All Roads Lead Home
We're back from our long and winding road trip to Maine, and the only regrets I have are that I didn't stay longer at the lake with Jen and Peter and that I didn't arrange for lawn care while we were gone.
The yard was WILD upon our return. I missed the peak bloom of my Fire King and Day lilies and there was a small forest of volunteer Morning Glories in the back yard. I'm still trying to tame it all, and was super happy to see a Hydrangea I'd about given up on in the back struggling to shoot its blooms out among the emerging Brown Eyed Susans, which are threatening to take over the place. The Canna Lilies broke out, too, with more on the way, and the Dahlias are shooting up out front.
I'll be out there for a while over the next several days. Send Aleve. I'll drop a bunch of links in my summer trip summarization if you're a mind to traipse about as well.
The highlights:
Canada to Burlington, Vermont: to catch the sunset at Spot on the Dock. The Captain learned of it from Keaton Springfellow, and it's been a regular stop for him when he's driven alone to or from Maine. The view was awesome and we've stolen and over-used our waitresses' line of "Get on up in there," ever since. She was talking about our food. We think. We haven't always.
Burlington to the Von Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, Vermont: We'd planned to stop in for breakfast but ended up hiking what felt like most of the 2300 acres. We were warned that "Nothing is flat here," as we set out.
At one point, to keep cheerfully going, I was channeling Gretl, the youngest Von Trapp, imaging her trek through the Alps and away from the Nazis. I only broke out into song a few times. It was beautiful.
I was grateful that we broke through the forest to find the brewery where we got refreshed and I bought a book that details the real story of Maria and the von Trapps. It's worth your read if you don't mind spoilers.
We sat at the bar where we talked about Fenway and craft beer with bartender. Jeff told him of our plans for later and he advised us that if we were going to Waterbury next, we should skip Prohibition Pig and instead stop in at the Blackback Pub. "You'll get what you expect at ProPig - a heaping pile of great barbeque - but Blackback will give you the unexpected," he said.
It was a good tip. We sat outside, watched the locals and had a fabulous time.
We woke up to rain and had plenty of time to shop for Jasper Hill Farm cheese and stop into two other of the Captain's Choices: the Craftsbury General Store and Willey's Store. You never know what you might find there, but you know you'll like it.
Greensboro to Boston: The Subaru was groaning with beer by this time - most of it for people in Jeff's beer group, but some for us. We headed down to Boston. Ali was to arrive at Logan Airport around 9 p.m. so we had plenty of time to swerve down through the Green Mountains and the Berkshire Hills.
The views there are all watercolors, with the hills in the distance all blurry and undefined. Gorgeous. It'll make you veer off the pavement at times if you're not careful. Which of course I was. At all times.
Alison's flights were delayed and delayed and there was fear of missed connections but she finally made it in past midnight. Jen, Peter, James and David met us at our hotel and we took the train to Fenway the next day. The Sox lost, but it was a great game and we were glad to be close to the train station to get back. We spent a few hours at a local bar before calling it a night I split off to visit the Museum of Fine Art Boston with James and David to see the Van Gogh exhibit, which was super cool.
James did not make friends with a woman at the parking garage who had zero time to talk about his lost ticket, which in pure male Reed fashion, found it as soon as she had walked on, shaking her head at him. Once free of the garage without penalty, and a couple ours later, we met up with Jeff in Portland, Maine. Ali had gone up with Peter and Jen, which was great because she took her suitcase with her, giving Jeff room for more beer.
Boston to China Village: Once at the lake, we didn't really leave except to shop for flowers and a tree to start to fill in the landscaping at the new house: a planned part of the trip for me. Jen and Peter's former camp is right on the lake and through a field that in the spring is gloriously filled with lupines.
I'll drop in a photo from prior trips with the lupines below. It's a see-it-to-believe-it kind of thing.
Their new house is right next door to the old camp, and now they own the lupine field.
The new house takes advantage of both that view and the lake. The house has everything you'd want, and best of all, it's a full-time house rather than a camp, so all the amenities and space you could dream up.
My plan is to trade gardening for boarding, so once I get there next year, it'll be hard to get me to leave. It was really hot the day Jen and I dug most of the hole for a new tree on the field side of the house. It was so hot that once we finished, I jumped into the lake, raising the water level due to the dirt I brought with me. It felt so good.
Jeff sacrificed his prescription glasses to the lake in a bit of unusually poor communication with the boat pilot, but he was due for new ones anyway. We were lucky to get Ali's boyfriend, Beau, for a few days, and he learned to water ski. Beau is from Florida where if there's a drop of water, there's a gator, so he'd not spent a lot of time in lakes.
Anyway, this guy was almost within touching distance when suddenly it dove and was nearly intimate with me. If you've never had a loon sideswipe you underwater, let me tell you: it's an experience. Kind of like if a manatee or a dolphin slid against you. It went under the dock and off to parts unknown, leaving me feeling like I'd come close to an alien probe.
China Village to home: It was a quicker trip back than going, with only one overnight. I'd moved everything we didn't need into our biggest suitcase to accommodate the beer more easily. We found a great Italian restaurant along the way that looked like a neighborhood hangout that the interstate had come for but was too good to get lost in the maze. Still had a neighborhood feel.
Back home, we were greeted with the wild lawn I mentioned, piles of mail and an empty refrigerator, but I had Italian leftovers, so we survived.
Between Book Club, planned lunches, a Beer Share for Jeff, and a super fun brunch with Jeph and Annmarie, we were almost immediately busy with yard work/housework and local fun. The big project will be to dig out some Brown Eyed Susans that are crowding my little Hydrangea.
Last night, we took a walk after I slept through most of a Red Sox game on TV. (Despite what may seem like a repeated and dedicated effort, I'm still not good at day drinking.) Rain was in the forecast and we got drenched on the return.
It's summer, though, so it was delightful rather than a pain. We're settling back into our Indiana routine, but have more fun planned. This semi-retirement/travel stuff is fun. I'm getting used to it.
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