Weekend in Review

Another weekend gone … why does it feel like they go so fast?

Saturday was a big day for us, as REI was having one its “garage sales.” For those that don’t already know, REI is our all-time favorite store. But we don’t just shop there anytime. Instead we try to hold out for their garage sales to stock up on gear. REI has a policy that they cannot restock returned items, so they hold onto them, slash the prices drastically and hold a big sale. There you’ll find everything to “never been used” to “seen better days.” J and I have been to several garage sales in several states now. Because, well, gear is freakin’ expensive. And we have a lot of it. We try to get there early, because gear addicts alike line up for these sales. In AZ, people line up around 4am. Some have camped out overnight. Since our move from AZ, distance has proposed a challenge (in VA, the closest REI was 76 miles). Now, we live approximately 65 miles from the closest REI (three of them), but need to venture into the heart of Boston.

So Saturday morning, we set out around 7:15am, hoping to secure a spot near the front of the line. After getting lost in Boston for about an hour, we finally pulled up to the store around 9am, knowing that we would be lucky to be number 50 in line. This wasn’t the case at all! We secured the first spots!!! Maybe it had something to do with the temperatures struggling to reach the high 20s, but we figured New Englanders were tougher than that. In any case, by 9:20am, there were about 40 people in line and by the time the doors opened at 10am, there were about 150 people. It was madness as usual. J and I split up to hit the different sections – shoes, sleeping bags and other odds and ends. We had a shopping list and some gift certificates. Here are some of our best buys.
2 Thermarest Prolite 1/2-length sleeping pads (from our shopping list)
Price as new: $75
Our price: $15.83 (after some wheeling and dealing by my hubby, cause that’s what he does best)
What was wrong with them? NOTHING!!!
Teva Karnali Wraptor Water Shoes (from our shopping list … for me since I accidentally left mine at the bottom of Havasupai Canyon this summer)
Price as new: $100
Our price: $34.95
What was wrong with them? The person who returned them said they were too small
Marmot Gravity Soft Shell Jacket
Price as new: $150
Our price: $39.95 (after some wheeling and dealing)
What was wrong with it? A slight stain on one of the pockets … Who cares? It’s bound to get dirty!
I actually debated over that last item, since it wasn’t on the shopping list. But it was too good of a deal to pass up. After two hours of sorting through our finds, I think we did pretty well overall.

After REI, we ventured over to Baja Fresh, our favorite “fast-food” Mexican place. Good Mexican food is hard to find on the East coast, but Baja fills our needs. Still, it’s hard to find Baja locations close to where we’ve lived. Luckily, there is one pretty close on our drive to Boston. REI + Baja=a good day.

After Baja, we stopped at the Omaha Steak store to use a gift certificate we got from J’s dad for Christmas. Omaha steaks=yummy in the belly.

Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day, but far from our original plans. We woke up with the intention of driving to meet my sister (Still JK), her husband and their kids (Bones and Cutie) in Deerfield, MA. It’s a halfway point between us. But, we woke up to 4 inches of snow (even though weather reports only called for light flurries) and more to come. J suggested we give it a go since we have a 4-wheel drive truck and that’s what it’s made for. But after 25 miles of slow-going and a witness to 2 other trucks flipped over, we decided to turn around. This was before we hit the real treacherous roads that would take us there, described more than once to us as the “deadliest roads in the NE.” So we came home and enjoyed the snow from indoors. We caught up on some reading, housework and listened to some good tunes.

And now it’s back to the grind …

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