A Quick Vacation Post

I'm writing from the Inn at Ellis River in Jackson, New Hampshire- we both agree that it's the nicest of the bed & breakfasts we've stayed at. We already know that we definitely want to return here in the future. All told, we've had quite the interesting vacation, full of surprises both good and bad! Luckily, the good outweighs the bad :)

On our first day, we headed up to Vermont to Little River State Park in Waterbury for a bit of camping. It was a beautiful campground, very secluded in the middle of the forest by a reservoir. There were some truly gorgeous views of mountains and lakes from different spots in the campground. We were excited to find that swimming was allowed in the lake, so we got to cool off after setting up our tent and gathering our firewood. It was such a neat feeling swimming there, all alone and surrounded by mountains. It was so silent. Really a place to get closer to nature. We spent the evening sitting by our campfire, which Warren did a great job tending to, and roasting far too many S'mores. Well, can you ever really have too many S'mores? You be the judge. The next morning, we drove into "town" for a suprisingly delicious breakfast at a small cafe and then went back to the campground to do their self-guided nature trail. Next, we packed up and departed for the Ben & Jerry's factory.

The factory was pretty neat, and we got to do a little tour of the facility, check out their "Flavor Graveyard" of retired flavors, take a few fun pictures and sample a bit of Cherry Garcia. :) It wasn't terribly large or so full of information that it knocked our socks off, so it's funny, because I chose the campground because of its proximity to B&J's, but the campground turned out to be the far more interesting of the two.

At some point that morning, we received a message from the Inn that they had been expecting us the day before!! Somehow I had our arrival date messed up in my mind and we were a day late getting to the inn- don't know how I managed that one, as I had everything down in my calendar for months! Guess I'm really on summer mode where you forget what day it is! Anyway, thank goodness the inn was SO hospitable and didn't charge us for that night, and even upgraded us to a nicer room for no extra charge. They are incredibly generous here. So after a quick lunch in Montpelier we were off to the White Mountains.

About halfway to the inn, we pulled away from a gas station and were shocked by a HORRIBLE shuddering/shaking/noisy something going on in the car. It was ok on the highway but barely driveable in the low gears! We were a little worried we'd be stranded in the middle of the mountains, which by the way were SPECTACULAR views going through Crawford Notch. We rolled into the inn by the grace of God and proceeded to call about a thousand area mechanics, who all seemed to be booked through next week. Luckily, the inn is SUCH an incredible place to be stranded, and we did reach a mechanic in the end. We had the car towed there the next morning by AAA, rented a car, and still got to do the activities we wanted. Our car needed a new drive shaft and should be ready today.

The inn is beautiful, as you'll see when I post pictures back home, and has so much to do on a relaxed day. A hot tub inside a lovely atrium overlooking the river, a game room and pub where we can play pool, checkers and chess or borrow a DVD to watch in our room, a pool and sauna, a little gazebo in the garden to sit in, and of course beautiful rooms. Their breakfast is AWESOME and so hearty as compared to some of the other inns we've stayed at, and coffee and tea are available round the clock, which is always something we look forward to. The innkeepers are so kind and even drove to pick us up from dinner one night when it started to rain heavily so we didn't have to walk home in it. Truly a great place where we'll return, and a great value as compared to the inn in Cape Cod (even though we loved that place too).

Yesterday we enjoyed the inn during the day and went on a moose tour at night. It was thrilling to see the moose (we saw about 10, 3 of which were really good long sightings), but it was way too long- about 3.5 hours, so on the way home we were both slap happy and exhausted and giggling like maniacs. Warren called it an anti-moose pill because by the time we got back we were so tired we didn't even want to see another moose!

Today we plan to visit some waterfalls in the area and maybe do a bit of shopping. Sometime tomorrow we'll leave. :( I do miss our furry friend Baxter, though, so it will be great to see him.

What a vacation!! ;)

Catching Up

A lot has happened over the past few weeks but I've been too busy (or lazy?) to write about it. :) Two weeks ago we spent some time in Chadd's Ford, PA for the wedding of our friends Katie and Rob. We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery, celebrating their marriage and then spending a wonderful morning at Longwood Gardens. Such a great place!




Last weekend we enjoyed a day at Rye Playland with Patty & Steve. It's kind of a quaint, funny little amusement park that was built in 1928 and is surrounded by trees on one side and Long Island Sound on the other. We went on some silly rides and had a great time hanging out with the two of them.

This Tuesday my summer vacation began, and Warren's parents came to visit us for a couple days. We spent a day in historic Philadelphia touring Independence Hall, visiting the Liberty Bell, perusing Franklin Court and finishing up with a delicious dinner at City Tavern. I had the best turkey pot pie in the world. :)




Other than that, we've both been busy going for runs in the park, and I've been working my way through a stack of library books. Today we're heading to a friend's house for a BBQ and will view the fireworks in Hoboken, and soon we'll start packing for New Hampshire!