New Zealand!

We're back from our amazing trip to New Zealand! I've posted my (many, many) photos. No descriptions yet but I wanted to get them up for those eager to see pictures. Check them out here and I'll work on updating them when Joe's not busy working on his geeky excel spreadsheets on our computer.

Homebody

I'm back in Madison! The Vermont rundown: awesome place to live, made some great friends, learned that I don't want to bottle my beer, glad to be home. Madison: splitting time between brewpub research and being a housewife, planning an early-February trip to New Zealand, taking Oscar to the vet to have his pink eye examined (irritation is probably due to lodged poop particles). My cell phone is turned off and my voicemail will kindly remind you in case you forget. Rachel and I are tightening our budget, which means that bagged 40s of Olde English are in and martini bars are out.

Vermont in the Fall

Otter Creek in Middlebury, VT

I made my final trip out to Vermont before Joe comes home. Good timing too. The scenery was beautiful! Unfortunately, I took most of my photos when it was overcast and you can't get the full effect. Trust me, Vermont is gorgeous in the fall.

How to Blacken Tilapia

Outside
Originally uploaded by RachelSuzieRN.

As soon as I threw the fish on, the cast iron skillet started smoking like a car on fire. There were actually sparks in the pan, and the smoke was so thick that I couldn't see the fish. Four minutes of cooking led to the scene pictured here. I moved into a new apartment for the last three months of my trip, by the way.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Big 28, woohoo!

Congratulations Chris & Natalie!

They got engaged today!

Bird efficiency

Had a new furnace installed today. Inside one of the old ducts coming from the chimney to the old furnace was a petrified (dead) bird. According to the furnace guy, birds will fly above, get attracted to the warm air coming out of the chimney (which includes carbon monoxide), fall into the chimney and their only way "out" is to flap their way into the duct work and meet their demise. Fabulous. He assured me that this will not happen again with the new chimney liner. I don't know what it is with my house but birds keep falling from the sky.

I did take a couple photos to show Joe. But I promised Kate that I wouldn't be sick enough to put them online. You can use your own imagination instead.

Vermont in August

I flew out for a slightly longer visit this last Wednesday to meet up not only with Joe but also Linda and her man, Aaron. We had a really fun time. It was great not only to see Joe and Linda but also to meet Aaron, his sister Alana, and some of Aaron's old friends from Middlebury (featured in some photos in this trip's set on my flickr page are his friend Heath and his adorable five year old, Caleb). Caleb and Linda became great hand holding buddies.

While Joe was slaving away at the brewery, I took a couple short hikes with Linda and Aaron in Green Mountain National Forest.

We also took a morning while Joe was still at work to go see some of Aaron and Alana's old homes. Their favorite (and you can see why in the photos) was a house they rented on an apple orchard farm. It has since grown dramatically and the owner/farmer of Champlain Orchards, who rented to their family and remembered them fondly, graciously let us walk around the farm as we pleased, pick a few apples and raspberries, and say hello to their hogs and their new piglets. What a beautiful farm and what gorgeous views out across the countryside and Lake Champlain.

It also helped that we had a great tour guide for the farm--a yellow lab named Pippin who likes sticks, getting muddy in the local pond and eating apples.

We spent a day hiking a portion of "The Long Trail" near Stowe. The total Long Trail starts in southern VT and goes all the way north to the Canadian border. Part of the southern Long Trail overlaps with the Appalachian Trail. The portion we hiked climbed up to the highest mountain in VT--Mt. Mansfield. Quite a strenuous hike. Destiny, one of Joe's fellow Otter Creek Brewers and originally from VT, also joined us and has had a lot of experience hiking those trails. At some points I wasn't sure if I could do the hike but we all made it and it was well worth it despite the steep ascent, rock climbing and scrambling, fog, wet trails, cold and high winds. The fog lifted up a bit just as we neared the peak and we were able to see out to lake Champlain. My muscles and knees are still feeling that hike. After we finished, we treated ourselves at a local brewpub called The Alchemist, had Belgian fries and (what else but) great beer.