Landed in Vermont



Lake Winnepesaukee

I'm catching up with my blog postings now that we've landed for a two night stay and have wireless internet again. They told us to ask at the front desk for a card with the ID and password to access it and I approached the man with a wink and tilt of my head when I said "I'm here for the secret code" and winked again. He just stared at me. Then I added "they said to ask for access to the internet here" to which he asked "Do you have a computer?". Hmmm. Why would I want access to the internet if I didn't have a computer? Oh well, he finally gave it to me (somewhat begrudgingly) and I raced upstairs while Left Brain took the bus to add fuel to it.

Mitt Romney's "lake home"

Let me back up a bit and fill you in on what we're seen so far. On Tuesday we took a paddlewheel cruise on Lake Winnepesaukee (I can actually SAY it now) and we viewed beautiful fall colors and extremely expensive overpriced homes priced in the billions.

My only hope of living here would be to get the gardener position and hopefully a small servant's quarters. While we were touring the lake we had a man in a glider buzzing around us and giving us a small aerial show.

Then we had a tour of Castle in the Clouds, a spectacular mountaintop setting with views of Lake Winnepesaukee and the hills and mountains beyond.

It was beautifully restored and charming to walk through.

They also have a Belgium horse named Zeus who holds the title of being the largest horse in the world measuring in at 21 hands high and 3000 pounds. 

A horse is a horse ...of course of course...unless that horse is the famous Mr Zeus

He was a big boy and a beauty.  They brought him out so we could meet him and pet him.  This entails an extra charge of $1 a person to see him, and I imagine the fees help to feed this beast.  I could probably fertilize my garden with just a day's worth of deposit from him.

After checking into the Inn at Mills Falls in Meredith NH we went to a Thanksgiving dinner at the Hart's Turkey Farm Restaurant where everyday is Thanksgiving. It was like a cross between an Inn and a B&B - absolutely charming with a fireplace in the lobby and coffee, cider and cocoa available 24/7.

This morning (Oct 12th) we had breakfast at the Waterfall Cafe where there is a raging waterfall right outside the window of the cafe. This was followed by a scenic drive through the Franconia Notch and a break at the Flume Gorge Visitor Center.

The bus had just dropped us off for a short hike at the Basin Walk a little ways down the road when we discovered we had left two people at the Visitor Center. OOOPS. We commenced our hike while Left Brain doubled back to pick them up.

At one of our scenic walks I met a group from Israel and it only took five minutes to deplete all my knowledge of Hebrew. Sorry Rabbi. But it was nice to wish someone a Chag Sameach.

We arrived at Montpelier VT for our next two night stay and they turned us loose to find lunch. I enjoyed my first pizza since April. I have been a bit afraid of eating pizza while on Weight Watchers, but with all the walking and stairs climbed felt it was safe. It feels so good to be able to hike around with my backpack full of camera gear and not even feel like I'm struggling at all. To have the use of my body back again is priceless! I hope I'm walking enough to balance our the ice cream and cookies I've been ingesting.

After lunch we all piled back into the bus for a visit to the Morse Maple Farm and what a hoot! The man giving the presentation had us in stitches with his comedic dialogue and perfect timing. While waiting for the check out I met a group from England who have a tour guide from Texas. They confided to me that they don't know what he's saying half the time. Since I'm the lone star Wisconsin traveling with a bus full from the Lone Star State I could certainly understand. Whenever I'm at a loss for how to respond to them I just say "Ya sure...ya betcha".

Part of our package with the hotel contains two movie tickets for across the street, so I'm hoping I can talk Left Brain into going with me to see Money Ball. We are able to sleep in tomorrow with a 9:00 departure, so it seemed like the best night to see a movie to me.

Long Live the Queen of Vermont