Friday, September 21, 2012

Goodbye to my cutie (for a few days)

This morning I dropped Jason off about 2 hours south of us, in Massachusetts. He was rigged out with a 45 pound pack and will spend the next 7 days hiking north, doing a section of the Appalachian Trail which happens to run concurrent with Vermont's Long Trail.

It's been a long-time wish of his to do the whole AT ... if he hadn't joined Peace Corps, that was his alternative plan. Doing the whole trail from Georgia to Maine takes about 5 months, and well ... you know the rest of the story post-Peace Corps. While I really do wish that I was the type of person who could do such a hike, I don't think that I am and I keep reminding myself to know my limits.
So, I'm home alone for a week. Luckily, I actually started working again last Sunday and will be kept very busy at Okemo while he's gone. Yay for work!!



Thursday, September 13, 2012

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck ...

... if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I got to watch this woodchuck for quite a while yesterday afternoon.  He's pretty cute - 




Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The last stop

Our very last stop to our three month summer road trip was to a friend's family lake cabin in New Hampshire.  Yes, we overshot Vermont by a few miles, but felt it would be worth it and it absolutely was!

The Campbell Cottage was the perfect transitional spot from our crazy, busy road trip back to our peaceful, rustic life in Vermont.  Plus, we got to hang out with Phil, a very good friend from working at Okemo last winter.


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

On the way home ... Glacier National Park & Niagara Falls

I'm afraid that I did not really do camera justice to the second half of our summer.  After being on the road so long and seeing so many new things, I think I just got pooped out.  Also, my camera started putting large brown/gray spots right in the middle of photos which can sort of kill the photo.

Here are the two places that I DID manage to photograph on our way back:


































I have to share that we received an unbelievable kindness along our way home ... we were given a brand new camera!  I still shake my head with disbelief when I think about it. After having had some pretty bad luck with cameras the past couple years, it was such an incredible, unexpected surprise!  Needless to say, I had a great time taking pictures with it at Niagara Falls.






Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Twenty-Eight Beds Later

We are finally HOME -- back in Vermont, doing without electricity or an indoor toilet and loving it!

We moved back into our barn exactly three months from when we left it -- ahhh, it is good to be back!

The past three months consisted of the following:
-- Driving over 9500 miles
-- Sleeping in 28 different beds (only one night in a hotel!)
-- Camping for 11 nights
-- Seeing 32 USA states
-- Visiting 7 National Parks

Plus ... catching up with countless family and friends -- a HUGE thank you to everyone who hosted us overnight or for a meal or more.  You made this road trip possible for us.  Thank you for opening up your homes and your schedule to spend time with and feed these weary travelers.
We you!   

On our arrival home, these beautiful flowers greeted us (along with about 20 of the Forest Echo Farm members).  My Mom and I had worked on this bed and planted little seedlings in the Spring.  It was so fun to see what they have become.

























Our bedroom and washroom windows look directly out over this dilapidated shed.  You can see that the flowers are a BIG improvement over what used to be there.  Thanks to Jason for cutting up and moving all of that wood.