Category Archives: Travel

Something Sweet

Considering this past weekend was Maple Weekend in Vermont, I find it appropriate that I touch upon my roots.

Some of my earliest memories take place on my grandparents old farm, just down the street from where I grew up. To give you a sense of how young I was, they sold the farm when I was three. The fact that I have memories of this beautiful time amazes me. (Especially considering I have a hard time remembering things from last week.) Each spring they would tap the trees, hang the buckets and boil that sweet sap.

One of my earliest memories was in the middle of the woods. My Pepere had a wagon with a huge sap tank hooked up to the tractor. We were going thru the woods, collecting the sap from the buckets to bring back to the sugarhouse. I happened to fall off the wagon and just saw them driving away. I started screaming, I mean – I thought they were going to leave me out there! Who in their right mind would leave such a cute little girl?! Then my Uncle Mario came and swept me up and brought me back to the wagon. Aww memories.

Then there are the memories of hanging out in the sugarhouse. Sitting on my great memere’s lap, surrounded by great aunts, great uncles and cousins. The heat from the wood stove, keeping the sap boiling and the chill in the air from the cold Vermont winter outside. Having that first taste of hot maple syrup, piping fresh! Close family and friends gathered together, passing the time, telling stories and catching up on life. Sugaring season is a season of its own. It’s special in so many ways. It brings people together and bring everyone the sweet treat of maple syrup.

Maple Syrup is made throughout the Northeast, Canada, as far west as Minnesota and as far south as West Virginia. When the snow starts to melt, the sap starts running and you better believe that the sugarmakers are getting excited.

If you are around the maple syrup region, be sure to keep an eye out for open houses, festivals and if you are really interested just stop by a sugar house. Sugarmakers are proud of what they do and I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind showing you around and teaching you about how they make the stuff that we all love! And if you are lucky, they will pour you a cup of hot, fresh maple syrup!

FORE!

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Over the weekend I got to play my first round of golf. Real golf. The golf where you carry around your own bag with your own clubs for 18 holes trying to get this little ball into this little hole with a flag. Real golf. Except for me I was just carrying around this golf bag with 5 clubs, three of which I actually used.

I’ve always thought I’m a mini-golf kinda gal. Frankly, I rocked at mini-golf and sad to say for the people who I played against, I was very competitive. Growing up we would spend a lot of time with my grandparents who would keep us in line when our parents were working. My brother would go golf with my Pepere and I would hang out with my Memere. As we grew up, golf was never anything that interest me. Um, maybe I should clear this up – Sergio Garcia was interesting to me. Having played softball for my entire life, I thought the golf club should be swung like a softball bat and it doesn’t work like that. And yes, I’ve even tried the Happy Gilmore approach.

Then one day its like the entire world changed. I was introduced to a driving range. Can you hear the “aha!” and see the lights shining down? I was taught how to actually hit a ball! And found out that its actually a lot of fun to hit that little ball pretty hard! It came to the point where I didn’t care where I hit it, it just felt good to hit that little sucker a really long way (and no, I had no idea where I was aiming).

Sy plays golf pretty often. He golfs like I would snowboard when I lived in Vermont… as often as I could either with friends or by myself. Obviously, we have some priorities here. Well I was loving the driving range and having not really played softball since I moved to Texas, I think I just missed swinging at something. Every now and then I’d ask Sy if he would take me to a golf course so I could try. I think he was nervous. Actually, I know he was nervous. He said as competitive as I am (and how I do not (definitely do not) like failing), I would end up really pissed off if I didn’t do well. So we worked in steps.

Last summer, I had to pleasure of going to a golf course for the first time. I drove the golf cart around the course. It was pretty fun. You can cruise in those little suckers but I still had that inkling of wanting to learn how to play (maybe not on this day it was about 110 degrees outside). This weekend a miracle happened, he (FINALLY) took me to a golf course that he grew up playing.

Meadowbrook in Arlington aka Ghettobrook. It is a small 9-hole course (that you play twice), its cheap and it’s not super busy. It’s like a little golf secret! Little did I know that I’ll be trying out for the LPGA tour next year. I didn’t do so bad other than not knowing the rules and pushing Mr. Sy’s buttons by talking, not putting my bag behind me and to the right far enough, taking too much time to find my ball but overall he was a good teacher. (He told me I’m not suppose to be doing these things even though all I kept hearing from them was “Shit!” from the group behind us.)

I hit it down the fairways pretty straight, well for the most part and when I could hit it. Tee’d off and hit a few balls farther than Mr. Sy (ok maybe just once) and was at par for at least 3 holes when I went to putt. AND I ended it off on a pretty good note by bogie’ing my last hole. Oh Yeaa! Whoohoo! And the crowd goes wild! (Or in the case of golf, does their quiet clap.)

This is the tee box from the third hold.

The first round I ended up hitting the ball thru the trees right off the green!

The only thing that I can’t say that I like is that I feel like I am always in a rush with these groups of men playing behind me. I’m not a fan of being followed but by the time we finished the game, my anxiety was better.

Don’t judge the stance.

All in all, I would like to try it again… I want to try it again… I will try it again. So all you ladies – golf is not a man only sport (frankly you don’t even need to golf, cruising around in a golf cart drinking some cold brews sounds pretty fun too and a lot less work), give it a try. Until next time, I’ll be looking for my prime, plaid outfit practicing my putts in the living room!

Buc-ee’s, Madisonville, TX

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If you ever find yourself driving down I-45 just north of Huntsville, you are not going to miss Buc-ee’s. There are signs at least an hour away, if not more, advertising their Beaver Nuggets, fudge, and their truck stop. So, we just had to stop to check this place out and see what was so great, right?

This truck stop turns out to be a very popular destination. First, there was a line to exit the interstate to stop at this locale. The first thing we noticed is the 30+ gas pumps out front followed by the packed parking lot (however not so packed that it was difficult to find a parking spot). Then we ventured inside…

Inside you will find a general convenience store. You will also find gift shop type items (everything Texan of course), cast iron pans, kitchen items, dishes, books, signs and A&M / UT items. You’ll also find seasonings for just about any dish you can think of, from grits to cornbread mixes and meat seasonings.

Beaver Nuggets, what the heck are Beaver Nuggets? Yea, I know what you are thinking. You’ve heard of Calf Fries, I can’t wait to see what this is but thankfully Beaver Nuggets is just pieces of beef jerky. (I can’t take another take on calf fries, I don’t quite understand it.) Buc-ee’s had a HUGE array of food. Pre-made sandwiches and wraps, or even made to order. They also have hot dogs, corn dogs, and chopped beef sandwiches (we’re in Texas after all). However, you should see their beef jerky counter. It’s got to be a good 20 feet of a display case. Desserts you ask? They touch on that too with cookies and even a fudge station. I wouldn’t believe it if you went in there and told me that you couldn’t find something that tickled your fancy in there.

Finally – the bathrooms. I have never been in a rest stop, or location that had bathrooms this nice. The bathroom is HUGE and each “stall” is its own personal room. That’s right, you get an entire door and its pretty much its own box. I was impressed. And as busy as it was in there, there were plenty of stalls open.

The only downfall to Buc-ee’s is how incredibly busy it was. I suppose we kind of asked for it stopping in mid-day on a Sunday. It should be kind of expected. However, if you can handle the absurd amount of people, I would suggest stopping to at least check this place out. It’s one heck of a truck stop.

For More Info: http://www.bucees.com/madisonville.htm