Side Trip to Vermont

The wife and I just took a snappy little trip to Vermont the other day, driving to Montpelier one day and back to Maine the next. Given that the 140-mile trip took nearly 4 hours, the drive wasn't so bad except for the fool who nearly killed us when he almost pulled out 50 feet in front of us.

This was our first trip to VT, so here's a quick list of what we did and didn't see:
1. No Bob Newhart. Ditto Larry, Darryl, and Darryl.

2. Several nice little used bookstores in Montpelier. Lewiston isn't even close in this regard.

3. No hotel-sized Ben & Jerry's on the New Hampshire border, a la the casinos on the Utah/Nevada border in the middle of nowhere. This was a serious disappointment.

4. Lots and lots of green, rolling hills and fields. Vermont may be the prettiest state in New England, although I haven't yet been to Maine's Acadia or Mount Katahdin, so stay tuned.

5. Maine lobster is way more expensive there than it is in, say, Maine.


We're going back again soon (long story), so if anyone reading this has any reccomendations in Montpelier, let me know.

Carolina Day

I have been completely remiss and forgot all about that new holiday, Carolina Day. One year ago, June 20, 2006, to be precise, the South's #1 hockey team made all my dreams come true. So to celebrate, here's a link to a Happy Carolina Day tribute on YouTube. Oh, made by a Calgary fan. Enjoy.

The Cup Runneth Over

For the Sens, that is. Did anyone else think that we were seeing the overhyped and underperforming Senators of recent years last night? Instead of the scrappy team that fought past Buffalo, we got a team that played hard for about, oh, 20 minutes, and not consecutively.

It sure looked like only a few Ottawa players bothered showing up. Daniel Alfredsson basically willed the two goals he scored into the net, but who else came to play? Antoine Vermette looked sharp, at least until his penalty shot "attempt" rolled off his stick. Chris Phillips looked good, at least until he scored...for Anaheim. Patrick Eaves, Christoph Schubert, and Anton Volchenkov looked okay at times, but where were Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza? Spezza played as well as I did last night (from the couch, no less), and then had the nerve to tell off his coach. Niiice.

Anyway...I thought Anaheim played a smart, tough, and relentless series, and was clearly the better, even dominant, team. Who knows how much of their team they'll keep together (gotta figure Selanne is a goner), but they could another Cup run next year.

Now I need to break out my Carolina Hurricanes DVD and watch Game Seven from 2006 again. Ah, memories....Sniff...