North Conway, 2000
I'd met Todd through Mike, after I met him via Tony when he came along on
our trip to New York City to see Funker Vogt.
Mike and Todd were at Ceremony a while later and I found out that Todd was
really into mountain biking and skiing. We'd taken a day trip into NH to
go biking, and now I had a chance to go skiing with him and some of his
friends.
Sat Dec 16
Todd had called me and said that his friend Brian was going to be going
past Boston on his way up to Todd's house and I could get a ride from him.
I thought I'd be working all weekend, but turned out I wasn't, so I got
Brian's number and gave his cell phone a call. Brian pulled his car over
to the shoulder and I gave him directions to my place in Central Square,
Cambridge. He arrived around 10:30pm, his white Echo pulling up in front
of my house. I had my skis and an overnight bag ready, stuffed them in his
car and we were off. I'd found out from Todd that it was Brian's brother
Chris, who'd be there this weekend as well, who had used Todd's cell phone
to call me during a party - at 2 and 2:30am of course, on Thursday. I
managed to get us lost/found a gas station before turning north to head up
to NH on I95. Rain turned to sleet and road conditions were really bad. I
had brought a few CDs for the trip and I think we went through most of
them on the 3 hour drive. It should only have taken us 2, but better safe
than sorry. It was probably taking a risk trusting a friend of a friend of
a friend to drive me up to NH, but we ended up getting along fine, taking
advantage of the time to talk about tons of stuff, telling life stories,
etc.
We finally made it up 16 to North Conway, but we took a wrong turn off of
highway 16 trying to find Todd's house, headed back to the highway when
the Echo couldn't make it up the snow covered hill at the turn we thought
we had to take. We continued on for a little bit and found the road that
we'd been looking for. The real turn off was also steep and beyond the
car's ability, but we went on to the next turn and cut behind some other
houses to the parking lot below Todd's place. We found the right door, and
Brian pounded on it and then ducked behind me after we descended the
stairs to the basement entry. Chris opened it and seemed surprised that I
had made all that racket, at which point his brother pounced on him. Chris
and Todd were the only ones still up. We talked for a bit, decompressing
from the drive, and I made a mental note to bring a bottle of something
for the next visit. Had a tiny sip of some Irish Mist and I think that's
what I'll bring. His living room was very homey, with a picnic table style
dining room set up, two comfy couches facing an entertainment unit and a
nice fireplace. Glass doors looked out over a gravel walk and the parking
lot at the bottom of the hill. I was assured that in good weather the
mountain was clearly visible, but the mist shrouded it all weekend. The
bunk beds were full, and the couches were taken by one of the brother's
and Todd since he gave up his bed for me. A really comfy down comforter
kept me nice and warm after I gave in and went to sleep at 3, leaving the
guys up to drink.
Sun Dec 17
The alarm went off at 7am and I crept out to the living room to ask Todd
if we all were really going to get up then. The rain coming down outside
and ruining our plans to go skiing led to an answer of going back to
sleep. I woke up again at 10 or 11 or so, and everyone else was up by
then. Met Fritz and Dan who'd taken the bunk beds. Took a quick shower and
moved my stuff into Todd's truck before we all headed out to the Junction
for breakfast. A toy train was whizzing around a track just below the
ceiling. It was still raining, no way we were going to be able to ski that
day. I had some French Toast and Todd picked up my tab to try to
comfort me for the lack of skiing after the hellish drive up. We went to
one ski supply shop, having decided to shop instead, but no Marmot jackets
were available - I'd wanted to try on a Rosetta before ordering it from a
discount online store. I tried on a Columbia, but it wasn't quite perfect.
We hit the LL Bean outlet store where I managed to lose my hat, and
couldn't find a jacket in the right combination of colour and size - the
only medium one I liked was bright yellow. I was tempted by the storage
bags, but passed. Picked up a polar fleece pullover that's since become my
standard cold weather gear, a great buy at $20. Last stop was at Brooks
Brothers so Dan could find a sweater. I managed to luck out and found a
gorgeous full length red/black shimmery silk skirt that I snapped up. It
was perfect for wearing to Man Ray with my New Orleans PVC corset.
We moved my stuff into Dan and Fritz's car and we took off to head to
Boston at around 4pm. The bus had left at 3pm but they'd volunteered to
drive me so we wouldn't have to rush. They mostly talked to each other and
I dozed on the ride back after they gave me a quick lesson in stock
options. The rain was coming down hard when we dropped Dan off in Medford
and went up to help him carry in his things. Fritz dropped me off in
Central and I fell into bed.
Back to my diary page.