Sun., Apr. 18:

After another Babson brunch, we decided to take a daytrip out of the city for a change of pace. We chose Salem, home of the Salem Witch Trials, and the nearby Marblehead, a seaside town. Relying solely on signs and directions printed from yahoo.com, we headed out.

We didn't do much in Salem after we arrived because none of us wanted to spend the money to go to the museums. Instead, we walked towards the wharfs and soaked in the incredible views of the water and cottages. As for Marblehead, it was a mere eight minutes away, although in our case that number became 40. Also, Yahoo!'s directions led us to a dead end residential street that featured an ugly dog statue in front of a house and residents who gave us the evil eye! Thanks, Yahoo! Somehow, we ended up where we wanted to be, which was the harbor area with even more gorgeous views of the water, rocks, and cottages. The real estate in this area is absolutely gorgeous! All the while, we chomped on fruit jellies that we paid too much for at the Pru Center and milk chocolate HobNobs that Jen brought from her sister's recent trip to England. :)

None of the seafront seafood restaurants were open yet, so we took the long way back to Natick to eat at Legal Sea Foods, a pricey but must-have dining option. We then headed back to Christine's dorm a bit early to catch up on schoolwork, but ended up watching "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" starring Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo instead. We have our priorities straight, don't we?

Mon., Apr. 19:

Our trip has sadly come to an end!! Even though our flight from Logan Airport back to Dulles wasn't until 4:15 pm, we still had to plan strategically since the marathon was well underway and we had to maneuver around traffic.

We drove through Christine's hometown, South Walpole, and went to her house where we were greeted by her lively dog, Buster. We also munched on Tostitos with salsa/Velveeta, mmm :D. She then drove us to the airport and waited patiently while Jen and I were in line waiting to get our tickets on US Airways from Boston to Washington DC. I turned and saw a bunch of Champions on Ice bags ready to be sent up to Buffalo NY. I told Jen, "It's a shame that the skaters aren't here, they've probably left."

We said our goodbyes to Christine and wondered when in the world we would get to meet up again. I think my life is always like this, meeting up with cool people yet never really having enough time to stick around because before I know it, I'm on the road again. It's a tough way to live, no doubt...

A little less than an hour later (probably around 3:30 p.m. or so), Jen and I went to our gate and decided to check out the stores. We were walking towards a bunch of people, and I said, "Oh my gosh, that's Artur Dmitriev," and he was accompanied several other Russian figure skaters, including Maia Usova, Yevgeny Plushenko, Anton Sikarulidhze and Maria Butyrskaia. We looked towards the gate that they were walking to, which was only two away from ours. TONS of skaters were sitting there, unbothered: Surya Bonaly and her mom, Brian Boitano, Todd Eldredge, Rudy Galindo, Elena Bereznaya, our own Michelle Kwan--who wore a long-sleeved red v-neck shirt and black pants--and her mom. All the ladies were heavily made-up, which is interesting because their show in Buffalo wasn't until the next day. I guess they're used to it.

If you know me well enough, you'll know that I go absolutely nuts when I see celebrities. I was really really tempted to congratulate Michelle on going to UCLA this fall, plus I had a camera with me. But before my brain got into gear, she and Elena broke off and headed somewhere else, so I missed my chance. I am trying to tell myself that it would have been silly to disturb the peace by taking a picture with a girl who is my little brother's age, but now I'm kicking myself!

The aftermath was predictably sedate in comparison. Jen's sister was late in picking us up, and Jen's psycho dog Nikki threatened to tear off everyone's heads in the process while Jen's dad showed off his Beanie Baby collection. By the time Jen and I had piled into her car to drive down to Williamsburg, we were tired and a bit glum about going back to school. But we took solace in the fact that we had a better weekend than everyone else at William & Mary, and that we were able to catch up with a couple of great friends in an awesome city.