I was very excited last week when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy lifted the stay at home orders. This helped clinch my plan of celebrating Flag Day Weekend with my parents back home up in Boston. Along the way, we certainly had some comedy gold adventures. We were then able to wrap up our weekend at our favorite home bar on their very first night grand reopening for outdoor dining. Oh, I'll explain Flag Day party here. A few years ago, I explained to my family that President's Day Weekend is a huge holiday weekend in Ski country at Vernon. President's Day is quietly one of the busiest ski weekends of the year, as it's typically the last possible holiday long weekend that ski slopes tend to be open. Then when you combine that with all the schools that have February vacation that week, and it leads to a very busy and exciting week in ski areas. I love the energy it brings to Vernon every year. My family at first didn't believe me, claiming that I'm making up holidays to get me to trick them into visiting me here in Jersey. Now that they have spent a couple President Day weekends visiting me, they get it. I always joked that I turn President's Day and Flag day into holiday weekend parties. Last week I went a little crazy and spent $24.78 on flag decorations at our local Walmart and have no regrets!
Friday morning, I was able to make the 4 hour drive up from Vernon to Mansfield, Ma pretty easily. Traffic wasn't too bad, most of the drama was from roadwork and lawn mowing on the highway medians. A couple weeks ago Awesome Girlfriend Megan talked me into trying a cold brew from Dunkin Donuts. I liked it! I then tried ordering it Friday morning, a cold brew iced coffee. They then informed me those are two different things, so I quickly pivoted and ordered a cold brew with cream and sugar. This is what happens when I don't have my hot copilot Awesome Girlfriend Megan with me and I'm left to my own devices.
Friday afternoon I was able return home to see my parents, just in time for the grand outdoor dining opening for my Padre's favorite local brewery, Bog Iron Brewing in Norton, Mass. It's only a 10-15 minute drive from my parents, and it's like that Cheers vibe (sorry for the 80s reference,) where everyone seemingly knows your name. Me, my Mom, sister Suzanne and Dad were all able to cash in on their outdoor dining. Wicked Awesome Sistawh Suzanne was slightly late due to traffic on her way home from work and we were nervous about making it in time for their 4pm grand reopening. We know as restaurants can start gradually reopening we'll all be working with lighter occupancy limits requiring great patience from all of us. I think our table was the second to last one they let in right at 4! We were so psyched. It was a beautiful Friday night in this suburb 45 minutes south of Boston, and all you could see everywhere were smiling faces once everyone sat down and took their masks off to enjoy. Oh, and the Bog Iron Brewery beers were fantastic as always. They're my Dad's favorite place, and years ago we even gave him his own beer glass that he can enjoy there during more normal times.
Friday night was an early night for me with my family. It's funny, normally I drive once every four or five weeks from Jersey to Boston and see my family. I've been doing that for the last 6.5 years. It usually tires me a bit, but never for too long. With this being my first time making the drive in 12 weeks as opposed to the normal four or five, I definitely felt it much more than usual. I'm wicked out of practice, as we would say in New England.
1 of 4 2 of 4 3 of 4 4 of 4
Saturday morning time for me to go out and about! Woohoo. I went to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma which is a 12 minute drive from my parents (when there isn't a game or concert, then it becomes 3 hours - seriously!) To think the last time back in mid March when I took my selfie in front of Gillette Stadium like I do all the time, Tom Brady was still a New England Patriot. It's amazing how much and how dramatically life can change in just 3 months. I wore a face covering even though I was by myself at Gillette Stadium, 3 months ago I didn't even have one mask. I left my mask in my Jeep when we were on our way to Bog Iron Friday night, but my Dad had a spare so we didn't have to turn around and get one of mine. To think now most of us have at least one mask, whereas a few months ago most of us probably had none. Despite the changing circumstances, I was happy to see Gillette Stadium just like I always am. Some normalcy for my weekend back home seeing the parents.
Saturday afternoon evening I spent in lovely New Bedford, Mass. Getting to see my Benvie besties was amazing. Their dogs Bowie and Ozzie spent lots of quality time getting to know me better. My beloved niece Bella even drew a beautiful Batman drawing for me. Talk about instant refrigerator worthy artwork, right? Awesome!
1 of 8 2 of 8 3 of 8 4 of 8 5 of 8 6 of 8 7 of 8 8 of 8
Sunday was an exciting day. JDawg and Padre used their smoker! They bought the smoker shortly after I moved to Jersey. We realized that they tend to smoke on Sundays, when I usually have to leave early in the morning to make it back in Jersey before traffic adds a few hours onto the commute. They smoked hot dogs, pulled pork and turkey. WOW. It was all amazing!!!!
We all agreed it was our best Flag Day Ever. It was great to see my family. I've never gone longer than 4-5 weeks without seeing them, this 12 weeks has been an adjustment for me and most everyone else going through similar battles.
I gave flowers to my Grammy, Madre and Suzanne. It felt great to be able to give them flowers for the first time in 3 months.
1 of 11 2 of 11 3 of 11 4 of 11 5 of 11 6 of 11 7 of 11 8 of 11 9 of 11 10 of 11 11 of 11
Monday, my ride home wasn't bad in terms of hours, the typical 4. It was definitely more adventurous than it should have been because I swear so many folks have forgotten to drive the past few months! WOW. Monday afternoon my parents took me to Fresh Catch in Mansfield, Ma our favorite local seafood spot. We also had our big mission of taking New England White Clam Chowder (Chowdah) back to Awesome Girlfriend Megan. Meg never liked seafood growing up, until a few years ago in Boston I had her try clam chowdah for her first time ever. Now guess who's favorite food is clam chowdah? We haven't had that in awhile, so I was able to buy a quart to go. Padre was clutch putting it in a cooler bag he stocked with great craft beers from Bog Iron. The chowdah remained intact, but just barely. By the time I saw Meg last night I opened the bag and the cover popped off. I immediately panicked and was frustrated, she was able to per usual be the voice of calm and reason, finding the cover and putting it back on. I'm hopeful her chowdah surprise is delicious.
Monday afternoon, WELCOME BACK NEW JERSEY! We took our besties Jasen and Brendan out for a double date along with Awesome Daughter Amanda, the very first night our friends at The Irish Cottage Inn in Franklin were able to open for outdoor dining. What an amazing night on their patio. My wings were fantastic. Everyone had great meals and we were so happy to be out at a restaurant together for our first time in over 3 months. It was so amazing to see so many of our Cottage regular friends in person as opposed to virtual Happy Hour. It was great to be able to yell back and forth to each other from across the patio. Everyone laughing and smiling. Beautiful sights to see after the way this year has gone. You could see so many restaurant workers and owners so happy to simply be working, and doing what they're great at. Success.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend, where Meg and I will be cat-sitting. #WhatCanPossiblyGoWrong?