>> NARRATOR: Coming up on Weekends With Yankee... >> Yeah, there you go.

That's it, that's good.

>> NARRATOR: Richard is in the White Mountains of New Hampshire on a cold winter's day to try his hand at ice climbing.

>> WIESE: When I'm on the wall, I'm not thinking about anything else.

I'm not thinking about what's going on at home or work, 'cause you're so focused in on that little bit of a chess game that you play.

>> NARRATOR: Then we travel to Brookline, New Hampshire, to check out the Andres Institute of Art, New England's largest outdoor sculpture park.

>> We invite artists from all around the world.

We give them all the equipment they need to make what they want to relating to that particular year's theme.

>> NARRATOR: And Amy is in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the Brookline Booksmith.

>> Trying to find my own book-- oh, no, there...

Hang on, oh, thank God.

I still exist.

(Traverso laughing) >> NARRATOR: Wandering the aisles and chatting with comedian, actor, and author John Hodgman.

>> I wanted to have my career be similar to walking around a bookstore like Brookline Booksmith, where I could wander around at will and find something that was interesting and then put that down and try something else.

>> NARRATOR: So, come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before.

A true insiders' guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer and adventurer Richard Wiese and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Weekends With Yankee.

>> Major funding provided by... ♪ ♪ >> Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

♪ ♪ >> Grady-White, crafting offshore sport fishing boats for over 60 years.

>> The Barn Yard, builders of timber-frame barns and garages.

And by American Cruise Lines, exploring the historic shores of New England.

>> NARRATOR: We're in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Today, Richard is going to try his hand, and ax, at climbing Cathedral Ledge.

Cathedral Ledge was formed by Ice Age glaciers and is a popular spot for ice climbers.

Ice climbing started out as an offshoot of rock climbing as climbers had to navigate icy patches.

But it's now a sport in its own right.

>> WIESE: This is just a gorgeous day.

>> It's a special day.

I'll tell you, I'm excited to climb ice that's not five below zero.

(both laugh) I'm Paul McCoy.

I work for the International Mountain Climbing School.

I've been ice climbing around 18 years, rock climbing around 24.

I started guiding 11 years ago.

>> WIESE: You know, I started my ice climbing career here.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: So, even though the athleticism is sort of long gone, I still feel enthusiastic about being in the woods and seeing these beautiful areas.

>> Well, great.

>> WIESE: All right, let's... >> Let's get after it.

>> WIESE: Let's get after it, as they say.

♪ ♪ What's the, uh, biggest trick of staying warm that you've learned all those years?

>> Just never stop moving.

>> WIESE: Boy, that's, like, a lesson for life.

>> The first thing we'll have, besides all our warm winter gear, we'll have a helmet.

>> WIESE: You know, the other thing important, too, is never to be too color-coordinated.

I'm, uh, trying to have every color of the rainbow in this outfit.

>> (laughs) And then we'll have a harness.

And we need to make sure the harness fits well over our largest piece of gear that we have on.

(device snaps) >> WIESE: Got it.

>> That's a good sound.

And then we'll have crampons.

All right.

>> WIESE: All right.

>> Let's go.

>> WIESE: Let's do it.

>> So, you got to remember, in these crampons, you got kind of walk like a cowboy.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> Yeah, nice wide, wide feet.

>> WIESE: Wow, it's lovely out.

>> It is great.

>> WIESE: I mean, this is absolutely gorgeous.

Okay.

>> The first thing we're gonna do is get the rope out.

You know, and we use dynamic, stretchy rope.

It's a 70-meter rope.

And the first thing I'm gonna do is put a knot in the end, because if I rappel or if you lower me, I want to make sure I don't get lowered off the end, right?

>> WIESE: And, uh, how much weight do these ropes hold?

>> Oh, hold?

Thousands of pounds.

Yeah, you could hang your truck from it.

So, I get my axes out.

Put 'em in the ice.

The ice screws.

You can see I have a whole bunch, and they're all different sizes.

We got to double-check each other's harnesses.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> So...

It looks good.

Yeah, it's gonna go right through there.

And I just want to, like, check the buckles.

Looks great.

I want it to look nice and neat.

>> WIESE: Neat.

Okay.

>> We want about six inches of tail out, just like that.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> That's all we do, that's it.

>> WIESE: What are you thinking?

>> I think straight up.

Yeah, I think that looks pretty good.

Should we climb?

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> All right.

♪ ♪ Lot of water running right here.

That's good.

It makes the ice sticky to climb.

>> WIESE: So, he has ice screws that are tied into these carabiners, and he's literally gonna screw it into the ice like you would a bottle opener.

>> All right, Richard, I'm on belay.

>> WIESE: Okay.

Wow, it's really beautiful.

♪ ♪ (ice chips falling) It's like shattering glass.

>> Oh!

>> WIESE: Oh, boy.

There's a big piece-- oh, boy.

>> Ice!

>> WIESE: Oh, watch out.

>> Ice!

>> WIESE: Watch... Ice, ice, ice.

So, eventually, he's gonna tie into a tree.

They're as solid an anchor as you could possibly get.

And then eventually, he'll be being belayed down by me.

♪ ♪ (ice chips falling) Okay.

Okay.

>> All right, let's go.

>> WIESE: All right.

>> Nice and slow.

>> WIESE: Go.

>> All right, thanks for the patience.

>> WIESE: Okay.

Okay, you are off belay.

>> Cool.

Ice climbing, right?

We do these sports because they're exciting and intimidating and a little scary.

And other times, like, this is really fun.

And, um, we like to say there's three types of fun, right?

We got type one fun, which is, like, the "woo-hoo," like, "having a good time" fun.

We got type two fun, which is, "Oh, that was really scary, but I can't wait to do it again."

And type three fun, which is no fun at all.

>> WIESE: I'm anxious to give it a go.

It's so inviting-looking to me at this point.

>> Good.

>> WIESE: Oh, okay.

>> So, we're gonna pull this all the way through.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Yep.

Lot of rope.

>> WIESE: Okay.

Yeah.

>> Yeah, so, remember to keep those feet wide, right?

Yeah, there you go.

That's it.

>> WIESE: Ice.

>> Yeah, that's it, that's good.

♪ ♪ (ice chips falling) >> WIESE: Ice.

♪ ♪ Get my breath for a second.

I'm just, uh, taking in the scenery while I'm getting my breath.

I mean, what a crystal-clear blue day.

It's just, this is, uh, the best of New Hampshire in the winter, for sure.

Okay, here we go.

Stay off my...

When I'm on the wall, I'm not thinking about anything else.

I'm not thinking about what's going on at home or work-- "I got to do this"-- 'cause you're so focused in on that a little bit of a chess game that you play.

>> Nice.

Nice.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Nice job.

>> WIESE: Okay.

That was... >> All right, Richard, I got you.

>> WIESE: Okay?

>> Yeah, come on down.

>> WIESE: This is the fun part.

>> Good job.

>> WIESE: That was fun.

>> Nice.

(Wiese whoops, laughs) >> WIESE: I mean, this was awesome.

If you look up at a frozen waterfall, there's no reason that you should be on there.

It's something innately, um, surreal about it.

The sport of ice climbing, it, it allows you to sort of live in that surreal... uh, landscape.

And, uh, it's another way to embrace the winter.

Makes you look forward to cold weather, and, and seeing what kind of challenge it has.

But I think it's awesome.

Thank you, uh, for, uh, bringing me back to an experience that I know I've loved for a good portion of my life.

>> Yeah, you're welcome.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> Should we do some more climbing?

>> WIESE: Absolutely.

>> Awesome.

(chuckles) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: We travel south to Brookline, New Hampshire, home to the Andres Institute of Art.

Founded in 1996 by local art lover Paul Andres and sculptor John Weidman, the institute is New England's largest outdoor sculpture park.

>> The Andres Institute of Art is dedicated to the arts and giving it to the public.

We invite artists from all around the world.

We give them all the equipment they need to make what they want to relating to that particular year's theme.

>> NARRATOR: Each year, a select group of artists from around the world is invited to the institute to sculpt for two weeks.

They leave their pieces here, where they sculpted them, available for everyone to see.

>> We are open free to the public.

And, uh, we want you to come on your own terms, 'cause people see things from their own experiences.

And it's, uh, it's important that they understand that the artist gives the work to the viewer.

It's a gift.

>> NARRATOR: Spread across 140 acres, the collection features more than 80 steel, metal, and stone pieces set in a variety of garden and forest settings.

Some of the granite comes from an old quarry on the property, which is only fitting, as New Hampshire is known as the Granite State.

>> Well, there, there is a quarry on the site.

It's sedimentary, but it's, it's mostly a granite that is muscovite and, uh, feldspar, and it works, it carves very well, a lot of artists like it.

And it's a very metamorphic stone in its own right.

So it's a, it's a very attractive stone.

>> NARRATOR: Along with the sculptures, which are designed to withstand the New England seasons, are 11 hiking trails coursing through the property, a former ski hill.

>> We don't compete with the elements.

We try to work with it and... We don't manicure everything and try to make it like a pristine park and say, tell people not to touch it.

It's an integral experience for the viewer, and that's, that's important.

>> NARRATOR: One of the most notable sculptures is called Phoenix, which is carved from granite by a Latvian artist, Janis Karlovs.

Standing 15 feet tall and weighing about 11 tons, it's the largest work in the park.

>> And we only gave them two weeks, and he ended up doing the largest piece that year.

I was amazed, and I, I didn't see the eye until he had actually finished.

>> NARRATOR: One of John's favorite sculptures is The Horse of Inspiration, carved out of granite by a Mongolian artist named Amgalan Tsvegmid.

>> Ten years prior to doing this, they didn't have power tools in Mongolia.

But this is, uh...

Very nice.

A lot of people come here.

And sometime... interestingly, the parking lot will be full of cars, and I'll come up the driveway to the studio and I won't see anybody.

They're all out in the woods somewhere.

But they're having fun on their own again, and, uh, that's good.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Now we head south to Massachusetts, where, just outside of Boston, we find Coolidge Corner, a small village in Brookline.

An anchor of the neighborhood is the Brookline Booksmith, an independent bookstore, which for over half a century has served the community with its wide selection of titles, dedicated staff, and calendar of literary events.

Amy is at the Booksmith to catch up with author, actor, and comedian John Hodgman, who spent his childhood wandering through these shelves.

>> I think the original motto of Booksmith was, "Dedicated to the fine art of browsing," and I took it very seriously.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> But they wouldn't yell at you if you just sat around on the floor and read and... >> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> As well, you know, unlike a library, the booksellers themselves are displaying their taste throughout.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> You see all of the recommendations and the decisions they make to highlight stuff.

>> TRAVERSO: Highlight... >> And you just sort of find things that feel good to you.

And you'll read a couple of pages.

>> NARRATOR: For John, the Booksmith certainly holds a special place in his heart.

>> TRAVERSO: So where would you spend most of your time in a bookstore like this?

>> Hang on.

Hang on, listen.

(floor creaks) You hear the floor creaking?

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> That's the best part.

Before there were graphic novels, it was just, uh, Bloom Counties and Garfields.

>> TRAVERSO: Yes!

>> And I would sit there when I was, you know, maybe 12, 11, ten.

That's where I would go.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> And then when I became more pretentious, I'd start wandering around here in the fiction section, and I would just look for... At the time, it was, um, um... Vintage Contemporaries had that very distinctive design.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm, right.

>> Oh, look.

There's Tom Perrotta.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, yeah!

He's a Boston guy.

>> He's a...

He's a friend of mine-- I studied writing with him one summer in Yale.

Books that have been made into TV shows.

None of mine ever have.

>> NARRATOR: The Booksmith prides itself on packing its shelves with an eclectic mix of titles.

>> A super-duper pleasure is trying to find my own book here.

And it doesn't, doesn't look like they have it.

>> TRAVERSO: I don't think...

I don't think they're carrying it actually.

It's not really a... >> Yeah-- oh, no.

There it, there I am.

Oh, thank God.

I still exist.

(Traverso laughing) (exhales, smooching) >> TRAVERSO: Do you get that thrill still when you see your book?

>> (laughs): Yeah!

It's an, it's an incredible feeling, especially if you grow up with books.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> To see yourself in print.

And, you know...

I, I...

I go from job to job and I just keep running, keep running, keep running, keep running, 'cause that's how I like to live.

>> TRAVERSO: Right, yeah.

>> And, um, but from time to time, someone will post a picture of all the books that I've written, and this is the fifth one, I'm, like, "Ooh, bleh, I've really burdened the world with a lot of pages."

We're meeting here in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is my hometown.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> And I love it very much-- I thought for many years that I would come and live here for the rest of my life.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> But then, my then-girlfriend, now wife, instructed me that that would not be the case, that I would join her in New York City-- New York City, a place I was bred to hate.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> Because I thought of Boston as the big rival to New York City.

Now I realize, not really a rivalry.

Boston was always, like, "We're a big city."

And New York was, like, "I thought I heard a provincial town talking."

(Traverso laughs) >> TRAVERSO: You've kind of known a lot of different brands of fame, and you write about that in... >> Yeah!

>> TRAVERSO: ...the book.

>> I'm not sure they saw it.

Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms by me, John Hodgman.

Just, you know, always be plugging.

>> TRAVERSO: I'm gonna just do that.

Your career has been unexpected.

>> Implausible.

>> TRAVERSO: And maybe you could take us through the, um... the course of, of jobs that you've had.

>> Yeah, well, my, my thought had always been that I would like to write a book.

I would like to do it without actually sitting down and writing a book.

I always wanted to just have written a book.

>> TRAVERSO: "Have written," yeah.

>> Um, but I realized that that was a goal.

So I ended up learning how to write.

Sat down and started writing for magazines and comedy for the internet.

And then ended up writing a book called The Areas of My Expertise, which was a humor book that put me on The Daily Show as a guest.

>> John Hodgman, everybody.

>> Uh, yeah.

>> Nice to see you, John.

Good to see you.

>> Could you, uh...?

>> Thanks for stopping by.

>> Have, have you stopped... >> And, and joining us.

>> Have you stopped talking now?

>> And is it...?

>> Is the camera on me?

>> Yes.

>> Good, thank you.

Jon, the reason I called you here today is that... >> Well, I'm here every day-- it's my show, so I'm here...

It's not like you, you... >> Please, Jon.

This is hard enough without your blubbering.

And that was, I, for me, I thought, the apex of my creative life-- to be on the show that I loved and to get Jon Stewart's, uh, uh, endorsement... >> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> ...for this very strange book of fake trivia and fake facts.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> Anyway, goodbye.

Oh, and that whole thing about billionaires being essential job creators-- yeah, we made that up.

You know... (audience laughing, cheering) So I was an on-camera contributor on The Daily Show starting in January of '06, and by April of '06, I had auditioned for and gotten this completely unexpected job in the Apple Computer, uh, "Get a Mac" campaign.

(sneezing loudly) >> Gesundheit-- you okay?

>> No, I'm not okay.

I have that virus that's going around.

I played the PC, and so, suddenly, I had this profound... >> TRAVERSO: Just hearing you say, hearing those words come out of your mouth is actually... >> I'm a PC.

(Traverso laughing) I'll say it.

>> TRAVERSO: It was exciting for me just now.

>> Look, I never wanted to stop saying it.

(Traverso laughing) I'm speaking to Tim Cook right now.

>> TRAVERSO: Are you listening, Apple?

>> I never wanted to stop-- I'm ready to go.

>> So you just grab this.

>> Hey, I think I'm gonna crash.

>> Hey, if you feel like... >> I've done the math, and taking into account Jenna's salary and earning potential, I've calculated that she's worth... $800,000.

>> Ooh.

>> TRAVERSO: You do seem to bring...

Even the personas or the characters that you've played-- they feel very New Englandy to me.

>> And I'm August Clementine, and I talked last.

Good day.

>> TRAVERSO: The tweedy professor.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> TRAVERSO: Even the eccentric millionaire.

I think we have...

I mean, lots of places have them, but we have them here.

>> Yeah.

(sighs) Well.

I just don't like your uterus.

Don't get me wrong.

Your eggs are in great shape, but you have a T-shaped uterus.

For as house-proud as I was of Brookline... >> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> Um, I never thought of...

I thought of myself as a citizen of a bookstore, a citizen of the world, you know?

But you're shaped by where you grow up.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> And you don't know until you go someplace else.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> You know, 'cause I'd been going up to Maine for years, with my then-girlfriend and now wife, to visit her, her dad and her, her uncles up there.

And we would always stop, uh, at this old-school, uh, uh, roadside candy and fudge and nut shop called Perry's Nut House in Belfast, Maine.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> And they had a bookstore there, too, of Maine interests, including a section always dedicated to Maine humor.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm.

>> And if you don't know, Maine regional humor is basically jokes without punchlines.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> And I would say to comfort myself, wherever I was in my career, "At least I'm not that," you know?

Until I was, you know?

(Traverso laughing) And it wasn't until I was telling the stories on stage that became the book Vacationland that I realized I was exactly what I feared I would become.

And now I enjoy it very much.

>> TRAVERSO: Boston produces an incredible number of...

If you would think of the biggest names in comedy right now... >> Right.

>> TRAVERSO: You think of, like, Conan O'Brien.

>> Sure.

>> TRAVERSO: Amy Poehler.

>> Yup.

>> TRAVERSO: B.J.

Novak.

>> Steve Carell.

I do think that there is an underdog-ness to New England.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> And this constant desire to subvert the fanciness of the town and, and reassert its sort of more working-class roots and take each other down and give each other a hard time that, that I think, you know, is a friction that produces comedy.

>> TRAVERSO: So you write about having had a lot of jobs growing up-- you were a ditch digger.

You worked at the Coolidge across the street.

Um, you worked in restaurants.

How did those shape how you write, and your sort of comedic sensibility now?

>> Among my many jobs, maybe my fondest was working at the Coolidge.

A, because I loved movies, and I loved the movies that we showed over there, and B, I love not working hard.

You know, when you work in a movie theater, you have periods of busy-ness.

You rip the tickets, you sell the popcorn.

And then you just wait till the movie is over.

The other great thing about the Coolidge being a... sort of an art movie house was, it attracted artsy weirdos to work there.

They had incredibly sly senses of humor.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> Um, and my job, as I heard their jokes and heard their patter... And I can't even speak to jokes that were said.

It was just a way of engaging in the world.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> We had a maxim there, which was, "The customer is always wrong."

(both laugh) We were all... That was one of the reasons why the job felt like... >> TRAVERSO: So fun.

>> Like a family.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> 'Cause it was always, like, you know, don't... We wouldn't be mean to customers.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> But we would not brook meanness from customers.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> I love the Booksmith.

This is as important a part of my formation as there is.

Um, this is where I learned to be human.

This was my library.

This is where I stole a lot of time and a lot of...

I didn't steal books, but a lot of time reading books that I didn't pay for.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

But, uh, but the Coolidge was equally a foundational part, and I hoped that we could go over and film in the Coolidge.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> And of course, the Coolidge said, "No."

So let's go over there and see if we can sneak in.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, okay, I'm all for it.

>> Yeah.

♪ ♪ >> Hi.

My name's John.

I used to work here a long time ago-- can I come in?

>> Yeah.

>> Oh, all right, thanks.

Pull.

>> TRAVERSO: You should remember.

>> I don't... Well, all right.

>> Hey.

>> TRAVERSO: Hi, good, how are you?

>> So I just wanted to come by and show the Weekends With Yankee viewer about where I grew up... >> All right, so, yeah.

>> Which is basically in this lobby.

>> (laughs) >> And the projectionist created that neon sculpture... >> TRAVERSO: That's beautiful.

>> When I worked here, and that's been going strong since... >> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> 1990 or so.

So when I was here, these stairs is where we would sit during the show and make jokes with each other.

I, uh...

I, I grew up coming to see movies here when I was a little kid.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> And then, to work here.

I guess, the truth is that, but mostly, I find the things that I love, and then I scam my way into a job there.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah, well, I think... >> So, whether it's the Coolidge, or The Daily Show, or almost any of the... Brookline Booksmith, you know, as an author, I'm very adept at sneaking into places.

All right, Amy, let's see if I still got this.

I think this is a new machine, so forgive me if, uh... (Traverso laughs) I'm not as familiar.

So I always do about halfway... >> TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

>> A little bit of butter.

>> TRAVERSO: Nice, wow.

>> I'm sorry, I'll clean it up.

And then top it off.

(Traverso laughs) I think it's gonna be good.

>> TRAVERSO: Mmm.

>> Hey, thanks for coming.

Coming to my house.

(Traverso laughs) You're making it easy for me.

>> TRAVERSO: Thanks for inviting me to your house and feeding me.

>> Yeah, yeah.

Medallion Status out now.

#MedallionStatus.

#AlwaysBePlugging.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: For exclusive videos, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors, and access to the Weekends With Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com and follow us on social media, @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

One year for $20.

Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

Major funding provided by... ♪ ♪ >> Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts-- the first public park in America; the first fried clams; the first university in America; the first basketball game.

What's first for you?

♪ ♪ >> Grady-White, crafting offshore sportfishing boats for over 60 years.

>> The Barn Yard, builders of timber-frame barns and garages.

And by American Cruise Lines, exploring the historic shores of New England.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪