Dealing from the deck of awesome August 25, 2014 1:26 AM Subscribe
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I posted a couple of IRL posts pointing out that I wanted to meet Mefites on a loosely-defined 'New England vacation'. Holy shit, guys!
Let me just say that you guys do not disappoint!
Monday:
We enjoyed grilled fresh swordfish and burgers outdoors with Vrakatar and feistycakes for a fantastic start to our vacation. Plus, experienced an actual outdoor shower! (The last one I used was in Southeast Asia and had the problems of poisonous snakes and the occasional incoming mortar round. This was considerably more relaxing!). Aaron is already making plans to go back.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was our change-of-pace day, with a morning tour of some of Martha's Vineyard, and in the afternoon traveled to Jessamyn's place, where she displayed her usual impeccable hospitality. We relaxed on her back porch enjoying the sunset while Aaron grilled us burgers, brats, and corn on the cob.
Wednesday:
We took leave of Jessamyn and traveled to her mother's (who I know from Flickr) to meet her. Her mother is incredibly gracious and did me a solid when I had battery problems with my camera. We had a lunch and left on happy terms. In the evening we met up with not_on_display, maryr, the young rope-rider, Rustic Etruscan, Famous Monster, and jpdoane. If I missed anyone else, mea culpa. We played trivia, and came in second; it felt pretty good to do that well in that rarefied company.
Thursday:
A down day to recharge, and travel to Portland, Maine. Aaron did say "I never knew you had so many cool friends, grandpa!"
Friday:
Marie Mon Dieu and her hubby made the trip to meet up with us and show us around, and took us to a place where Aaron ate his first lobster. On our way out of New England, we stopped in Connecticut and had a milkshake nightcap with BoringPostcards.
Five meetups in as many days! Whew! And it was a blast, and I wish I was starting it all over again rather that writing an after-action report.
I just have to say that Mefites have never disappointed me, and I have universally liked and respected all of you that I have met. I hope I have the chance to meet a lot more of you one day! You've made my last ten years here much greener and richer, all of you, so once again, thanks, folks.
Oh, and for those of you who actually like that sort of thing, the Flickr set of my trip is here.
Let me just say that you guys do not disappoint!
Monday:
We enjoyed grilled fresh swordfish and burgers outdoors with Vrakatar and feistycakes for a fantastic start to our vacation. Plus, experienced an actual outdoor shower! (The last one I used was in Southeast Asia and had the problems of poisonous snakes and the occasional incoming mortar round. This was considerably more relaxing!). Aaron is already making plans to go back.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was our change-of-pace day, with a morning tour of some of Martha's Vineyard, and in the afternoon traveled to Jessamyn's place, where she displayed her usual impeccable hospitality. We relaxed on her back porch enjoying the sunset while Aaron grilled us burgers, brats, and corn on the cob.
Wednesday:
We took leave of Jessamyn and traveled to her mother's (who I know from Flickr) to meet her. Her mother is incredibly gracious and did me a solid when I had battery problems with my camera. We had a lunch and left on happy terms. In the evening we met up with not_on_display, maryr, the young rope-rider, Rustic Etruscan, Famous Monster, and jpdoane. If I missed anyone else, mea culpa. We played trivia, and came in second; it felt pretty good to do that well in that rarefied company.
Thursday:
A down day to recharge, and travel to Portland, Maine. Aaron did say "I never knew you had so many cool friends, grandpa!"
Friday:
Marie Mon Dieu and her hubby made the trip to meet up with us and show us around, and took us to a place where Aaron ate his first lobster. On our way out of New England, we stopped in Connecticut and had a milkshake nightcap with BoringPostcards.
Five meetups in as many days! Whew! And it was a blast, and I wish I was starting it all over again rather that writing an after-action report.
I just have to say that Mefites have never disappointed me, and I have universally liked and respected all of you that I have met. I hope I have the chance to meet a lot more of you one day! You've made my last ten years here much greener and richer, all of you, so once again, thanks, folks.
Oh, and for those of you who actually like that sort of thing, the Flickr set of my trip is here.
"I never knew you had so many cool friends, grandpa!"
That's definitely worth the ($5) price of admission!
posted by drlith at 3:19 AM on August 25, 2014 [11 favorites]
That's definitely worth the ($5) price of admission!
posted by drlith at 3:19 AM on August 25, 2014 [11 favorites]
"I never knew you had so many cool friends, grandpa!"
They come from the internet, grandson.
posted by travelwithcats at 5:04 AM on August 25, 2014 [5 favorites]
They come from the internet, grandson.
posted by travelwithcats at 5:04 AM on August 25, 2014 [5 favorites]
We had a great time, and your grandson is A-okay! (and so are you, Pjern)
My favorite moment was when your grandson was climbing on the rocks at Bug Light and said, "hey, I just saw an otter!" and we had to tell him it was a rat.
Then an old lady who was sitting in her car waiting for her husband told Mr. Mon Dieu, "I was gonna tell that boy to watch out for rats!" And another coupla old fellas walking by said, "there's rats down there!"
Apparently they go after bits of clams when seagulls drop them on the rocks.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 6:15 AM on August 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
My favorite moment was when your grandson was climbing on the rocks at Bug Light and said, "hey, I just saw an otter!" and we had to tell him it was a rat.
Then an old lady who was sitting in her car waiting for her husband told Mr. Mon Dieu, "I was gonna tell that boy to watch out for rats!" And another coupla old fellas walking by said, "there's rats down there!"
Apparently they go after bits of clams when seagulls drop them on the rocks.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 6:15 AM on August 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
I'm going to Venice and Rome for a couple weeks. Are there mefites there that want to show me a good time?
posted by cjorgensen at 6:43 AM on August 25, 2014
posted by cjorgensen at 6:43 AM on August 25, 2014
I need to remember to do this next time Shepherd and I are in London (we go every two years for two weeks because family).
posted by Kitteh at 6:57 AM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 6:57 AM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
cjorgensen, what you want to do is start something in the IRL section. That's what I did when I went to Rome and indeed was shown a grand time by Mefites (among the things we did that evening was go to this hole in the wall place that sold nothing but fried salt cod and about three appetizers, and it was awesome) and I'd never have known about it otherwise).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:29 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:29 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yes, but did you offer to help with the dishes?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 7:36 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 7:36 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
I did in fact disappoint, as I got busy and lost track of time and didn’t get back to you, pjern. Very sorry. Glad the trip was a success.
posted by terrapin at 8:28 AM on August 25, 2014
posted by terrapin at 8:28 AM on August 25, 2014
I need to remember to do this next time Shepherd and I are in London (we go every two years for two weeks because family).
We go every two years or so too, and London/UK Mefites have always been very good to us. I blame them for our wanting to move over :)
posted by terrapin at 8:31 AM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
We go every two years or so too, and London/UK Mefites have always been very good to us. I blame them for our wanting to move over :)
posted by terrapin at 8:31 AM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
That looks like pretty great trip!
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 9:01 AM on August 25, 2014
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 9:01 AM on August 25, 2014
I was just recently in Seattle on my way to Alaska and the locals showed me a great bar and an amazing restaurant where we ate every app on the menu. pix start here.
posted by jonmc at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
so jealous. we'd spend every summer in new england from the second my parents adopted me until i went to college, and many of my most vivid memories of childhood are summers there. reading and seeing the pics makes me so overwhelmingly homesick (see also: my multiple viewings of jaws lately). thank you for sharing and i'm so happy you had such a great trip!
posted by ifjuly at 1:52 PM on August 25, 2014
posted by ifjuly at 1:52 PM on August 25, 2014
Glad it all went so well. Very happy to be able to host you guys. Bon Voyage to Aaron as he goes off to basic training.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:12 PM on August 25, 2014
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:12 PM on August 25, 2014
I got drunk w jonmc once.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:28 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:28 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
I saw on Twitter that you drove through Akron. We could've had a meetup!
posted by slogger at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by slogger at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2014
Eh, but then they'd've had to stop in Akron.
posted by maryr at 5:03 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by maryr at 5:03 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Before IRL came into existence I used to really enjoy reading these threads about meetups being held in various places and looking at the photos, even if they had nothing to do with me. People looking happy and silly and mostly drunk with their handmade shout-out cards and stuff. Now that meetups have been corralled into that subsection, I find I don't go over there to click on the threads anymore. So yay to these occasional meetup MeTas, it's really nice seeing people having a good time!
posted by misozaki at 5:54 PM on August 27, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by misozaki at 5:54 PM on August 27, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by Quilford at 2:29 AM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]