Friday Faves 8/21: Hiking Mt. Greylock, Fog, Bright Ideas, Speeches, and Cauliflower

For the first time since March, Tiff and I escaped the city on our own. No family visits or responsibility, just a Friday-Monday getaway. In this case, we drove as far from Boston was we could get without crossing a state line: Williamstown.

While the drive was about three hours, we were still in the same pandemic stricken world - masks, plexiglass, social distancing. However, not being in the city was a huge relief. We were surrounded by the mountains and we could walk and run without much foot-traffic in our way. The food we ate was delicious and different. From hot dogs on a golf course, muffins in the hotel, iced-coffee while wandering the Williams campus, and pork chops on a patio.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and decided to hike to the top of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. We ended up biting off a bit more than we could chew, parking on the wrong side of the mountain and taking a trail that was 3.5 miles long and a bit of a challenge. As we climbed into the clouds it felt more and more like we weren’t going to get the major pay-off at the top. The assumption was correct, after about 75 minutes of hiking we were socked in with fog with maybe 50 yards of visibility at the top. We snapped some pictures, mainly for the comedy of it all, and headed back down the mountain.

That three hour hike was probably the longest chunk of time I had been out in the woods for a long time. I’ve been outside, running and golfing, but wandering through trails and trying to remember which way to go on the way back down was a wonderful experience that I didn’t miss per se, (I don’t do it enough to miss it), but I appreciated the freedom it provided. We were in no rush, we had no agenda, we just had to make sure we didn’t get too lost. Even if we did, we would have figured it out. The feeling at the top that we had to wander back down for another 3.5 miles gave me the feeling that I know my students sometimes feel at school. Reaching the top is really just the rough draft, yes, you completed something, but you’re not done yet; you still have to get back down to your car. The bigger the summit, the tougher the final draft is to complete.

Best Watch

US Amateur at Bandon Dunes - This was just an exceptional weekend of golf. Watching athletes playing for nothing but a national championship is refreshing. The site at Bandon Dunes is insane, and when the fog rolled in during the last five holes of the match the drama went up a few notches. The craziest story came during a quarterfinal match when a caddie tested the sand with his hand on the 18th hole in a tied match costing his player the match. Just a brutal way to lose; the player, Segundo Oliva Pinto, is going to be a freshman in college. He handled it better than basically anyone. Didn’t point finger and didn’t melt down. Just took the consequence (which I think was unfair given his caddie messed up, not him). The caddie was a local Bandon Dunes caddie, it wasn’t his dad or a buddy, but a complete stranger. Even with camera footage, the caddie said he didn’t touch the sand (a total lie). Just brutal all around.

Barack Obama’s Speech - Not sure this requires much introduction. A worthwhile 20 minutes if you haven’t watched it yet.

Best Read

Engineered Mosquitos to be Released in Florida - I have my very own mosquito repellent. They love Tiff and stay away from me when she’s around. But I guess that isn’t a solution for everyone… “Oxitec, the U.K.-based company that engineered the mosquitoes, plans to place boxes filled with mosquito eggs in the area, releasing male mosquitoes bred with the self-limiting gene. When they breed with female mosquitoes, female offspring won’t survive. Because only female mosquitoes bite humans, this can help stop the spread of disease. The species they’re targeting is the Aedes aegypti or ‘yellow fever’ mosquito, an invasive species that transmits diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika.” Fast Company…

To Fall in Love with a Golf Course - I wrote this one about my round at Taconic last weekend. I loved this course and the whole, simple, wonderful experience. Here’s the link.

Best Listen

Sleep, Eat, Perform, Repeat - I found this podcast on Monday. I listened to the interview with Tom Coyne , a fantastic golf writer. I also listened to another interview with young Irish track and field runner Sharlene Mawdsley. Come for the Irish accents and stay for the good, thoughtful conversation. The breadth of interviews is wide, so you can find whatever topic you’re interested in if you peruse the choices on iTunes.

Best Eat

Crispy Orange Cauliflower - This appetizer at The Barn in Williamstown was was “stop it’ good. A crazy mix, think Orange Chicken but instead it was a half a head of cauliflower, presented like a wedge salad. It was no surprise that we saw it coming out to nearly every table over the course of our meal.

Tunnel City Raspberry Muffin - Another Williamstown highlight. Tunnel City is a great coffee shop and their muffins are delicious. They’re huge, so Tiff and I split this one. It fueled a 7 mile hike up Mt. Greylock, so you know it packs a punch.

Best Drink

Bright Ideas Undercast IPA - Right next to MassMOCA in North Adams is a delightful little brewery called Bright Ideas (aptly named). I had the Undercast and their Tutledge IPAs, both are very good. Bright Ideas can crowlers (32 oz. cans) so we brought a few home with us to share with friends this coming weekend. They have a great outdoor space set-up in the parking lot of MassMOCA and there’s a BBQ spot there, too and a food truck shows up a few times a week, too.