere.

[JaBlue]

wow man that sounds absolutely amazing. Something in the same vein and even better and probably way more expensive: OTTER BAR. Week-long Kayak school held at a lodge with gourmet food (consistently close to best I've ever had), ponds, trails, bikes in beautiful northern california (on the Klamath River, near Oregon if you have a map). And the people that show up there are generally fun. Check it out for next time you want to get away from it all, I promise you won't be disappointed.

[solids]

Hahah krantz, you miss flights like it's your job. Nice trip report, though. It sounds peaceful up there. Huge difference than the city. I need to make it up there one of these days.

Welcome back, duder.