i saw 'happy birthday america' posted under the friendly's sign on my way  home last night.  this weekend, i think we saw about 20 friendly's restaurants, probably bc we weren't to far from the friendly's headquarters.  unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go to any of them (they have the slowest service!! not to mention i probably could only eat a side salad there since most of the items contain gluten or dairy).  anyway jared and i headed up to easthampton, ma to visit sage and brian and have mini-adventure weekend. 

the drive was pretty quick except for our rest stop for coffee which resulted in some 'tude from the barista.  here's the quick story bc i think it is funny.  there's a long line at the starbucks, so we wait...order our drinks and they ask our names and write them on the cup.  then after another long wait for them to actually make the drink, they call out the type of drink instead of the name on it.  of course there are a lot of grande lattes and what not and people are standing looking wryly at the barista waiting for their name to be called.  finally i realize they are calling jared's drink.  so he asks what the name is on it and indeed it was his drink.  jared then offers a gem of wisdom - hey, try using the name on the cup.  the barista quips back - why don't you just enjoy your coffee.  i know i am going to sound like a oldie but .... fucking kids!


so we arrive at brian and sage's awesome house, and head out to eastworks which has some cool stuff in it including repro depot as well as the apollo grill where we had dinner.  the next day we went for a hike to hunt for mushrooms.  we ended up with blueberries and a bruise on my butt.  then shelburne falls for some flower bridge/ glacial pot hole fun.  this town has this bridge covered in flowers.  it's quite nice.  and it's a memorial for all of the citizens that fought in ww1/2.  so i guess that's the most patriotic we got.

just around the corner are the actual falls.  the last time i came to visit them it was the winter so the falls were rushing all over the place.  this time, they were a little bit more contained.  there were crazies jumping off the rocks.  we just went down and took a little disco nap on the rocks after lunch at the coop.

here are some of my fave iphone pics of this trip (my fave is the 1st one of sage):
  

and more.....

        

the shelburne falls website describes these pot holes as:

At the end of Deerfield Avenue below the hydroelectric dam lie the potholes, an incredible geological wonder. Over 50 glacial potholes are clustered in one of the largest known concentrations of these natural sculptures. Ranging in size from as small as 6 inches in diameter to the largest pothole on record - 39 feet across - the variety of shades revealed in the metamorphic rock layers make it one of the most beautiful spots in Western Massachusetts.

oh and apparently BILL COSBY lives in that town!!  unfortunately, there were no jell-o pudding pops to be found.

after we spent the morning in northampton going to the largest yarn store ever (!!!), we had to lgo back to jersey.  there were no fireworks at all this fourth of july.  jared left yesterday - meh.

good news is that i am finally committing to knit a pair of socks.  i picked up some berrocco sox yarn at WEBS and i am going to figure out how to knit socks, dammit, or else.

back to the grind.