Anne took us to the Meier Sculpture Gardens and we had a field day taking pictures of cool things.
Wish we had more time, but we made the most of a few hours.
These pictures don't do it justice.
We thought this sculpture was especially apt, since we love to listen to books on CD as we drive. This sculpture is called "Listening to History" and we listened to 10 CD's with the John Adams story last year, and 8 CD's for another book by the same author this year called "1776."
Watch out, Paulee!
We headed to Hershey, PA on Thursday morning and really enjoyed a museum about Milton Hershey's life - but, sorry, no pictures. (Gasp!)We arrived in New York on Saturday and spent the night at Christie's. After church on Sunday we were able to connect with Alison for lunch, do the tourist thing in Lake Placid, get dinner where Alison works, and do some hiking around the lake to wear off the dinner! We headed to Vermont on Monday morning to spend the week in the Green Mountains. Christie was able to get a few days off to join us there.
To get to Vermont, you have to take a ferry across Lake Champlain!
We had a very smooth crossing.
This is the condo we rented at Smuggler's Notch, a really well-known ski area near Stowe.It was really a great place, with several restaurants, pools, tennis, disc golf, hiking, canoeing, and ... you could rent Segways! I really regret not taking the lessons and scooting around the complex or into the trails on one of those things. Maybe next year!
Signs on the roads promised moose or bear, but all we saw were friendly groundhogs in the hills around our place.
The chairlift went right past our place. This one wasn't running during the summer, but over in Stowe we could have paid to ride to the top. Nah. We had much more interesting things to do!
There IS a road over Smuggler's Notch, but it won't allow trucks, and it is closed during the winter. We went over the Notch several times over the next few days, and kind of got used to it. The first time is a bit scary, since it is a one lane road around big boulders and has lots of switchbacks where you have no idea what is coming at you!
It is very scenic in Vermont - this is one of the only surviving covered railroad bridges left in the country.
We experienced a Cider Mill, glass blowing artists, Ben and Jerry's Factory (yum...), Cabot's Cheese (World's Best Cheddar) ... see all the cheese curds? The man in the picture has a hairnet on his BEARD!
Then we took a tour of the Rock of Ages Granite quarry. It was amazing - they've been working this quarry since the 1830's and provided the rock tfor the Vermont Sate buildings.
I wanted a piece of granite to take home, but this one wouldn't fit in the car.
We stopped for a few pictures of the Trap Family Lodge - the hills were alive with the sound of music (So Okay - I had to hum a few bars)
Back at the ranch there was a beautiful sunset that I was able to capture as we took a stroll down to the Ben and Jerry's at the main lodge.
On Wednesday we played 18 holes of disc golf on the mountain course. It was a bit muddy, as Christie can testify to.
We had a bit of trouble throwing our frisbees straight. It seemed like there was a ravine with a magnet that pulled my disc off course on a regular basis! The course was laid out on the cross country ski trail - plenty of hills, and all woods... but beautiful.
I found it!
Actually, you rent three discs - a driver, mid-range, and putter!
See, aren't the mountain flowers pretty? We really appreciated God's creation every day.
After the disc golf, we drove Christie back to the ferry because she had to work on Thursday back in New York. We stopped for a late lunch in Burlington and ate outside on the Church Street Mall. Lot's of good people-watching there, and the food was really great.
Paul and I golfed the next two days at two different mountain courses. I was able to pick up my first ever case of poison ivy on Friday while hunting for Paul's ball in the woods (OK, it MIGHT have been my ball, I'm not really sure.)
This beautiful sky was back in New York at Christie's favorite ice cream place - Donnelly's on Sunday night after spending Father's Day with Christie at church and then at a very funny play about American History that had a cast of only 3 guys. They really brought those founding fathers to life in a new way!
We didn't get to spend as much time with Alison, since she had to work a lot, but ... she will be home in August for good!
Finally, on the way home we got to meet Tom and Kim's new little one - Amariah - for the first time. She is only 3 weeks old and a real sweetie. I, of course, couldn't hold her because of the poison ivy all over my right arm, but I could take pictures!
Here's the whole family, including the dog and one of the cats. I think Griffin was on his way to get the other one as I snapped the picture. Amariah was taking a snooze - finally - after a cranky, hot day. We really had a fun time - the kids gave me a tour of all their rooms and hideouts, then we went out for dinner while Amariah continued to sleep!Well, that's it ... the short version. I wonder where we'll go next????
