So why am I writing a post about my birthday? Well, I have one thing I’d like. Fortunately it’s free, but it might be easier said than done. For those of you who know me well, you probably know about my whole ‘Yes Man’ challenge I did for a year and have continued to do as best as I can. The premise is to say ‘yes’ to every reasonable relatively safe and sane opportunity that comes your way.

For my birthday I’d really like everyone to try the challenge for just one day, one week, or however long you can manage. See, it might sound easy but truly doing the challenge means throwing phobias to the side, not defaulting to excuses, and completely re-defining what your comfort levels are. If you can truly give it a shot, you’ll be surprised by the outcomes. Promise. You might find yourself being more extroverted, embracing new activities, making new friends, or heck – it might just completely redefine you altogether.

Now why would I be asking everyone to do this? Well, there’s an amazing quote in the movie Yes Man (the movie that inspired the whole thing for me) that really struck me as deep:

“The world’s a playground. You know that when you are a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.”

Think back to how fearless and awesome you were as a kid. Jumping off the top of the jungle gym? No problem! Running at the speed of light? Done! Mud, dirt and spiders? So cool. Adults? Boring. So, stop being a boring adult with excuses for everything, phobias holding you back, and a reason for every hesitation. To quote my three year old self: “Don’t say no. Say you’ll think about it.”

That was totally the view from my first hotel room…

I swear I haven’t given up on my adventurous pursuits, despite what a total lack of posts may suggest. Instead I’ve spent the last week revisiting San Francisco, California… for work. And for those of you who have business travel occasionally or frequently, it totally counts as an adventure, huh? We might not be scaling 14,000 footers or setting new climbing routes, but trying to live out of a suitcase, look and act professional, fit into the new “culture”, and wanting nothing more than to go explore instead of work is a serious accomplishment. Go us. w00t.

However, I didn’t go to San Francisco without doing a few Tenders & Trails related activities, so hope you’re ready for the most random food reviews ever and my first ever climbing gym review too!

Where to start? Well, I guess it would be appropriate to start with Logan Airport – one of my least favorite places on this planet. Fortunately this time I ended up in a significantly nicer terminal with a few more food options, so when I stumbled across a Wolfgang Puck Express that was drawing me in simply by smell alone, I had to check it out. That turned out to be a pretty wise decision. I got myself a nice four cheese pizza, topped with tomatoes and ricotta cheese. And it was huge for under $15! Definitely worth checking out if you end up in Terminal C at Logan.

San Francisco is definitely a controversial place with food. A lot of folks say that it’s one of the most creative, original, and best places in the United States for food. I’m going to have to very much disagree. Throwing a bunch of ingredients together until they resemble something funky looking doesn’t make good food. Good food is all about being able to sit down to a meal and eat it in peace. When you finish, you’re satisfied. I guess if you’re into the whole funky food thing you’ll disagree with me, but my opinion of food totally led to a lot more misses than hits in San Francisco so I’ll be skipping a lot of meals instead of writing up bad reviews!

So what was worth mentioning for food? As much as the name of the restaurant threw me off, The Stinking Rose is honestly worth checking out. I’ll warn you though – you must absolutely LOVE garlic. There’s garlic hanging from the ceilings, pictures

Yep, dish of garlic to put on bread. Good team dinner.

of garlic on the walls, and the smell of garlic hits you from across the street. If they could have sneaked garlic into my drink, I think they would have. Instead, almost every single menu item has garlic – including dessert. I ordered a meal of braised beef with golden russet potatoes after helping my co-workers polish off two helpings of freshly baked bread and garlic cloves. Good stuff! I think if I have a chance to go back, I’d definitely like to check out their pasta, but I’ll keep avoiding the garlic ice cream… yes, garlic ice cream.

Anyone that knows me is aware that I can’t sit still. I fidget, I play with electronics, I wander around. It’s just the way I am. Therefore, I made sure I was aware of where the rock climbing gyms were in San Francisco and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was a short two mile cab ride from Touchstone’s Mission Cliffs. The first day of climbing was ironically a team building exercise for my very global team of co-workers. The catch was that I would be teaching them how climb, but I’d be their belayer. I swear, you don’t know nerves until you’re trying to teach your boss how to tie the necessary knots, checking gear, and making sure you don’t leave too much slack for the newbie. Fortunately, everyone did well.

As for the gym itself – it couldn’t be much more opposite of my own gym and that’s neither a good thing or a bad thing oddly enough. Mission Cliffs is massive with over 80 top roping routes, many lead climbing routes, and a decent sized bouldering area. They also have a pretty full gym setup and locker rooms with saunas.

All cool stuff, but missing was the sense of community and climber love. It might just be a New England (maybe even an East Coast thing from what I hear from South East friends) thing to say hello to your fellow climber and ask them about their current project, how long they’ve been climbing, and offer to show the newbies around – but in my three days of climbing at Mission Cliffs, not a single person (staff included – even those hanging out in the bouldering area) did that. It bugged me a lot. I’m a friendly and approachable person. I say hello and smile at folks. At my own gym, I welcome and show people around frequently. I know other gyms are like mine, so what’s up with this one?

Some other people pet peeves from this gym were a complete lack of sharing. Some common climber etiquette is to give your project a try or two, and then move it. Don’t sit in front of it and mope blocking another 20 routes. Better yet, if you’re watching a pro work on his project, find a place to sit that doesn’t put you or another climber in danger. I had to abandon more routes I was stoked to send because I noticed my last hold or two put me above someone’s head. Lame!

Now, as cool as it was to visit a gym with over 80 top roping stations – I got to admit it was squeezed in there like spam (the fake ham stuff, not your inbox). Nothing like trying to belay someone and bumping elbows. Better yet, nothing like having to delay your climber from coming down because their route crosses DIRECTLY over the route the climber next to them is half way up now. Eek!

Would I go back there? Absolutely. I just hope they know they definitely have some issues at hand and could seriously benefit from a real climber community, but stuff like that doesn’t happen overnight or forcefully. Who knows what the future will bring!

So, there it is – San Francisco… again. Ready to get back to my mountainous, foresty, part of the country with lots of good food and good climbing. (Oh, and family. ;D)

In lieu of a full out trip report, I’m going with some of my favorite pictures of the day. Morgan is a natural born rock climbing pro (and worked at a climbing gym for a year too), so he makes it all look easy.

Hero Block

Welcome Boulders

Now me… upon seeing my first large boulder at Pawtuckaway I exclaimed, “Yay! Look! A boulder! Can I climb it?!?!” Oy. Very technical, huh? Anyways, here’s my first stab at a trip report and just know that Pawtuckaway will get a way better one once I get a better grasp on this whole climbing rocks thing.

On Saturday, Rob and I decided to go check out the well-known bouldering areas of Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, New Hampshire. Unlike a lot of the other outdoorsy things I have done or want to do, Pawtuckaway is kind of right there about 45 minutes from Manchester. If you’ve ever driven to the beach, UNH, Portsmouth, or generally anything known to be near water, you’ve driven right past the exit for Pawtuckaway (Exit 5 off 101 East).

Now, here’s where the ‘Getting There’ part gets screwy. Getting to the park entrance is a piece of cake, but none of the climbing areas are accessible from that entrance. I, of course, decided to wing it. Maps? What? Who uses maps? I just knew we had to get to a boat launch off Deerfield Road. From there… boulders. Happiness.

Me on what I think is 'Annie Oh' V0 - w00t for the guidebook!

We managed to find the boat launch, find a bridge, and find the first boulder that had me all excited and wanting to climb. But we had heard rumors of some warm up boulders at the back of the area, and since we’re both relative newbies, those sounded pretty ideal. So off we went. At some point we came across a group of climbers who were kind enough to show us the New England Bouldering guide and point us in the right direction. After what felt like a whole lot of going in circles and getting stuck between trees with my massive crash pad, we finally found some boulders that fit the description the climbers had given us, so it was time to climb!

I wouldn’t say I was naïve, but it rather different what is considered a V0 outside versus what’s a V0 inside. A V0 inside has full out handles and big hand holds. Outside? Crimps, moss, spiders, and lots of other fun stuff. I’m not complaining, but I definitely have a whole new sense of direction for indoor training! We started out on a route that looked pretty easy (and actually it was once you stopped thinking about the fact that falling meant potentially landing on a rather devious looking rock). I of course had no idea what it was called or the difficulty level since I was winging it without a guidebook. After that, it was lots of trying to find routes we could handle and not getting carried off by hoards of insects.

Rob on some other route near 'Annie Oh'.

After a few hours of exploring, we decided it was time to head back to the parking lot that was over that way, right? Or was it that way? Now, I should mention in here that Rob is an Eagle Scout. That combined with being a guy, he will never admit to being lost. I, on the other hand, was feeling pretty lost and a tad bit aggravated. You can only get stuck between so many trees with your crash pad before you start getting fed up. Eventually we came across the climbers from before and they (again) pointed us in the right direction (it was very much the opposite direction from where we had been going).

All in all – awesome day, but definitely learnt some lessons, with the main one being that we weren’t at all prepared. I pretty promptly went to Eastern Mountain Sports the next day to get the guidebook and my very own compass, so the next trip should be at least ten times more awesome. Oh, and I will be bringing gallons of bug spray so New Hampshire state bug… beware.

So, there you have it. My very first ever (epically failed) trip report.

The ironic part of all of this has been the feeling of transition once again which I didn’t think would come back after the sabbatical adventure. Back when I was planning sabbatical, I at least went into it knowing I was halfway decent at snowboarding. It’s a much different story with rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, white water rafting, kayaking, mud runs, and just about everything else New England offers during the summer. It’s weird being a newbie again (or at least a fuzzy intermediate), but in an odd way – I like it. It makes for a challenge, and I like challenges.

So wondering what is in the works? Well, I can tell you that in the way my winter was focused on snowboarding, this summer looks like it will predominantly be focused around rock climbing. I’ve been indoor rock climbing now for almost two months, and I’m psyched to take my growing skills to Pawtuckaway (NH) and Rumney (NH). It’s a cool sport in that once you have the necessary equipment the costs really aren’t so bad. It’s hard to beat spending the entire day outside using every muscle in your entire body. And besides, I have to admit the rock climbing community is pretty welcoming and awesome. Never met a group like this before!

Also in the works are some hikes in the incredible mountains of New England. I haven’t quite narrowed down which ones or when, but they will be happening and I’m open to suggestions! What else? I’m definitely will be headed to West Forks, Maine again this year to raft with U.S. Rafting so I’m psyched. I think I need to get a Contour helmet cam this year for the trip. It’s hard to explain the view from the middle of Magic Falls on the Kennebec when your guide is screaming “Paddle!!!” so guess it’s my job to show it to you now!

Some local trips will be taking me to zip lining at Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, New Hampshire, and while my rock climbing gym doesn’t know it yet – they’re getting a feature on here too. There’s also going to be an abundance of local kayaking and mountain biking too. The tough part has certainly been trying to figure out where to draw the line on what is truly an outdoor adventurous activity. For example – does paintball count?

I’m sure I’ll come up with a lot more, but please, please, please feel free to throw suggestions my way. I started begging in the last post, and I’ll probably keep begging until I’ve accomplished everything on my bucket list someday!

At the (very windy) summit of Mount Monadnock

Back a few years ago, I decided life as I knew it needed some massive changes. So, I decided to undertake the ‘Yes Man’ challenge for a year. The concept was simple: Say ‘Yes’ to any reasonably relatively safe and sane (I define what that is) opportunity that came my way. It led to some fun stuff: caving in Arkansas, learning to swing dance, taking a bartending course, learning to shoot a rifle, joining a co-ed floor hockey team, learning to blacksmith, and so much more. Needless to say, massive changes happened – and they stuck around. A thirst for adventure was discovered, and it can’t seem to be quenched.

I’m aiming to take the ‘Yes Man’ challenge again, but this time I’m recruiting the help of far more than just my devious friends and family. I want to figure out just how much adventure New England has to offer, so I’m recruiting the adventurers and outdoor adventure companies of New England. Give me your best… or your worst (depends how you look at it). I want to experience everything from mountain biking to white water rafting to skydiving – and everything else in between.

Like the snowboarding adventure, this chapter of my adventure seeking has some themes and rules too. First off, I’m not a millionaire. I’m a massive lover of Groupon, LivingSocial, and Craigslist, so if you have an idea – please don’t make me broke. Then I’ll have to say ‘no’ and that’s just going to make me sulk. Second, I’m very aware that there are bigger mountains out west, and things that may seem more interesting in other places. But I want to focus on here so please don’t pick on the place I call home. I’m sick of hearing tourists define New England by lobsters and outlet shopping. The rest of the country does know we have sky diving, rock climbing, and lots of other insanely awesome things too, right? Time to share just how incredible New England is.

Ziplining at Bretton Woods

Now here’s the part I’ve been trying to figure out how to proposition. I’ll be writing about every adventure I undertake this summer (and with that comes the use of social media, networking, some great SEO techniques), but I have another skill that might be useful to businesses. Outside of working in social media and trying to satisfy the need for adventure, I’m a photographer as well. If you’re looking for some great pictures of your venue or offerings for your website, brochure, or whatever you need – I might be able to help! I need to work on updating my portfolio to include more variety, but check out what I have so far (yes – all weddings, but have had experience with sports, landscapes, architecture). I’m up for photographing just about everything though – hotels, action, portraits, whatever. Think bartering… just saying.

If you have an idea, a barter, or anything at all – feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at JBejtlich (at) gmail (dot) com.

Happy adventuring!

Please enjoy the very last sabbatical intro video. (Spoiler alert: Rob makes a totally random appearance at the end. Guess he got sick of being behind the camera.)

Location: Jay Peak is a good three and a half hour drive from Manchester, NH, so it’s a hike. You’ll be taking 93 North all the way until it ends at 91 North. Make sure you get off 91 North when you’re supposed to by the way. It’s a whopping 15 minute drive from that point on 91 to Canada. And yes, I was that annoying tourist who kept saying, “Hey – I think I see Canada!”

As for gas stations, restaurants, and all that good stuff – it’s spread out, so just keep an eye out if you’re looking for something specific. You are far from being in the middle of nowhere – so don’t worry. Now, cell phone reception is a different story. We have Verizon and it was all right most of the time but we did swap over to Canadian towers a few times, which won’t work for all phones. Just something to keep in mind!

Parking: We got to Jay Peak early enough that parking wasn’t confusing yet, but from the way a bus driver was describing it – it sounds like it can be a headache at times. So my suggestion, find a spot no matter where and use the bus system. They do a great job picking up people and their equipment everywhere, so no need to be running skiers and boarders over while you’re hunting for the elusive front row spot. Much appreciated.

Ticket Counter/ Guest Services: Everyone at Jay Peak seemed really friendly – even the guy on the aerial tram I was grilling with questions. You kind of get this idea up there that they know they’re a ski town and they’re perfectly alright with that.

Price: Ticket prices at Jay Peak are comparable with similar sized mountains, so no complaints there. However, a really cool deal to keep in mind is their discount for other mountain season pass holders. Just bring your season pass with you and you’ll be paying $20 less at the ticket counter ($55 versus $75) – every day of the week including holidays. That’s a very sweet deal (and of course what we did).

Lodge: When we first got to Jay Peak, it definitely took a moment to figure out the layout of lodges. We parked over at the Stateside Lodge, which is the smaller of the base lodges. While it definitely wasn’t glamorous, it did a great job of giving people a place to get ready, put their stuff, and get going. No camping out and holding tables going on here. The Tram side of things is a lot different. It’s your usual crowded lodge with people hoarding tables like their lives depend on it. It kind of looked like it could use just a little bit of updating (we’re talking paint and lighting here – nothing big). The truly nice building though was the Tram Haus Lodge that contains several restaurants that look like they have pretty incredible food. Anyone try the burgers there? They look like they demand another trip up next winter!

Lifts: We rode quite a few of Jay’s lifts and of course the aerial tram, and everything seemed to be in great shape. The one thing I have to say was the coolest was the aerial lift though because it is the only way to get to the higher summit. What makes that cool? You ride up with about forty-five other people and your gear, and actually have enough time to check out the summit and get your gear on before the next group comes up behind you. Nothing like major crowd control to make it feel like you have the mountain to yourself!

Trails: After visiting Jay Peak myself, I can officially say that this section of Vermont is the West of the East. Huge peaks looking out over valleys, drop offs heading into steep glades, vertical faces with deep powder, and an attitude I rarely see anywhere else. Seriously, I want to go back.

Picks of the day were definitely Vermonter (right off the summit), Power Line, and any variety of glades. Vermonter has insane views along the summit, and isn’t at all a flat boring trail. I was very tempted by the steep glades coming off it, but I’ll save those for next winter. Power Line was just a ridiculous trail. There’s moguls and bumps, and then there’s Power Line. I don’t even know what those where, but the combination of powder, ice, rocks, tree stumps, and who knows what else made for an amazing run.

As I said in the Sugarbush review, I was officially chicken tendered out by the time I got to Jay Peak. Therefore, Jay Peak sadly won’t get a chicken tender review. I’m sure it was tasty, but we opted for pizza instead. Next time, I promise.

And with that, I am officially caught up on the ski areas reviews of the 2011-2012 season. Woah. I didn’t think that was possible. Now, before you all assume that Tenders & Trails is going to go silent while I mope about the lack of snow, quite the contrary. I’m about to embark on a warmer themed continuation of the adventures and reviews, so keep an eye out for a new what-the-heck-am-I-doing themed post soon!

The second to last trip of sabbatical took Rob and I to Sugarbush in Warren, Vermont. It’s not a short drive at all, but it was well worth it and I’m glad I made Sugarbush a stop on my trip. Now on to all the fun details!

Location: Sugarbush is a solid three hour drive from Manchester, New Hampshire. There’s really no making it shorter, but fortunately it’s an easy drive. Just get on 89 North (from 93 North of course) and keep going and going. Shortly before Waterbury, you’ll be jumping off the highway and taking backroads.

There are gas stations and restaurants and all that other good stuff in Vermont, but it’s rather quirky. Billboards aren’t allowed in Vermont (it’s actually kind of nice to see trees instead of signs), but it means you need to keep a close eye on what’s off an exit as you come up to it if you’re looking for something specific. We must have zoomed past 3 exits looking for gas before I remembered it wasn’t an easy thing.

Nope, not a snowboarding ninja. Just Rob. =)

Parking: Parking at Sugarbush seems to be pretty easy. There’s a bunch of lots all right in front of the village like base area. Just park and walk to the lodge. Ta-da! Actually of all the parking lots I’ve seen this season, this one was one of the most “finished”. No actual pavement, but there was a real sense of aisles and areas to walk. I liked it.

Ticket Counter/ Guest Services: The staff at Sugarbush seemed nice and friendly, so no problems there!

Price: Sugarbush’s ticket prices seemed fairly comparable with other mountains of similar size, but I was glad to see them offer a deal early in the season through a Vermont daily deal website. I believe they offered a few more deals through other websites as well, so there are discounts to be discovered.

Lodge: The award for best base area definitely goes to Sugarbush. It feels like a little ski village that’s very skier and snowboarder friendly. I love the easy access to the main lodge on the Lincoln Peak side from all sides, and the smell of waffles (there’s a Waffle Cabin) and a variety of food hitting your senses from everywhere. I probably could have spent a good portion of the day just hanging out down there… eating waffles. The easily accessible bag room right off the main room also impressed me. Lots of shelves, easy to get to. I just wish Sugarbush had put a more effort into enforcing usage as finding a seat without a bag stuffed underneath was difficult.

Lifts: We rode a few of Sugarbush’s lifts and everything seemed to be in great condition. Very attentive lift operators, and great views from the lifts.

Trails: Sugarbush definitely had some fun trails. Our favorite of the day was Jester coming right off the summit. The view was pretty phenomenal right from the top, and it’s an awesomely curvy trail all the way to the base. There seems to be a little bit of something for everyone here and I just wish we had more time to explore it!

So, this might be a bit of a spoiler alert – but this is the last chicken tender review of the sabbatical adventure. I was chicken tendered out by the next day at Jay Peak, so Sugarbush was it. Wondering how they fared?

$8.75 got hungry visitors 3 medium sized tenders and a huge helping of fries. As we were eating the tenders, I started noticing that after two months of eating and reviewing chicken tenders – I know identical tenders when I taste them. So it seems Sugarbush and Pico are the same! Who knew!

The fries were pretty tasty, but the chicken just had that dry overcooked flavor that Pico had as well. These were slightly better, less expensive, and had a much bigger helping of fries, so I suppose it was a step in the right direction.

Final Score: 3.25 out of 5 Tenders

So back when there was still temperatures in the 30’s (that suddenly seems cold) and still significant amounts of snow at ski areas, I visited Okemo Mountain in Ludlow, Maine. I have to admit this was one of the areas I was pretty excited to visit – big mountain, big trails, known for variety. I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.

Location: Okemo is about 2 ¼ hours away from Manchester, NH. It’s yet another one of those easy drives and fortunately mostly highway. You’ll be headed up 93 North to 89 North and then eventually onto 91 South. Cell reception seemed to be good throughout.

Parking: I could tell that Okemo parking might be more complicated on a busy day, but on a quieter day like I went there isn’t much to it. Just park in the lot across the street from the lodge, and get walking. Just use some caution, as the aisles of cars definitely seem to make for a lot of blind corners.

Ticket Counter/ Guest Services: I didn’t have too much interaction with the staff at Okemo, but for those I did talk to, everyone seemed friendly and helpful.

Price: Vermont in general seems to have the highest of the ticket prices for New England, so at $84 for a weekend day adult ticket – it’s actually not the most expensive. The good news is that if you’re willing to go on a weekday, or can get creative, there are deals to be found. I bought a ticket ahead of time that was good for only Tuesday – Thursday for $49, so I couldn’t complain at all! Check out their Online Only Deals and Steals & Deals.

Lodge: By the time I left, I think I figured out the lodges at Okemo and let me just say – they’re all very different! I made Clock Tower Base Lodge my base camp (big, lots of room, tables, cubbies, but not much aesthetic charm). I dropped into Summit Lodge (awesome view, pretty rustic). And I ate lunch at Jackson Gore’s base area. The lodge there is called The Roundhouse, and while it’s certainly the most beautiful of the lodges, it was definitely the unfriendliest towards baggage and small groups of people. All the tables were big round tables taken up by large groups and their bags, so for a person there alone like me – it was eating on the stairs for lunch due to lack of a seat! I’d suggest that Okemo consider putting in some bar like seating along the windows to cater to single visitors or groups of two. Big tables for eight just don’t always work!

Lifts: Okemo definitely has an interesting lift network. From the Clock Tower Base Lodge, getting high up on the mountain definitely means glancing at a map as the big lifts aren’t right at the base. In a way, I kind of like it. All of the lifts I did ride though were in great condition!

Trails: Sometimes when I visit a mountain, I find myself feeling pretty much done after a few hours. Then there are mountains that I’m finding myself wanting to just stay at for a few days. Okemo is definitely the latter. I rode as much of the mountain as I could in about 6 hours, but I still want more! The trail network is intricate and interesting, and there’s a trail for every taste and style. There’s huge parks, wide open trails, glades, windy trails, bumpy trails, and trails that just go on and on. My pick of the day would definitely have to be Tuckered Out. I love a good windy trail with sharp turns, and this one had it with powder pockets to run through. Another pick just for the length and views would definitely have to be Buckhorn to Sunburst to Escape to Mountain Road. Can’t wait to go back next year.

Somewhere around two, I realized I had worked up a ferocious appetite, so it was time to find chicken tenders. I decided to head on over to The Roundhouse on the Jackson Gore side of Okemo.

For $9.75, starving snowboarders such as myself got 3 medium tenders and a helping of fries. The fries were pretty tasty and wonderfully cooked, but while the chicken had great flavor, it lacked a good solid crunch.

Final Score: 3.5 out of 5 Tenders

Anyways… Loon. The day after Valentine’s Day I decided to head up to Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire. It’s one of those mountains that as you’re driving on 93 North you keep doing a “I think I see a slope. Is that a slope?” and then all of a sudden a massive ski area just jumps out of you. Pretty awesome, huh?

Location: Loon is about an hour and a half from Manchester, New Hampshire. I’ve gotten there before in two hours and somehow just a little over an hour (foot must have been glued to the gas), so it’s one of those variable, but really easy drives. Just get on 93 North and drive. Cell reception is awesome the entire way, and the roads are usually fine even with some iffy weather.

Parking: One of these days I’ll actually figure out Loon parking for real, but for now I just keep finding a spot in the big lot between the two main lodges and it all works out. There are other lots though in case it’s really busy, and there’s also the South Peak parking lot too. If it’s your first time there, just aim for the North Peak side.

Ticket Counter/Guest Services: I don’t ever remember having a problem with any of Loon’s staff, and they all seem very willing to answer questions and help out. Thanks!

Price: Loon’s lift ticket prices are pretty comparable with mountains of similar size, but they do have some pretty sweet ways of saving money if you plan to visit a few times. There’s the Frequent Skier Card, which is $97 (I think it’s $87 at the Boston Ski Show). It includes a lift ticket, but then also saves you $25 off lift ticket prices on mid-week days and $15 on weekends and holidays. Also be sure to look into the season passes if you really like Loon. While they are definitely not cheap, they give you access to Loon, Sunday River, and Sugarloaf. That’s a lot of trails.

Lodge: I’ll be the first to say I’m not a fan of Loon’s Octagon Lodge. Great concept but always feels insanely full and hectic. I can never find a seat nor have I figured out where to put my bag. So this time around I decided to park near the Governor’s Lodge and call that home. Turns out that was a great decision. The Governor’s Lodge is a beautiful lodge, very open, lots of space, and tons of places to put your bag. Be sure to check out the on mountain lodges too!

Lifts: Looking at the map now, it looks like I rode almost every chairlift Loon has with the exception of the smaller ones. All of them are in great condition with great staff. The most unique lifts though are the Gondola (longest lines too usually) and the Tote Road Quad. The Tote Road Quad is the first lift I’ve ever been on that actually gets visitors from one peak to another in both directions, so it’s rather amusing to be passing by people while you’re riding along. I think I’m easily amused.

Trails: A lot of people love Loon, and I can see why. The views are pretty fantastic and the trails are wide and open. I’m a fan of the classic New England feel with the really interesting and always changing trails, so I had a hard time finding something that truly hit the spot. My pick of the day would probably be Cruiser though. It’s not the longest trail, but I had fun nevertheless. If you’re looking for the best view, take the Gondola up to Loon Peak, head down Haul Back and Lower Walking Boss, and then back up the North Peak Express Quad. Best views of the entire mountain are when you round the corner on Sunset.

After working up an appetite on the mountain, it was chicken tender time. I decided to head back to Governor’s Lodge to feast. For $7.79 I got 5 small tenders and a whole lot of fries. Interestingly, the meal came on a real plate so I temporarily felt special and not like I was eating fast food.

The fries were pretty great. Just crunchy and seasoned enough, and with so many I kind of wanted to make a meal off of them. (Side note: I love potatoes. I’m also a mashed potato connoisseur). The chicken on the other hand looked good, but just wasn’t crunchy enough. It would have been far better had they cooked it just a little longer.

Final Score: 3 out of 5 Tenders