Trip Up

   Before we left to come up to Vermont, we worked 'round the clock to finish various renovation projects around the house. It sounded feasible on paper back in June, but I often have difficulty with reality. This for me meant working almost every day at the Studio and/or the Library of Virginia, then coming home and taping and mudding drywall, painting, trimming, banging nails, zipping screws, blah blah, not fun.  For Jess, it meant being with Kay 24/7 because I couldn't be. I made us feel like our stint in VT would feel more like a vacation than anything else, and that's proved to be true, though it's not like any vacation that I've ever taken. But anyway with the help of many friends and my parents at the final stretch, we "finished" the house just in time for it to be inhabitable by humans (our sublet-ors).  I don't think It'll ever be done as long as we live there, but you have to think of it in little manageable bite sized chunks...and that particular chunk is currently being digested! ...sigh. uughhh....(indigestion)

Our first stop was in Hershey, and Kay had a great first time at Hersheypark.  She loved all the kiddy rides, except for the ones that beeped. A few of them had to be stopped so that I could remove the sobbing, terrified little child.  Her cousin Ryan who is indeed a seasoned "parker" showed Kay all the ropes.  Unfortunately the carousel was out of commision. That was always my favorite.  We then had a great dinner with Jess's family in Camp Hill, before heading out to NYC.  

 Wonderful to see old friends, it was, though it always serves as a reminder of the things you miss so much about the way things were.   Patrick was as hospitable as ever,  and we stayed up late catching up-at his spit shined apt. in Brooklyn.  It was kept so meticulous, I would have felt comfortable eating off of the toilet seat........Ok not that comfortable, but it sure was nice..

He had to work a long day on Friday, so that morning after coffee, he split and we kicked around his place for a bit, figuring out what to do.  After a couple of unanswered text messages and e-shoutouts, we decided to head into Williamsburg.  Within minutes our old friend from DC, Speck called and we hooked up.  She was participating in the BOA 88 drummers event on at the waterfront park and had the whole afternoon to kill, so we had lunch and went to her place in Brooklyn Heights where the view of lower Manhattan was like none that I have ever seen!!!    I've never been on the 27th floor of any building I realized, but I could see how people become scared of heights.  

At about 7, we packed up and began the slow, bumper to bumper rush hour ascent up through the BQE and out of the city on our way to upstate NY.  Ballston Spa to be more specific.  Josh and Sasha were up late expecting us and it felt wonderful to get out to a quiet peaceful town even after being in NYC for only a day!  We are in the minority among friends I think, in our love of NY as a place to visit only.  I just simply like more space and a slower pace.  The next morning we woke up and Kay met her new friends Calla and Aven for the first time.  Kay and Calla fought over toys just about the whole 2 days we were there, but they seemed to really get along as well, just the same.  We spent the first day eating wonderful home cooked food prepared by Sasha, and got a tour of her family's Christmas tree farm, complete with a corn maze, air pillow bouncing, and a cart ride around the property with young Aven at the wheel!!  Josh gave us a demo of his latest invention, the remote controlled Hovercraft car!!  These are truly remarkable people.

On Sunday morning we got to moving a bit slowly, and packed up for the 3 or 4 hour trip up to our final destination, Warren, Vermont and more specifically Yestermorrow Design/Build School where that day I was to begin my apprenticeship certificate program.  The drive began fine but as we headed north, the temperature plummeted and rain started to fall.  At one point Kay was crying that she had to poop, so we stopped for her to do her business, and got a bite to eat while we were there.  Well, little did we know that the intersecting street where the stripmall was located was also the road we were supposed to turn off on, and we got right back on the road we had previously been on....... for about 2 hours!!!!!!!!  In miles we didn't get very far, but I guess Lake George NY is a HUGE tourist destination, because it took us nearly 1 hour get through the town, realize that we F'd up, and another hour to get back to the strip mall where we should have turned.  At this point it was cold and pouring rain, and we just wanted to get there.  We were climbing into the mountains of Vermont, and this was a place we surely had not been before. The clouds were thick and we seemed to be driving right through them.  We finally ended up at Yestermorrow at 6 just in time for orientation and a primer for my first course, Strawbale Design/Build which officially started on monday.   This was followed by a tasty dinner there of local organic delights!  I was excited for what lay ahead....