So this is what it feels like…. I’m still kickin’, though everything I do seems laden with the tag “…and I’m 30?” It’ll wear off soon, I hope, but for now, I’m super-aware, mostly thanks to a wonderful birthday weekend Aimee threw for me. We left Boston on Friday and headed to the mystery location, which turned out to be the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After working our way through the inevitable traffic, we checked into our room at the Luxury Mountain Getaways Nordic Village, a big long name for a great little condo-type place with a fireplace and a kitchen that Aimee had booked for us. After getting settled, we headed to the Red Parka for dinner and old 16mm ski movies video-projected on the wall. We ended the evening the best way possible, with smores in the fireplace.

Excited as we were to start our big day, we rose early, made breakfast in the room, and headed to Nestlenook Farm for our morning of winter activities. The name sounds kind of corny, but when you hear it said by the man with the amazing New Hampshire accent who’s driving your sleigh pulled by Belgian draft horses, then it’s completely authentic. We were the first ones on the scene at 9 am, and headed off into their trail system on snowshoes.



Note Aimee’s excellent “M’m! M’m! Good!” Campell’s Soup hat.

After a nice tromp through the woods, it was time for some ice skating on their surprisingly large “Emerald Lake,” complete with island, bridge, and warming hut. The ice was quite nicely kept up, and survived until around noon, when it began to get more and more slushy. Aimee and I practiced our individual skills (learning to cross one skate over the other for me, learning complex ballet-inspired routines for her) and had a great time skating around and not falling.



After a few hours of skating, mixed in with some hot chocolate relaxing, it was time for our afternoon sleigh ride through the grounds. Bert and Ernie pulled our sleigh around the grounds for a half an hour or so, as we explored some of the area we’d seen on snowshoes and learned more about the surroundings.



We had worked up an appetite for lunch, and headed into North Conway itself for lunch at Flatbread. We enjoyed some delicious pizza, and enjoyed watching it being made almost as much. We had a well-deserved nap in the afternoon before heading out for the evening’s main event, a birthday dinner at the White Mountain Hotel‘s Ledges restaurant. The setting was wonderful, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere was terrific. I felt justified in beginning my evening with a 10 year-old scotch while we waited for our table, so I smelled like a nice slow-burning fire all night. We had a little table in the corner from which we could see the whole restaurant, and we had a good view of the young, bored-looking pianist who kept throwing in Ben Folds and Radiohead tunes among the classics and Billy Joel standard fare. The combination of chicken, apple, and cheese in my dinner was really amazing, and the “molton lava” dessert, while interestingly named, was a great way to end the evening.

When we arrived back at the room, Aimee took some time to “arrange” my presents; little did I know I would be receiving thirty presents in the shape of a thirty… I was speechless, really.



We sat around the fire and I opened the gifts, one by one. Some of the highlights, besides #s 1 and 2, the trip and the dinner: a five-DVD Film Noir box set, a couple of great-looking books (“Roadside America” for Boston, as well as a film-related novel), some of my favorite snacks (jerky and Fig Newtons), a poker set, a cool mongrammed keys/wallet/change-holder, and a bunch (seventeen?) of other sweet, creative gifts. It really was a wonderful evening. And what would a Saturday night be without falling asleep during SNL? I think I’m ready to be 30.

This morning, we checked out of the lodge (after returning “Battle of the Sexes,” the only board game that looked worth playing, and was only marginally so) and headed into Jackson for our main event of the day, a little cross-country skiing on the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation trail system. We had a great time, though it was so warm the trails had turned to slush at a few points. Aimee and I skied together for awhile, and then I took off for a few k while she stayed at the cantina/warming hut. It’s strange, skiing in the lower 48, with rentals and marked loops and warming huts and people in jeans. And I was one of them. It’s time to get the old Madshus from home and start skiing some more.



I had a terrific and memorable time, enough good experiences to counterbalance the inherent fear and disappointment that comes with turning “old.” I think I’ll survive.