Camping in August

A few weeks ago, Chris and I went camping. It was raining, but we had a good time anyway.

Of course, on the way to the campsite, we had to stop for a beer at a brewery!



Okay, so it was a little out of our way, but we went to a brewery in Western Massachussetts called Barrington Brewery. The food was good, the beer was good. It was a nice detour.



And they had AMAZING chocolate cake. I have to admit that I am not a big fan of chocolate cake. But they had an article on their wall where someone had written to Bon Appetit, asking for the recipe. And it was called something like "chocolate stout cake". How could we resist?



Yes, this piece really is as big as it looks. We were literally eating it for days afterward. (Like we were going to throw away that deliciousness!)



Then we headed for the main event - camping! We got there, and set up our tent. We were all set to check out a brewery in town, but when we got there it was not actually a brewery, just a bar - so we headed back to the tent for dinner.







We had to get the fire going before we could start cooking our brats. We realized we didn't have any kindling, and it was raining so we couldn't exactly gather twigs and pine needles. Luckily, I had a US map from 1994 in the trunk which was pretty much destroyed anyway... so...





I think that was Alabama.



So we got our fire going, and enjoyed a delicious dinner,





and a couple of Trader Joe's beers. Our new favorite bargain!



Then we played cards in the tent, but I was so exhausted I was falling asleep! So we called it a night after one or two games.



The next morning,



Chris made another excellent fire, and I made breakfast!











I had found a recipe for a delicious camp breakfast, which I modified a little bit...



It didn't come out exactly like I had planned, but it was ok. :)



Lilly is not allowed on furniture, but we are a little more flexible about the air mattress, so it is a treat for all of us to cuddle when we go camping.





We headed home, but there was, of course, one more stop before we went back to the city...



Brewery! You guessed it! We stopped at Gilded Otter Brewing Co.



This place had a huge selection



of really tasty beers



and pizza served with greens



and cheese curds!



This is a place we'd definitely like to check out again, and not far from the city.



We had a great camping trip!

Bachelorette party, part 3

On Sunday after our fun karaoke evening, we started the day by heading out for lunch at an Indian restaurant. I love showing off the different cuisines available here in the city! When I was asking what everybody wanted to have for lunch, the answer was pretty much unanimously Indian. And it was delicious!



We considered trying to get tickets to a Broadway show, but unfortunately it was getting too late by the time we headed out. It would have been difficult with so many people. Instead, we just walked around and did a bit of shopping. First stop, though, was 7-11... it was really hot, and we wanted some Slurpees!



We walked all over the place, including walking through Washington Square.



There were lots of people - of all ages - cooling off in the fountain! It looked really, REALLY good, but we restrained ourselves.



After spending all day on our feet, we were all pretty tired! We stopped back at our apartment again (now that our pedicures were safely dry) where we showed off our roof.





And had a little Duke Homebrew beer tasting.



They didn't say it in so many words, but I'm pretty sure it was the best beer they'd ever tasted.

After the tasting, we headed out for pizza for dinner.



We went to a place right down the street from our apartment, and it was really good!






(no, Lea did not drink that beer. It was a prop.)





I'll leave you with a few pics from our hotel. We really enjoyed it. Most of these are from Leah B. Thanks Leah, hope you don't mind if I use your awesome shots!