With my headache gone and my body somewhat more hydrated, it is again time to continue my epic tale of cozy East Coast travels. Last time, in the part one here, I ended on our museum day. Now, I pick back up as we headed to New Hampshire to spend a couple days snug in a cabin. We made a stop in Concord, where we got treats at a bakery (The Crust and Crumb Baking Co.) and migrated over to a coffee shop (Revelstoke) with a clear view of the golden-domed capital building across the street. I tried a blood orange pistachio latte, a daring choice that paid off, and Alex had one with maple cinnamon flavoring. Mine had a very nutty flavour with notes of citrus brightening the sip as you swallow, really a good combo despite how odd it may seem all together with coffee and oat milk. The rain and fog chilled the morning and made the warm, fragrant cafe an intoxicatingly serene setting for a nice moment together, not to mention they played Glass Animals and similar swirly, melt-in-your-seat music.
Since there was a very charming main street in front of us and we couldn’t yet check in to our cabin, we walked about, eventually stumbling on a closed donut shop, one we knew we had to return to the next day. I should probably preface that originally we could not find the shop, despite the signage, so we entered a clothing boutique to acquire aid, and the somewhat bored woman working there raved to us about how good they are, that they often close early due to being sold out, and so on. Plus, Alex has a soft spot for donuts, so yeah, we had to come back. Afterwards, we continued to look at interesting record stores, candy shops, and whatever caught our eye before we made our way to the cabin.
Now, the cabin. I mean, it ticked almost every box of what a cozy spot looks like for me, some of which more to do with the atmospheric conditions than the place itself, but nevertheless. There was a whole observatory-esque glass roof with a fireplace as our heat source, comfy chairs, wood carvings, and fluffy throws. The rain was almost nonstop while we were there, so there was a constant pitter-patter as the drops hit the glass above. We took the rest of the night easy, checking our emails and reading papers we had put on the back-burner, and thanks to Alex’s genius idea to bring an air fryer, we had our surprisingly good attempt at oyaki as leftovers.
The next day we dressed warmly and headed back to the donut shop to get breakfast. I will give Alex credit for really thinking of me and what I’d like in a getaway, because he then surprised me with a trip to Bear Brook State Park to go on a little hike. Despite it being January, the forest was wildly alive with mosses, lichen, mushrooms, and a number of colorful plants. Icy ponds speckled the sides of trails, and we walked over a cushion of soft, spongy debris for most of the hike. I actually managed to find a small collection of puffball mushrooms, finally ready to be puffed. It was exhilarating, I have been wanting to puff them for some time, so I of course was practically transfixed there, camera in hand. [EDIT: after further investigating in hopes of determining which species of puffball they were, they were actually Wolf’s Milk Slime Mold (Lycogala epidendrum) which are amoeba, not fungi! Although it was extremely cool to get to “puff” them as prior I had only seen them in their pinkish-orange (non-mature, apparently) state, I still, now, have yet to puff a puffball mushroom. *Sigh*] I have a number of species we ID’d on my iNaturalist after, but another one of the coolest we saw was called Smooth Rock Tripe (Umbilicaria mammulata). It was practically a sheet of smooth lichen the size of my hand stuck to the rock, a vibrant green color and texture similar to leather, at least in appearance.
Post-hike we went back to the cabin to wash up, then Alex, again in the theme of being an A+ surprise trip planner, took us to get massages. Yeah, massages, you read that right. I was a contently mushy, absolutely blissed-out form of myself afterwards. Back in the cabin after, we watched a movie, to my mild chagrin, but we talked about it, and although it is true that I have lost most of my desire to watch television, it really felt like a major reason that I didn’t want to watch them due to the Wes Anderson-themed party we would be attending on Friday. I was so upset and anxious about the event that I felt deeply compelled against watching the films. I don’t love that about myself, but it makes sense, I guess.
[WARNING] Below lies a bad film critique from an untrained eye (I mean, I have taken film classes before so not totally untrained), don’t crucify me for this. If you do want to crucify me for something, do it for my book reviews instead, those I feel more confident on.
Nevertheless, we ended up watching Isle of Dogs, which was simultaneously cute yet deeply dull at its core. I am a pretty big stop-motion animation fan, but I felt deeply disappointed by a lot of aspects of this movie. I will start by saying that the set, character design, and general claymation-related artistic choices were noted, although I certainly prefer claymation that is more dynamic (creative uses of movement, interesting camera angles, etc.). I realize this was probably just Anderson’s stylistic choice, which is fine, and I respect it. They were going for that shoebox, common-object look– not every stop-motion needs a polished look, just as we can appreciate different drawn animation styles. Additionally, the score was overall well-thought out and interesting, but it didn’t overly enhance the film. I looked it up and saw Desplat was behind it, which made sense to me. In everything I’ve listened to by him, I can say his work is always pretty solid overall. Sometimes he goes above and beyond, like his work in The Shape of Water and The Grand Budapest Hotel (I have not seen it but I have listened to the score), but he is pretty consistent in not disappointing even when it is not his best work. His style, too, can be repetitive, but he usually goes for films where this makes sense, in the same way Michael Giacchino found his niche in fun Disney animations and absolutely owns it. Plot-wise, the story was zany and the perfect premise for a kid’s movie… except it wasn’t for kids? With a PG-13 rating, I doubt people would let their munchkins watch it. I guess with such lack of substance, my brain expected it to be for children; I was hoping for more captivating movement and direction that goes with the plot, or maybe less reasonless, deadpan absurdism. Lastly, I felt a little weird knowing this film was directed by an American dude. I am not sure it is his place to critique or enforce stereotypes that the Japanese are passive, unable-to-make-change people where only an exchange student from Ohio can save them. If it was not meant to be his critique, well, it came off like one to me, but I sometimes wrongly try to find meaning and intent where it is not meant. Again, this is why his films can feel dull– I am looking for meaning when it is more focused on the art (as I said, good) and sometimes emotion (this one totally lacked depth despite plenty of places it could have been). Overall, the film felt blank, missing something in the feelings department but without enough plot to make up for it, leaving only the stylistic choices and art of stop-motion behind the film to be enjoyed. I didn’t like it but didn’t hate it. I normally complain about plot holes, but the whole movie was wacky enough that there is no point to thinking about it. My rating: eh, I guess? I’d certainly never recommend this movie but by no means is it a disgrace, either.
Movie rant over, now back to the trip. Thursday we headed back to Boston, this time making a stop at another donut shop (where I got a delectable maple bacon yeast donut) before heading to thrift stores to find a costume for Alex. We successfully found a light green jacket for him, but decided to wait on it until later since we planned to meet up with some of his friends. Well, as it turned out, the plans with friends collapsed a bit, so later in the day we made a rush back to the store to pick it up. We at first couldn’t find it and panicked a little, but thanks to my clear and apparent skill at shopping at Goodwill, I found it again in the dress section, oddly enough. I guess I will admit I am pretty good at thrift shopping, given 75% of my wardrobe is from Goodwill. We then went to the Garment District to a costume shop, and met up with one of Alex’s friends and said person’s new “lady friend.” The shop was wild, just tons of well-maintained vintage clothing, styles from cowboy clothes to actual 60’s go-go dresses. I didn’t get much of a chance to try things on, but it was still so fun to see such unique pieces!
After, the friends who joined decided they wanted dinner and took us to a spot they knew. The restaurant was decorated like a Wisconsin small town bar meets camp, an outrageous amount of beer signs on wood paneled walls and lots of fried and pickled foods with comical names. It was unfortunately too expensive for my grad school budget, so I didn’t have anything aside from some hot tea, but the food they brought out looked amazing. We also got lucky and had a very sweet server who brought out tons of desserts for us just to be nice. The most interesting one was a fried apple dessert with a cheddar cheese ice cream on the side, but the chocolate cake and pumpkin ice cream sandwich also looked tasty. The only downfall was that the music was so loud there that I had trouble hearing what was going on, but aside from that it seemed interesting! One day I will be able to afford funky, bougie eats (mentally envisioning Alinea in Chicago, a true bucket list place for me).
Now, this brings us to Friday, the day of the party (*dun dun dunnnnn*). For over a month I was stressing over this, and finally it was time. I had my little Mrs. Fox costume I threw together and Alex had his foppish pastel look. I tried on a few occasions to start conversations, but it just didn’t stick. I eventually accepted defeat and slipped away to Alex’s bedroom to calm down before returning. Thankfully an early flight the next day was a great excuse to head to bed early. I have been trying to dissect what made me so incapable of handling the social interaction, but I won’t get into it here. I think between not liking parties, not feeling ready to meet his friends, and some people having very odd vibes, it really was a poor decision on my behalf to have attended. Well, I lived and I learned. I think my best bet is to attend smaller gatherings for a bit before I try bigger things. The only good thing about the party was that I did get a killer kimchi fried rice recipe (linked here) from a woman who told us her sexual awakening was Green Goblin, so cheers to that.
Saturday morning, we awoke before the sun and made our way to the airport to say goodbyes. It was bittersweet, but we already have a virtual date planned for the coming weekend to continue playing Pentiment, and we are going to discuss spring break plans to see each other again. This time I am thinking Tennessee or maybe Louisiana… we’ll certainly see… Hopefully you’ve enjoyed my travel rambles, and you can certainly expect more to come seeing I’ll be headed to Ice Fest in a month to climb!
Happy reading,
-Beppa