GNAST: Day Seven

Thursday, May 26

First things first: LACUNA COIL'S ALBUM DROPS TOMORROW. I AM SO EXCITED.

Today we are in New Hampshire, camping in the White Mountains outside the Presidential Range (where Mount Washington is). We've met up with my friend Alex and her wonderdog Ruten and tomorrow we're tackling a mountain. Fingers crossed it doesn't kick our butts.

This morning dawned super freaking hot--we woke up sweaty and I am not going to lie to you, this tent is getting pretty rank. We Febreze'd it before packing it up this morning, but it basically smells like feet and DEET. We slept in, had a nice leisurely morning experimenting with MRE breakfasts, bathing with baby wipes, and letting the sleeping bag and tent air out, and then headed off. There were two passport sites we wanted to hit, and Aaron wanted barbecue.

Then Susan the GPS got involved. We almost threw her out the window and ran her over. A straight line between points A and B suddenly involved construction detours, a confused GPS, and every dirt road in central Vermont past every dairy farm, including one with a sign reading "We sell the best and eat the rest." Our SUV was a trooper, even with only FWD.

We did eventually find our two passport sites. One was pretty boring, the Saint Gaudens house in New Hampshire. We got our stamp, looked at the pretty flowers and some sculpture reliefs, and headed out. The one in Vermont, the Marsch-Billings-Rockefeller House, has an attached farm. The house isn't open yet but the farm is, and we got a stamp and bought some freaking delicious cheese (and sampled other cheese, which I can't wait to make into mac n cheese and we will order online when we get home) from an eccentric park worker. Also, we angered a dairy cow. She mooed at us, peed, and the alpha female cow ordered all the other cows away from us.

After getting lost again and some shrieking, the GPS, atlas, and Google Maps (using what sketchy connections I could find) got us back on US 4 and heading toward the Interstates. Sweet, sweet Interstates. Aaron picked a random restaurant off Google Maps, which happened to be down the street from Dartmouth. So we ate some of the best mac n cheese I've ever had in my life while watching really rich college students amble down the sidewalk. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dartmouth's buildings (that I saw) are not so different from FSU's (the women's side/new renovation side, not the men's Soviet block side).

But seriously, that mac n cheese was heavenly.

It was only two hours or so down major highways back into New Hampshire and to our campsite, which we found with plenty of daylight to spare for once.

Tomorrow, God willing, we'll get up fairly early, climb a mountain, and then find some wifi so I can download my preordered Lacuna Coil album to listen to at the campsite. (Priorities.) We're here for two nights, so for once we don't have to pack up and can maybe let Feet & DEET HQ air out a little.