part 2

as the cog wheel ground to a halt, i rallied my sense, stood and filed out of the car with the families, the foreign tourists and the groups of 50-something ladies that inhabited it.

i looked around and noticed that the building we stopped at didn't resemble the center we left from earlier in the day. it was a museum and i am sure it was lovely, but i needed to get to a bottle of water and to the car. i had noticed a younger couple also on the train that were decked in the appropriate gear one would wear when climbing a mountain. i seemed to remember them saying to someone on the trip down that they had climbed up but were taking the train down. i figured when i saw this same couple head through the parking lot and onto the access road that they knew where they were going and would lead me to the visitor's center.

i followed them (on a gradual down slope) for about 1/4 mile when i realized that i suddenly had to go to the bathroom. i excused myself into the woods that lined the road and found a nice spot. when i re-emerged to the street i noticed that the couple was gone. "no big deal" i thought. "there is only one way they could have turned."

as i crossed the street and entered the increasingly unfamiliar parking lot, i saw the couple sitting on the ground, removing their shoes and packs and snacking on something pulled from the open trunk of their car.

it WAS a parking lot. a remote lot, by the looks of it. right about now, i came to the realization that maybe, just maybe there was more than one way up that blasted mountain. i approached them and asked if they knew where the visitor's center was. they asked if i knew the name of the place and for the life of me, i didn't.

he offered me their map of the park. we found the train station and the parking lot and the following conversation ensued:

him: there's a visitor center about 3/4 the way to the summit. is that the one you are thinking of?

me: no. it's at the base of the mountain.

him: (indicating a spot on the map on the exact opposite point of the mountain as we were currently standing.) well, i hope you are not thinking about pinkham's notch. it's all the way over here

me: yep. i AM thinking about pinkham's notch. so not cool.

just as we realized that i was a solid 10-mile hike or roughly an hour of road travel away from the car, a sheriff pulled into the lot. i thanked the guy and headed over to the sheriff. i explained to him what had apparently happened. that i did not realize that the train came down the other side of the mountain. that i needed to somehow get to pinkham's notch so that i could meet the other guys when they came down. that i should probably get a message to them over there so that they didn't think i was dead or lost.

he offered little help. only stating that he could get a deputy to take me back to the campground where we were staying since i was apparently closer to that now than to pinkham's notch. or that if we could get a message to them, that my friends could come around and pick me up once they got down. i thought about this for a moment, but then i remembered something very strange and VERY unfortunate.

rewind to the top of huntington's ravine: as i got into the back of that vermont mini-van, i vaguely remembered jeff handing me something. something that would, in theory, enable me to wait for them in a more comfortable manner while they descended.

he had handed me the car keys.

so, left with a helpless cop and no other option but to somehow get myself to pinkham's notch so that we could all get home, i started walking.

the slight decline of the road that i had previously enjoyed, was now poised against me. my lungs still not recovered and my body was mostly worthless, i wandered up the hill toward the train station to hopefully get someone to help me at least get a message over the mountain. i was almost back to the station when a truck pulled up. from inside, a young man named ryan who worked on the train told me that he had seen me wandering and wondered if everything was alright. i told him what had happened and my predicament and he was kind enough to offer me a ride to the new lodge about 20 minutes away that would be in better contact with pinkham's than anyone at the train depot. i obliged and we were off through a service road that cut across a good chunk of the forest.

ryan apologized for not being able to take me the whole way back to pinkham's but i assured him that anything was better than walking.

we arrived at the appalachian mountain club's highland center and he wished me luck. i made my way to the front desk and once again explained my situation. i told them i needed a ride and asked if there was anyone who could take me to pinkham's notch.

"well, that would be bruce." the young lady behind the counter said.

"well, let's give bruce a call." i suggested.

she let me use her cell phone to call bruce and when he answered, i repeated what was now becoming the most overtold story in the history of human experience: train to the wrong side of the mountain. pinkham's notch. car keys. etc. etc. he said he would gladly do it for the price of gas and he would be there to get me in an hour.

"an hour?"

"i am not at my vehicle. i will get there as soon as i can."

"oh. ok. thanks."

they then gave me the number to the visitor's center and i left a message for "someone who may or may not be looking for a message" that i was fine and would be there in a little lest than two hours.

i told the desk workers that i was going to go sit down by the water fountain and to point bruce to me when he got there.

the hour passed pretty quickly and in that time i managed to not only drink a lot of water, but also find out that i am significantly allergic to one of the ingredients of the cookies 'n cream cliff bar™. bruce showed up and we were on our way.

his van was the sort of industrial-strength crazy that one would expect from a former hippie from louisiana living in the white mountains of new hampshire. plain white with nothing in the back aside from a red camping chair (not bolted down) and a peach foam sleeper chair. i apologized if i had pulled him away from any holiday weekend festivities and he assured me that "the vodka would still be there" when he got back.

for the next 45 minutes he regaled me with stories of cops in arizona and the pain of owning antique trucks as we wound our way back to my friends. it was a nice and light way to end one of the hardest experiences of my life.

we pulled into pinkham's notch and i waved to the guys as we passed. bruce wanted $20 for the trip. i wanted to give him more and i only had $14. i borrowed some money from the guys and bruce happily pulled away into the vodka sunset. just a bit more than 8 hours after leaving the visitor's center, i was back in the car and we were on our way back to camp.

in retrospect, i am so thankful for the friends i had with me for (most of) that day. for safety. for beauty. and for the fact that God has a serious sense of humor.

this story is dedicated, with my sincerest apologies, to my mother and , with my heartfelt thankfulness, to the gentlemen who surrounded and supported me during the events contained therein.

it is also "retro-blogged" to preserve the time and date of these events.



it was around 8:15, over the oatmeal, when someone asked.

"how's everyone feeling today?"

in the back of my mind and despite the fact that i had just shaken a migraine that had gripped me for the better part of the last two days, i thought: "i feel pretty good."

we geared up. i packed my sling pack with an assortment of granola-related foods, a one liter camel-back bladder full of water, all the rain gear i might need, a packet of advil and my camera. i put on and tightened my ankle brace to protect my right, february-ice-sprained ankle and we were off.



we arrived at the base of the trail and decided our route. i remember james saying something to the effect of "if you guys don't mind a little 'scrambling,' we should take huntington's ravine." i will now contest that, though through no purposeful intent on his part, our definitions of "scramble" differ vastly. but we are not to that point yet.

the first two hours were great. after starting off a little quicker than i or my lungs cared for, we settled into a slower groove and took many much needed breaks as we headed away from the crowds and toward the ravine.



we excitingly and creatively crossed a roaring river. we encountered patches of snow and ice that made me wonder if we were no longer heading up mt. washington, but rather into the heart of NARNIA. it was silent. the air was fresh and cool, but the sun still warmed us. needless to say, it was nice.

i distinctly remember the moment. we rounded a corner and looked up to what seemed at the time a sheer cliff looming in front of us. i joked to josh, "i think my soul just died a little." "why?" he asked. "because we gotta climb that thing." "oh." he said. "yeah." i said.





we started up the first snow field and it began to occur to me that this may not be my finest day. over the next couple of hours, the snow fields continued but they conveniently shared duty with all manner of crags and boulders and each step i took grew more and more of a mountain in its own special way. ice was breaking away from other parts of the ravine and we had to move, but at roughly the rate of once every 10 steps or 4-5 climbing moves, my body insisted on taking a break. i couldn't move and breathe at the same time. it was too late to turn back and i knew that the quicker we got to the top, the quicker all of this would be over. of course "quick" was no longer on the menu for today.

i have heard that climbing a mountain can make one feel "alive." i kept waiting for the "climber's high" to kick in. it never did. in it's place was the kind of agony that i have experienced only 2, maybe 3, times in my life to this point. my lungs burned. my legs (though thankfully alternating) cramped. my back ached. my ankle...well, my ankle remained surprisingly resilient. and as my mind began its murky descent into numbness, i wanted nothing more in the entire universe than to vomit.

i did not feel "alive." i was moving as fast as i possibly could, but unfortunately, that speed was mercilessly stuck between first gear and neutral.

at 5 hours in, we finally broke through the vertical "scrambling" and entered the alpine garden trail. as lovely as that sounds, to my horror, the relief i was sure i was going to feel upon entering the last, far less inclined portion of our climb, was quickly forgotten as i realized that even these relatively easy rocks (nicely arranged in almost "stair step" fashion) were just as difficult.

my body and, indeed, my spirit were done.

with jeff and nathanael cheering me on from somewhere up ahead, i swallowed hard and "charged" into the ever-increasing (and entirely unfair) head wind.

"we got you a car" i heard at one point. you see, you can drive a car up mt. washington (a fact for which i used to make fun of some folks) and by the grace of our lord, our trail crossed the auto road. my new favorite people in the world were now a family of four from vermont who were just driving their mini-van up to the summit. they allowed me to ride with them the final 1/2 mile.

at the summit, i immediately hopped on the historic cog wheel train that would take me back down. with barely even time to sit down, we were underway and i was slowly, slowly coming back to life. and it was from this ancient, bumpy, small, loud, child-ridden train that i looked one more time upon the mountain and the ravine that, over the last 6 hours, had slowly and methodically kicked my ass beyond any state i would ever have imagined. then i passed out into my cramped seat.

yep, it was the best $42 i ever spent.





or so i thought....

to be continued

sometimes, i feel old

from yahoo! news:

"Jay Leno to mark 15th year as 'Tonight Show' host"

dear FOX network,

i know we have had our differences in the past. heck, we really haven't spoken for a year and a half. i am not, by any means, cutting back on my criticism of your programming choices. they are, and will remain for the foreseeable future...ass.

however, i have come across what i believe is a suitable and promising compromise that would benefit both of our camps. simply, all you need to do FOX, is this:

please, send a camera crew into prison with paris hilton. call it the next installment of the simple life. it will be FAR better than this crappy "camp" version you have coming up. think of it, 23 days of everyones's favorite* heiress huddled in the corner of her cell, rocking back and forth, mumbling "how can this happen to ME? i'm rich." over and over again while she waits for the weekly delousing and imminent "laundry-room rendezvous."

i would watch that. not only would i watch that, i would tivo it AND buy the DVD when it came out.

you have an opportunity here, FOX. an opportunity to not only create much-needed quality television, but to also win back the heart of a once-loyal viewer. you can do the right thing.

i await your decision.

regards,
cade


* - this is not true. everyone's favorite heiress is (or should be) her

it's that time of year again...

it's time for the annual "has america REALLY come to this" fest known as FALL TELEVISION LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENTS.

leading the way this year was NBC. the peacock showed that it was, indeed, a desperate whore and released a paltry selection of heroes spin-offs (playing off their ONLY current hit) and rehashes of old shows (playing off...well, the fact that they have no idea what they are doing any more.) they are offering only one new comedy which will last all of 5 weeks and eventually america's brain-dead obsession with garbage will kill off the only witty shows on NBC, the office and 30 rock.

RUNDOWN (NBC):
origins - a spin-off of the popular heroes that will allow the audience to determine what characters continue in the stories. yes, let's combine trite drama with reality television. brilliant. F

bionic woman - yep, you read it right. F

lipstick jungle - just one of 3 sex and the city knock-offs this fall. fortunately, this one is actually written by candace bushnell. but, i hated the original and sequels usually suck. F

chuck - something about a guy with classified data downloaded into his brain. F

the IT crowd - get it? it's "it" but it's also I.T. as in "nick burns: your company's computer guy: the series." thankfully, withOUT jimmy fallon. F


spin-offs of shows that are barely able to feed themselves isn't just a trend at NBC. apparently, ABC has made it their goal to have me kill myself by giving us private practice. aka, grey's anatomy: los angeles. of course, they win, hands down, the early battle of inanity by this little sentence pulled from a recent press release. and i quote: "ABC also gave the go-ahead to "Cavemen," a comedy adapted from the Geico insurance commercials."

RUNDOWN (ABC):
pushing daisies - csi meets the sixth sense. F

cahsmere mafia and women's murder club - both billed as "sex and the city meets whatever." producer darren starr (of the ACTUAL sex and the city) is apparently involved in one of them. you will have to let me know which it is, cause he hasn't had a hit in like a millenia. F, F

dirty sexy money - it just SOUNDS enticing doesn't it? F

ABC, at least, is offering a LOT of new shows. i won't go into them here. i'm too busy preparing for cavemen.


over at CBS, well, they are just plain crazy:

RUNDOWN (CBS):
moonlight - a vampire crime drama. F

babylon fields - a zombie comedy drama. D-

the man - an ll cool j drama. F

cane - a "latin-family" drama starring jimmysmits. P

the big bang theory - a comedy starring kaley cuoco. F-

viva laughlin - a musical, mystery drama taking place in a casino in laughlin, nevada. and really, who doesn't want to see that? F


as for FOX. well, they haven't released their line-up yet, but you can only imagine that it will be chock full of idol and 24 rip-offs. don't let me down, FOX. don't let me down.

more to come i am sure.

first the police...then genesis...

now this.

two words: Aw. Yeah.

happy derby day

as you are all undoubtedly observing your own, personal moments of silence for last year's fallen champion, barbaro, i just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very happy derby day.



without getting too mushy, derby day has taken on a new meaning over the last couple of years.

it was derby day 2005 when a certain chemist visited the commonwealth, completely unaware of the potential "suckering" that was about to happen to her.

well, as an anniversary of sorts, tonight we are celebrating (as well as for my birthday, i suppose) by going to the BU campus to watch a tennis match featuring this player:



that's right, my hero has come out of retirement and we are going to see him play (not an exhibition, mind you, but a REAL champions league match) agains the gray fox...the incomparable john mcenroe.

that's right. sampras v. mcenroe.

needless to say...pumped.

wherever you are in this world, i pray that the weather is even HALF as gorgeous as it is today here in the bay state.

enjoy your weekend.

ten things you don't know about me

for anyone who cares. some of you may know some of this, but i doubt if anyone knows ALL of them.

-i read magazines from back to front. always have

-i have a slight shoe fetish (in reality, it's actually a slight ALDO fetish)

-i am, somewhat irrationally, afraid of goats (there is a reason they are associated with the devil)

-i think night court was one of the funniest shows to ever air on television (and am unapologetic about it)

-i took not one, but TWO dance classes in college (and retained nothing)

-i've seen every episode of charmed (no note. just sadness)

-i am intrigued by cemeteries and have a particular fascination with visiting celebrity graves

-i sang baritone in a barbershop quartet in high school (we had no name...so don't ask)

-the movie rudy makes me cry...every time...without fail

-in the 9th grade, i cut the end of my left index finger off in a freak table saw mishap (i still have the nightstand i was making)

that is all.