Mark Twain Is Alive!

As you know, I had plenty of winter adventures the last several months. I learned what a toboggan was and that it's way cooler to call it a T-Bog. I went sledding, tubing, you name it-I did it.

Well, it's Spring now and I didn't want the adventures to end. Thankfully, they haven't. So far this season I've gotten to do two really cool things.

First was a Maple Festival. Now, when I eat pancakes they usually don't have syrup on them. Ehhh syrup is good I guess but it's just whatever to me. I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen that I only felt this way because I had never had real maple syrup. Where the heck have I been all my life? Oh yeah, NOT where they make maple syrup. It's got this amazing, intense sweet flavor that is strangely unique. If you've had the imitation stuff just know that it's not the same...at all.

So at this festival I learned how maple syrup has been made for hundreds of years. Really, the process hasn't changed much. The containers are different...that's about it. Which really, if you think about it, is pretty amazing. Similar processes and products have so vastly changed throughout the years that you can't really see the resemblance from then and now. The Native Americans pretty much had it spot on.

After we learned about how it was made, we got to stroll through the historical village. I saw a woman making bread with the natural yeast coming from the brewery. I learned a lot from the tinsmith. I even learned how beer was made in the olden days.

All in all it was a fantastic start to the Spring adventures I hope will be plentiful. (I must mention, this was on a freezing cold day with spits of rain and snow...but it was Spring so it still counts.)

Last night was the exciting second installment of the Spring Adventure series. I got to see Mark Twain Live. Apparently there's a local chief meteorologist that has been involved in theatre since he was a little younger than I am now. He dresses like Mr. Twain and acts him to a tee. I'm ashamed to say that I have never really taken an interest in Mark Twain's writing because I just assumed (Yeah, I know what happens when I assume. I feel like such an ass.) it would be boring and stuffy. That's not the case at all. Mike Randall (playing Twain) brought a vitality to him that I hadn't known existed. I wasn't aware, but in his time he was just as famous for his stage work as he was for his books. He paved the way for modern stand-up comedians. And let me tell you, he was funny. For something written in the 1800's to be funny to a 19 year old of 2011 is a pretty awesome thing.