Outlining some fun entertainment / things to do in Amherst

Hello everyone! It's Friday! :D I decided that today I would post a blog that kind of shows you the fun things to do around this area, good places to eat, and just some places you'd see us during the week.

ENTERTAINMENT/PLACES TO GO:

• Well, first of all, the area is VERY artsy (or at least, much more so than what I noticed in Boise). There's always something going on at the university, or Amherst College, so it's nice being able to always have something to go do, or an exhibit to see.
  
• Atkins Farms: we have LOVED this place. First of all, it really does have some of the best local produce around (and if there's one better, we just haven't discovered it yet.) They have lots of fall activities going on, such as scarecrow making, festivals for PYO (pick your own) apples and pumpkins, and lots of unique things to see inside the store. It has a homemade ice cream section (with AMAZING ice cream), a Savory Suppers section (which is where you can prepare meals for your family by putting together ingredients laid out by the Savory Suppers staff to then be in your freezer until you're ready to pull one out for dinner that night. It's great! 10 homemade, delicious meals for a great price! Super easy for those days we just don't want to cook. :) Just generally a really nice place to be.




• Antonio's: enough can't be said about this place. Literally, the best pizza I've ever had. This is kind of the "big" attraction in the area, the first place people recommend to go. They serve tons of unique toppings on their pizza (such as baked potato, blt, and chicken bacon ranch), and have such an addicting crust, I am speechless. Honestly, amazing. Whoever comes to visit us next, we're going here first.





• ABC and Northampton Brewery Company: The ABC stands for Amherst Brewing Company, and the Northampton Brewery Company are fun places to go. They brew their own beer, and the atmosphere is very local and entertaining. This is considered "the hangout" for a lot of people at the University.
  


• Museums: Amherst has quite a few museums, but the ones that I'm the most interested in are the Emily Dickinson museum (in her old home), and the Eric Carle museum (remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar? That author lives in Amherst).



• Hiking: the hiking trails here are amazing. We haven't been on one yet, but apparently you have to go hiking at least once while you live here because of the absolutely gorgeous view when you get to the top.



• Northampton: Northampton is only about 10 minutes from our house. It's a great downtown area to walk in, with lots of cute shops and mini malls to roam. It's rained 2 out of 4 times we've been there (haha!) but just a truly wonderful place to spend a day.



• Yankee Candle Shop: The original Yankee Candle store is located in the area. Rodney and I haven't been there yet, but driven past it a few times--it's gigantic!



• Crazy Noodles and Bueno Y Sano: These two restaraunts are our other two favorites-- Crazy Noodles is a small place that makes fantastic pasta dishes. I'm always amazed at the quality of their food. Equally amazing is Bueno Y Sano, which is a mexican food place with AMAZING burritos.



• Hamilton Orchards: A fall activity only, obviously, but a really fun place. We went only once (with the saxophone studio), and it was really a fun place to hang out. CIDER DONUTS. That's all I can say. I've had more cider donuts within the last 2 months than I think I ever have. They're a big thing in fall festivals. You have to get yourself a cider donut. Ah-mazing.




• Here are just a few other images of Amherst. Enjoy!

(The last one is Town Hall)

So there are some things that we have available to us. :)

Saxophone Quartet in Performance

Tom Glassey
Kara Nye
Rodney Zuroeveste
Mat Schumer



Taken by professor Klock at the Multibands performance on the morning of 10/15/09

Columbus 3-Day Weekend

This weekend was a 3-day weekend in Massachusetts-- Monday off for Columbus Day. So, Rodney and I decided for another fun adventure. :) Saturday, we went to Saratoga Springs, NY so Rodney could drop off some instruments for the studio at UMass, so we browsed Saratoga streets (beautiful!) We got home Saturday night and went to a Grad Student Campfire party, which was also really fun. Then, Sunday morning, we got up early and left for Colchester, VT to have an enjoyable weekend with Rod and Glenna Copeland again (family friends on Rodney's side). We stayed there until Monday night, when we returned home. Great weekend! Mini vacation! :)

A wonderful store in Saratoga with fancy racetrack hats-- these cost $100-150 each!

On the streets of Saratoga.

Rodney LOVES antique stores so he can look for records.

Rodney remembered this place from when he went to Saratoga Springs with the other grad assistant last time, and remembered loving it. So, we came here again! :)

THIS place is the birthplace of the potato chip! Turns out, the first time the potato chip was invented was out of spite and anger. It's a restaraunt, and so a customer ordered the "potato fries", which were really thick potato slices that were fried. The customer complained, stating that he wanted it thinner, so the waiter took it back so they could redo the guy's potato slices. When he received the second order, the customer still complained, stating he wanted it even thinner, so at this point the waiter was angry at the customer's pickiness, so took the order back and asked the cook to please cut the potatoes so thin that it wouldn't even really be a potato slice anymore, but instead like a thin piece of grease and crisp. He brought those slices to the customer, the customer LOVED them, and all the other customers around him were crowding around to try this "new fried sensation." Isn't that great?? All this happened at this Potato Chip shop in 1858.

Our drive up to Vermont-- Vermont is called the "Green Mountain State", and I completely understand why. It's COVERED with trees-- a complete smattering of color, and just GORGEOUS. Here are some of the pictures we took from our car window (the first couple were taken in Massachusetts).

A piece Rodney is playing, composed by someone for Amherst.

The beautiful driveway to Rod and Glenna's house off Lake Champlain.

Rod and Glenna's house (the front)-- it's right off the lake (which is behind it).

These two pictures are great-- we're driving on a thin land mass that cuts through Lake Champlain-- the first picture (above) shows New York in the background. The second picture (below) shows Canada in the background. You look left, you see NY. To the right, Canada. It was great!

Some funny plastic "masks." haha!

This picture shows "Camel's Hump", the tallest (and most well-known) mountain in Vermont. It's named Camel's Hump for... well, obvious reasons. :) Some call it "crouching lion," but I don't see that so much.

We HAD to reenact this picture! We came to Vermont to visit Rod and Glenna about 4 years ago, and went to this cheese tasting place (Cabot), and outside there's this cow. We had NO idea it would still be there when we came this weekend, but it was! So, we reenacted the picture. :) The old one (from 4 years ago) is below.

Glass blowing. :) I liked this first picture because the flash makes it look like a lightning bolt is going through the oven to the man! haha

Pretty scenery!

THE VON TRAPP HOUSE!! Remember The Sound of Music? This is the Von Trapp family's house when they moved from Austria after the Nazis chased them out. The liked Vermont because it looked very similar to Austria. The two parents have died, but some of the children still live, and they have quite a few grandkids.

Rodney and me in front of the Von Trapp house.

The REAL Sound of Music crew-- the actual Von Trapps. :) Maria (the main character from the movie) is on the top right (next to Captain Von Trapp). The woman to the left of Captain Von Trapp is his first wife, before she died.

Another great weekend! :)

Feeling Pathetic

Today, I'm feeling completely pathetic.

We got home from Saratoga Springs, NY (more about that trip in the next post to come), and I had a sudden burst of energy to get in shape! It's been... not exaggerating... 6 years since I've really worked out. I've done some small things here or there, such as coaching the cheerleaders how to do kicks, jumps, and warm-up drills, but that's it. So, after I realized my higher metabolism isn't going to last forever, (and proof of that is starting to peek around the corner), I decided to start getting in shape. Heck, I'm in Massachusetts, with this BEAUTIFUL scenery around me, a nice calming run will help me get in touch with nature, right?

ARGH. I just finished my "run." I got all "suited" up, with my new iTouch armband, workout pants, and tee-shirt, did my stretches, kept playing up in my head that "aw, it really won't be so bad. Like riding a bike, just like riding a bike." I thought back to the days I was in cheerleading and would run a mile at 5:30am every summer morning (CHS cheerleaders, you know what I'm talking about), so really, what could be so hard? All of those out-of-shape ads and statistics, they won't apply. I'm powerful Angela Zuroeveste, and I have all of the running equipment I need... iTouch tunes will SURELY provide a fit heart. No doubt.

So, I stepped off my front steps and proudly started jogging with my head held high. Looking around at all the fall leaves, the squirrels prancing along, the chipmunks scampering, and I am "one" with nature. I wave to the neighbor, feeling proud as I think about how I am role modeling the ways to stay in shape. I've run past about five apartment buildings, and I'm thinking, "Wow, really a cinch." But then, just as Keith Urban's "Only You Can Love Me This Way" comes on the iTouch, I start bogging down. Oh no! It must be the song, it's too slow! I quickly change it to something more lively-- The Used? Sean Kingston? Cobra Starship? Why don't any of these work?? After only about... oh, 6 or 7 apartment buildings (probably close to 100th of a block), the familiar pain in the chest... (only it used to come after a mile or so), the side cramp, and my legs feel like I'm carrying 20 full-grown men on my back. I know that I'm still in sight of my neighbor, and she saw the building I came out of and the short distance I've traveled. So, I push on, beginning to really feel like a trooper. Maybe I can push through this?

I round a corner...after what feels like an eternity, and what would amount to probably only about two blocks, and I HAVE to walk. My mouth is one big cottonball, my throat feels like I just swallowed a bag of sawdust, and my whole body is aching. So, I walk. I tell myself I'll only walk the same amount of time I jogged. Luckily, no one's around to hear me breathing so heavily one would swear I ran a marathon. Finally, I set off again. This time, the aches begin immediately, but I trek forward. I mean really, am I this bad??

After finally making it around the three apartment complexes, I had traded off jogging and walking probably four or five times. And we're talking... 1/4 of a mile. Really. That's it. I jogged up to my apartment, thankful the neighbor wasn't there anymore to see the quick return of the pathetically panting lady, and walked into my apartment. Everything was darker from the blood rushing to my head, and I sank to the coach. The sick feeling came then-- nauseous. I then proceeded to complain to my ever-so-patient husband about how sorry I felt for myself because of how badly out of shape I was. I mean, really-- 1/4 mile, and I return from it feeling this exhausted?

It's because of Keith Urban.

:]