Food vs. Hiking: The battle begins

Food wins

So I did it. I had poutine again. It's a rare delicacy here in the Northern Forest, found mostly in quaint diners, the closer to the Canadian border the better. Jessie and I made a pledge this year similar to last years fried dough pledge. No more than once...Well, we have been on the road for a month and I have had poutine, three, count em three times. Man, I love this stuff. Fries, gravy, cheese. Simple, yet bold.

Obligatory hiking book links:

Bill Bryson-for those of you living under rocks this book is great.
Nicolas Howe- an essential read for Five Peaks:Eins Day. The list of escape routes I have scouted for this hike grows every day thanks to this book. It also does an excellent job of portraying how stupid (or lucky) people really are in the wilderness.

Tomorrow-the origins of Five Peaks: Eins Day
Now-Sleep

Birthday Fest

"Birthdays was the worse days. Now, we ship champagne when we're thirsty."-Biggie

Caution this has very little to do with hiking!

Let me tell you about my birthday (April 19 slackers). It all started with an excellent breakfast at Melby's which for some reason I had no idea was for sale (Jessie just gave me the "obviously face."). Then for 2nd breakfast, drive the truck. After that exhilarating hour of driving which took my right by the Five Peaks, it was off to the Ben and Jerry's factory. The night prior, Jessie and I said if that banana was being made or the sample was from the iced plantain family, we would not be amused. Needless to say, Chunky Monkey was being made on the factory floor and the sample was ahem, ugh, Bananas on the Rum. While I agreed with the alcohol content, the main ingredient was slightly less than palatable. Never the less, we got a free cone, which was bold. At the factory 250,000 pints a day are run through and, at the St. Albans factory, an astounding 750,000 pints! Dear God, thats a lot of milk. At least all the cream comes from Vermont cows.

What does any of this have to do with hiking five peaks in eins day? Not much, other than I now have some ice cream to work off. Speaking of work, I will be in St. Albans for the VT Maple Fest starting tomorrow with the truck, luckily in this Northern Forest city we have internet hook-ups in our room. So, I swear some hiking content is coming... Either that or more stories about food.

ciao

Friar Tuck

I hope you all got the Friar Tuck reference in the first post. The mascot for the San Diego Padres is none other than Friar Tuck not this Friar. The mascot looks like a coked out George Wendt (photo) or a Dunkin Donuted out John Goodman. It is now one my life's missions to go to a Padres game just to see this in person.

Friar Tuck as far as Five Peaks: Eins Day is concerned is reinvigorating tea that is drunk at the tops of mountains with sandwiches. Christine has this excellent thermos that holds temps so well even Han Solo would be jealous.

More later...

Welcome to Five Peaks: Eins Day

Today, I got my new hiking boots, the deal was made even better because I was at the LL Bean Factory outlet and got them for only $120! I love the deals, love em. Hopefully, this a good sign for things to come.

This whole blog is created in the spirit of; crazy late night ideas, a bunch of hiking, friar tuck and sandwiches at the top. Those things plus, beer at the bottom will be mentioned without fail in the coming weeks.