i woke up at 8am to get ready for my drive up to vermont for amanda and elias' wedding. besides some change of clothes and my camera equipment, i also brought along my rainy weather hiking gear in case i wanted to do some green mountain naturing. i left the house at 9am, hoping to get to randolph by noon. i filled up with $40 worth of gasoline (about 10 gallons) and proceeded to follow the GPS driving directions.

this was my farthest driving trip using the garmin GPS. so entirely did i put my faith in the device that i didn't even bother bringing any maps, trusting the GPS to navigate me to my destination. most of the trip itself wasn't very difficult, route 93 north to 89, but the GPS would warn me about bearing left or right to stay on course and not accidently exit. and of course the GPS came in real handy when i got close to the destination, directing me through the various little side roads.

the place of the wedding + reception + party was at a rented farm house called maple cake. after going through a covered bridge and traversing a narrow dirt road, i arrived at my destination pretty much right around noontime. underneath a large tent i saw everyone (elias, amanda, and some friends) pitching in putting up homemade colored "poof" balls. the weather at that point was beautiful and the place was a picture perfect postcard-image of quiet pastoral tranquility. i was shown my lodging for the weekend stay, a private bedroom on the top floor of the farm house.

it seemed i arrived right during a break; with the weather clearing up, a group of people decided to visit the nearby swimming hole. i volunteered to drive, with amanda sitting passenger-side navigating with two other cars followed behind us. elias was back at the house, waiting for the caterers to arrive and any possibly guests who might show up early. the wedding ceremony itself was scheduled for 6pm.

the place we went was the famous floating bridge of randolph. currently closed to car traffic due to the high water table, people could still walk across the pedestrian boardwalk on either side of the bridge. the gang marched to the center of the bridge (where the water was deepest) and proceeded to jump into the lake. curious neighbors and fishermen looked on, attracted by the spectacle of noisy young people in their bathing suits diving into the water. the water was clean but did have a lake smell to it and surprisingly cold as well. it wasn't long before the sky clouded over and some raindrops began to fall. that was our cue to go back to maple cake.

back at the house, people started disappearing, taking naps, resting up for the eventual wedding-reception that would happen later. i ended up playing some wii with kristin and adam. we started with some bowling, which i managed to do pretty well only because i've secretly practiced at home. wii golf however was something new to me. i lost on every hole, becoming quite the expert at the triple bogey.