Dorr and Cadillac Mountains in Acadia, ME

10/9/10: The most beautiful, gorgeous hike! Woo hoo! One of my top two New England hikes of all-time!

Giant stone steps on Emery Path nearly all the way to the summit of Dorr Mountain, in a deciduous and conifer forest including many white birch trees. Increasingly better views of Frenchman Bay and the four Porcupine Islands and the two cruise ships du jour.

Very windy on Mt. Door. Could see Cadillac Mountain in the distance and people looked like little ants on top. Fred Field, the Boston Globe photographer, took photos of the group at the Dorr summit and on our departure for Cadillac Mountain, and then bid us adieu. [The photo appeared on the front of a special section, "Living Longer, Living Better," in the Sunday Boston Globe on 10-31-10.]

In col between the mountains, we saw beautiful rocks on the side of Dorr Mountain.

Fairly steep descent from Mt. Dorr to the col.

Seemingly a mile of flat giant granite slabs when leaving the summit of Cadillac Mountain. Passed near the auto road. Views to the south of the ocean. Lovely. Then a bit more difficult (scrambling over rocks) once we joined the Canon Brook Trail.

Thanks to AMC Boston Chapter leader Barbara Fay for a truly memorable trip!

~6 miles, ~1,500' elevation gain.

Route: Emery Path, Schiff Path, Ladder Trail to Dorr and Cadillac; Cadillac South Ridge Trail to Canon Brook Trail to road (1 mile on Route 3)
Summits: Dorr Mountain (1265') and Cadillac Mountain (1,528')

The joys of live music: Or why Friday night's Nickelback concert was so epic

My best concert experience ever! TWO guitar picks!

Nickelback and Three Days Grace at the Comcast Center in Mansfield Friday night, 9-24-10.

I couldn't believe it when the lead guitarist Brad Stock of Three Days Grace tossed some guitar picks in my direction, and I got one! I was even more gobsmacked when I got a second one from the headlining band, Nickelback! Sweet! I've been to dozens if not hundreds of concerts, and I've NEVER gotten a souvenir from any band.

It paid to get great seats. I was in the 2nd row on the far left. Had to use earplugs about 3/4 of the way through because of the deafening explosions.

Setlist: Burn It to the Ground, Flat on the Floor, Photograph, This Afternoon, Shakin' Hands, Something in your Mouth, Animals, Savin' Me, Rockstar, If Today was your Last Day, Too Bad.

Encore: Gotta Be Somebody, Someday, Figured you Out.

Theater: Alice vs. Wonderland

Another tour de force from the American Repertory Theater, "Alice vs. Wonderland" is a colorful, fun adapation of the Lewis Carroll classic that features budding young actors from the ART Institute. To ensure everyone in the class had a fulfilling role, the director divided the role of Alice into six actresses -- all of whom had different clothing but the same red backpack. I particularly liked the performance of Alice 5, Jennifer Soo.

The identity crisis Alice faces in the play mirrors the journey everyone makes in their teenage years. The messages and emotion in the the play were intensifed by the reaction of the audience, which consisted mostly of high school students. I'm sure the experience would be quite different with a more "mature" audience. I'm very glad to have had this experience with teenagers though! (Matinee on Wednesday, 9/22/10).

Johnny Baseball at A.R.T. is delightful

This new musical from the A.R.T. about the Boston Red Sox is delightful. Just delightful. And this is coming from someone who 1) hates musicals, and 2) is not an avid Red Sox fan.

Even if you don't like theater, you'll love this play. It's well worth seeing just for its depiction of nutty Red Sox fans at Fenway -- let alone the music and storyline.

Silversun Pickups rocked in Boston

Sunday 6-27-10: The sound on Landsdowne Street left a bit to be desired, but the Silversun Pickups were awesome!!

As the 4th band in the lineup for WFNX's Clambake, SSPU played for about 70 minutes -- about 25 minutes longer than when they warmed up for Muse a few months ago.

I took this photo with my iPhone during the encore, when I was only about 5 rows back from the stage!

Bald and bracing on Mt. Moosilauke

6-26-10: On this summer Saturday, Sheeba and I hiked up Mt. Moosilauke, which is the tenth highest, as well as the southwesternmost, of the 4,000-foot summits in the White Mountains.

We could see the summit when we started and it was 75 degrees. But it was very chilly on top and the promised 360-degree views were limited to about 50' once we reached the top about 3 hrs later.

We put windpants on over our shorts at the false summit, which is about 0.5 mile from the top. We took refuge from the wind in one of three L-shaped stone shelters and proceeded to discuss the World Cup (U.S. vs. Ghana!) and Belmont's Indian restaurant Kashish with fellow hiker Paul.

We took the long way down, as we somehow missed the left turn to Snapper Trail and hiked east back toward the ravine and lodge via the Hurricane Trail -- aptly named given the number of downed trees and obstacles on the path!

BTW, "moosilauke" has nothing to do with moose. Its name is thought to be derived from a contraction of the Native American words moosi (Bald), and auke (Place).

Thanks, Sheeba, for the summit photo! (Her trip photos here.)

8.1 miles, 2,450' elevation gain (~ 6 hrs. total)
Summit: Mt. Moosilauke (4,802' high)
Route: Gorge Brook Trail to summit; Moosilauke Carriage Road to Hurricane Trail on return (missed Snapper Trail somehow :-) )

A pirate cave and Walden Pond in Lynn Woods

Sat., 5/22/10: Enjoyed an AMC-led six-mile hike with pirate cave and three large ponds in the Lynn Woods. We started from the Pennybrook Road entrance.

I learned that the Lynn Woods Reservation is the second largest municipal park in the greater Boston area. Consisting of 2,200 acres in Lynn and Saugus, the park has

• several ponds, including its own Walden Pond (larger than the famous one in Concord), which provide drinking water and are therefore off-limits for swimming.
• a pirate cave ( pitch-black after just a few steps down)
• a small but beautiful rose garden
• an ampitheater
• a stone tower (closed for restoration), which I did not see.

I was the sweep so missed Mike Stadelmaier's informative historical musings on the area.