(no subject)
me jennifer and chrissy went on a semi-apple picking adventure today!! here's what happened:
i told them we should have left early. jennifer had to stop at whole foods. the train was leaving at 10:55. it was 10:18 and we were still at the house. chrissy and i met jennifer at whole foods and walked down to the C line.
made it to copley at 10:53. ran to back bay. (i thought i was going to have a heart attack at this point- and jennifer managed to make it *worse* by telling me i run like a deer) we made the train exactly as it was leaving. (two seconds later and we would have missed it).
recovered from the running on the train ride. jennifer had forgotten the map at home due to the rushing. figured we'd ask someone when we got there.
got off at natick around 11:30. went to a tea shop. got some pizza. things are looking good. it's nice out- we have seven hours to find the place. alright.
around 12 we start off. walked up the street and found a convienience store. asked to see a map. found pleasant street (street for the orchard) about three miles away. started walking in that direction.
up a ways there's a shuttle bus. jennifer asks if they go up there. we tell him where we're going and he says it's in the other direction- about 8 miles. (?!) i guess there were two pleasant streets.
got directions from him and started walking. (figured it couldn't be that long.. chrissy making the observation that he was a rather heavyset man- which probably accounted for the horrified look he gave us when we told him we'd be travelling on foot. "it probably seems like 8 miles for him because he can't walk very far"
jennifer calls the orchard. they give us directions. go up this street and look for a hospital to turn at.. etc. we walk a long ways up rt 135 looking for a hospital. jennifer sticks out her thumb in attempts to hitch a ride. all she gets are a couple of waves, some peace signs, and one nasty you-shouldn't-be-doing-that finger shaking from an old woman. about 45 minutes later she calls the orchard back. we find out we've gone too far- *and* they give her more directions. (this set not including any kind of hospital landmark for some reason).
so we backtrack for maybe 20 minutes and go up another road. it starts to snow about 10 minutes in. "only four more miles to go!" jennifer states and she skips a few steps. even i'm still optomistic at this point- i mean, we're going to pick apples. and the snow is kind of pretty. okay- i can deal with it.
we walk up a back road for a couple miles-gradually turning into snowmen. i wouldn't be surprised if a couple of locals had mistook us for yeti as they were driving by. we caused no accidents however.
so we're covered in snow and everything's wet. we finally find pleasant street. (ho-ho... there's nothing pleasant about it! we still have another mile!) jennifer still has her thumb out at random points throughout the walk. no one stops. i give her an A for effort. at this point we've been walking about three hours.
we reach the orchard at 4. (there was much rejoicing). for some reason the entrance is around the back of this huge building- after a number of false entrances. we make it through the maze and find the door. at this point i realize that i've had two umbrellas in my backpack all along- i packed them to use in case it rained. it hadn't occured to me to use them to keep the snow off. i come to the conclusion that i'm completely retarded.
we step inside and thaw out a bit for all of two minutes before jennifer is ready to go out and pick apples. i think i have snow poisoning. we bundle up again and go outside only to make it about to the end of the walkway when this kid on a walkie-talkie steps up:
"uh.. are you guys going out to pick apples?"
[all three eye him suspiciously] "yes."
"i'm sorry- that was the manager, and the orchard has just been closed due to the weather conditions." [he pauses-taking in the sight of our shocked and disappointed faces] "...come on guys! you can *buy* the apples in our store and tell everyone you picked them!"
i think i blacked out at this point. i don't know if i punched him or not. maybe i tried to make him eat his walkie-talkie.. maybe i made a lunge for his throat and latched on-who knows-maybe nothing happened. judging by his smiling appearance when the shock wore off i suspect i just stood there and took the blow with a stupified expression on my face and shrinkwrap over my eyes.
i thought we were all going to cry. or fight him... whatever. there was a short pause-(long enough for our hearts to fall out of out chests and smash all over the snow) i explain that we've just walked about halfway across the earth to harvest apples but it's no use. i consider telling him just what i'd like to do with his walkie-talkie but he was really nice. we turn around and in slow motion and sulk back towards the store with vacant, zombie-like expressions as the news sinks in. meanwhile the kid says something else on the walkie-talkie and calls back to us.
"hey, wait!"
[we all turn around expectantly]
"...the manager says you can all have some free *ice cream* if you want!" he says as he steps onto the debris that were our hearts a couple minutes prior. he grinds his foot in with a smile.
shivering, we manage polite smiles as we herd inside for free small gelattos. just what i was looking forward to- something freezing cold ought to be mighty refreshing considering the circumstances!
the snow picks up. we spent about an hour in this small market (that sells mostly things we could have found at whole foods). there wasn't anywhere to sit- so we huddled in the entrance way on the cement floor eating our ice creams. it got dark. eventually we decided on calling a cab. we waited outside for it under an umbrella for about 10 minutes. it brought us to the nearest commuter rail stop (which was wellesly square. we had gotten off a stop too far when we arrived because we didn't take into consideration that wellesly is part of natick). we split the $12 fare. the train wasn't supposed to arrive for an hour. there were signs for a book sale at the library and we decided to check it out. we walked in the wrong direction a while- turned around and walked in the right direction a longer while to find the library closed. (kick-in-the-ass #18!)
there was a peets nearby so we stopped there and had tea for about 45 minutes. i was ready to fall asleep in my chair. when it was around 6:45 we made off for the train station. the train was scheduled to leave at 6:52. we got there and were greeted by a sign informing us that due to signal problems in aburndale our train was going to be 30 to 60 minutes late.
we waited. in the cold. for ONE HOUR. we were under a bridge doing the frostbite jig for half the time. the conductor forgot to charge me. this was the One Good Thing. upon arrival at back bay jennifer and chrissy got refund slips. i got one too for the hell of it. we took the T home.
and that's my story. you should be glad you didn't come. it feels really good to be home though. especially after a couple bowls of macaroni.
check out jennifer_cat ... jennifer's journal for the good parts of our trip:
-miniature carousel rides!
-streams and ponds!
-500 pound pumpkins! ("wait- that's totally unrealistic")
i told them we should have left early. jennifer had to stop at whole foods. the train was leaving at 10:55. it was 10:18 and we were still at the house. chrissy and i met jennifer at whole foods and walked down to the C line.
made it to copley at 10:53. ran to back bay. (i thought i was going to have a heart attack at this point- and jennifer managed to make it *worse* by telling me i run like a deer) we made the train exactly as it was leaving. (two seconds later and we would have missed it).
recovered from the running on the train ride. jennifer had forgotten the map at home due to the rushing. figured we'd ask someone when we got there.
got off at natick around 11:30. went to a tea shop. got some pizza. things are looking good. it's nice out- we have seven hours to find the place. alright.
around 12 we start off. walked up the street and found a convienience store. asked to see a map. found pleasant street (street for the orchard) about three miles away. started walking in that direction.
up a ways there's a shuttle bus. jennifer asks if they go up there. we tell him where we're going and he says it's in the other direction- about 8 miles. (?!) i guess there were two pleasant streets.
got directions from him and started walking. (figured it couldn't be that long.. chrissy making the observation that he was a rather heavyset man- which probably accounted for the horrified look he gave us when we told him we'd be travelling on foot. "it probably seems like 8 miles for him because he can't walk very far"
jennifer calls the orchard. they give us directions. go up this street and look for a hospital to turn at.. etc. we walk a long ways up rt 135 looking for a hospital. jennifer sticks out her thumb in attempts to hitch a ride. all she gets are a couple of waves, some peace signs, and one nasty you-shouldn't-be-doing-that finger shaking from an old woman. about 45 minutes later she calls the orchard back. we find out we've gone too far- *and* they give her more directions. (this set not including any kind of hospital landmark for some reason).
so we backtrack for maybe 20 minutes and go up another road. it starts to snow about 10 minutes in. "only four more miles to go!" jennifer states and she skips a few steps. even i'm still optomistic at this point- i mean, we're going to pick apples. and the snow is kind of pretty. okay- i can deal with it.
we walk up a back road for a couple miles-gradually turning into snowmen. i wouldn't be surprised if a couple of locals had mistook us for yeti as they were driving by. we caused no accidents however.
so we're covered in snow and everything's wet. we finally find pleasant street. (ho-ho... there's nothing pleasant about it! we still have another mile!) jennifer still has her thumb out at random points throughout the walk. no one stops. i give her an A for effort. at this point we've been walking about three hours.
we reach the orchard at 4. (there was much rejoicing). for some reason the entrance is around the back of this huge building- after a number of false entrances. we make it through the maze and find the door. at this point i realize that i've had two umbrellas in my backpack all along- i packed them to use in case it rained. it hadn't occured to me to use them to keep the snow off. i come to the conclusion that i'm completely retarded.
we step inside and thaw out a bit for all of two minutes before jennifer is ready to go out and pick apples. i think i have snow poisoning. we bundle up again and go outside only to make it about to the end of the walkway when this kid on a walkie-talkie steps up:
"uh.. are you guys going out to pick apples?"
[all three eye him suspiciously] "yes."
"i'm sorry- that was the manager, and the orchard has just been closed due to the weather conditions." [he pauses-taking in the sight of our shocked and disappointed faces] "...come on guys! you can *buy* the apples in our store and tell everyone you picked them!"
i think i blacked out at this point. i don't know if i punched him or not. maybe i tried to make him eat his walkie-talkie.. maybe i made a lunge for his throat and latched on-who knows-maybe nothing happened. judging by his smiling appearance when the shock wore off i suspect i just stood there and took the blow with a stupified expression on my face and shrinkwrap over my eyes.
i thought we were all going to cry. or fight him... whatever. there was a short pause-(long enough for our hearts to fall out of out chests and smash all over the snow) i explain that we've just walked about halfway across the earth to harvest apples but it's no use. i consider telling him just what i'd like to do with his walkie-talkie but he was really nice. we turn around and in slow motion and sulk back towards the store with vacant, zombie-like expressions as the news sinks in. meanwhile the kid says something else on the walkie-talkie and calls back to us.
"hey, wait!"
[we all turn around expectantly]
"...the manager says you can all have some free *ice cream* if you want!" he says as he steps onto the debris that were our hearts a couple minutes prior. he grinds his foot in with a smile.
shivering, we manage polite smiles as we herd inside for free small gelattos. just what i was looking forward to- something freezing cold ought to be mighty refreshing considering the circumstances!
the snow picks up. we spent about an hour in this small market (that sells mostly things we could have found at whole foods). there wasn't anywhere to sit- so we huddled in the entrance way on the cement floor eating our ice creams. it got dark. eventually we decided on calling a cab. we waited outside for it under an umbrella for about 10 minutes. it brought us to the nearest commuter rail stop (which was wellesly square. we had gotten off a stop too far when we arrived because we didn't take into consideration that wellesly is part of natick). we split the $12 fare. the train wasn't supposed to arrive for an hour. there were signs for a book sale at the library and we decided to check it out. we walked in the wrong direction a while- turned around and walked in the right direction a longer while to find the library closed. (kick-in-the-ass #18!)
there was a peets nearby so we stopped there and had tea for about 45 minutes. i was ready to fall asleep in my chair. when it was around 6:45 we made off for the train station. the train was scheduled to leave at 6:52. we got there and were greeted by a sign informing us that due to signal problems in aburndale our train was going to be 30 to 60 minutes late.
we waited. in the cold. for ONE HOUR. we were under a bridge doing the frostbite jig for half the time. the conductor forgot to charge me. this was the One Good Thing. upon arrival at back bay jennifer and chrissy got refund slips. i got one too for the hell of it. we took the T home.
and that's my story. you should be glad you didn't come. it feels really good to be home though. especially after a couple bowls of macaroni.
check out jennifer_cat ... jennifer's journal for the good parts of our trip:
-miniature carousel rides!
-streams and ponds!
-500 pound pumpkins! ("wait- that's totally unrealistic")