Stonehedge Inn - Tyngsboro, Ma

Hydrangea

We have decided that we may have seen one too many hurricanes.  Maybe we need to move somewhere...but where.  Well maybe Vermont.  It’s fall foliage time, and we haven’t seen family for awhile (since Father’s Day).  The plan...fly to Boston, visit family, drive to Vermont, drive back, visit family, go home.  Of course, while we are here, another hurricane, Michael, hit Florida, but was still a tropical storm with 60mph gusts as it went over our house.

We have been to Stonehedge Inn several times in the past ten years, with each visit, it seems to get a little more tired, a little less inviting.  The room was a little threadbare, the Keurig system only had one coffee pod.  We are returning on Saturday and asked for a better room.

The visit with the family was wonderful.  It seems everyone has a suggestion for the “perfect” place to live.

Colony Inn - Keene, NH

Tired!

After our country breakfast, we were able walk around Woodstock.  The local gardeners were working the garden in the commons.  We checked the window at the realtor, it seemed like we could find a place we liked at a somewhat reasonable price.  So Woodstock is on the list!

From Woodstock, we went down to Brattleboro.  It’s a possibility, it’s the kind of place hippies go to die.  After a call to our next door neighbor in Virginia to make sure the house is okay (it is!), we walk around town and end up eating lunch at a brewery on the Connecticut River.  Deb had a Chicken Sandwich with French fried pickles.  I’m not sure if the pickles were the only reason but Brattleboro is NOT on the list.

The sun has come out, Deb is tired of driving, so we go for a little walk in the park.  Not that we were really dressed for it.  Loafers and a leather jacket are not my normal hiking apparel.  After the hike we ended up in Keene at the Colony Inn.  It’s right in the heart of town, close to several restaurants.  Our room is at he top of a steep staircase at the end of a narrow hallway.  This one is not so spacious, but there is a communal living room downstairs with a refrigerator full of beer.

View from trail at Pisgah State Park, NH

Diner is at a local brewery.  With all the tables full, we sat at the bar and ate smoked salmon, that was smoked by the bar tender.  Could have been the salmon, but Keene made the list!

Breakfast was included with room.  Nice!

Stonehedge Inn - Tyngsboro, MA

Jaffrey NH 

We checked out Peterborough and Jaffrey.  Peterborough was nice, Jaffrey not so much, but they had a Halloween scarecrow contest with hundreds of scarecrows.  So onward to Massachusetts.  The rain is back and we need a little exercise, so we stopped at Mall we used use when we lived in the area. According to Deb’s Fitbit, one loop around the second floor is about 1,500 steps.

After playing cards (won a game, lost a game) we all headed to Stonehedge for dinner.  The food was excellent, but oh, the service...this time it was a problem in the kitchen...  Probably, Stonehedge Inn is off the list!

Tomorrow, it off for home.

Kedron Valley Inn - South Woodstock, VT

Kedron Valley Inn

Although the weather was a little gloomy, with light rain, we were pretty happy.  The foliage is right at the peak.  I realize I haven’t been back to this part of New Hampshire and Vermont in forty years.  We drove by my old haunts...well, at least, where my old haunts used to be.  We drove through Hanover, NH and Norwich, VT.  There was a little sign for King Arthur Flour.  We decided to check it out.  With the rainy weather, it seems the only thing available to do is shop, eat and take classes at KAF (that’s what we in the know, call it).  So we had lunch and did our Christmas Shopping for everyone on our list.

Woodstock Main Street

After lunch we went to Woodstock, but it was raining too hard, so we took a scenic foliage drive over the Green Mountains.  With a quick detour through a quintessential covered bridge down a long dirt road, through a few pastures and rolling hills, we arrive at the Kedron Valley Inn.  We have a spacious room at the top of a steep stairway and at the end of a narrow hallway.  The classic Vermont Inn dining room has been replaced with a Neapolitan Pizza Eatery.  The chef went to New York City for training (it might have been more special if he went to Italy...just saying).  Several of the pizza choices were interesting...broccolini or ham, cheese, and Maple Syrup.  We settled for bacon, apple and arugula.

Breakfast was available next door at the country store.  It’s starting to feel a lot like New England

First Landing State Park - Virginia Beach, VA (Deb’s Birthday)

This is the one day a year that Deb gets to decide what we do.  Her reaction to having to make all the choices - “This is some version of Hell!”  After walking the Osmanthus Trail (to save you from Googling “Osmanthus,” it’s a flowering shrub also known as Devilwood...well isn’t that appropriate.).

Back to the RV for lunch, Greek Salad with chick peas and Greek Olives.  Off to the beach, dogless,  where Deb took a swim.  I managed to drop her phone in the water, but it seems okay.

I was particularly brave and on two occasions interacting with total strangers.  They are building a large deck right next to our site, and I went over and asked what they were doing. It’s a platform for a handicapped yurt (the last of 33 yurt platforms they are building this year).  The camp store was closed so I couldn’t buy any firewood.  Walking back, I saw the camp host had a pile of firewood, so I asked him if he knew where I could get some.  With a small huff, he gave me 4 pieces of wood, asking nothing in return (I did, later, bequeath him with a full sleeve of “Dragon in a Box” firestarters)

Dinner at Hot Tuna, a great little seafood place, where Deb had a cheeseburger(?!?).  Back at the campsite, we burned our four pieces of wood and reminisced about our three hundred or so days on the road in our cute little tardis RV.

First Landing State Park - Virginia Beach, VA

We we’re going to come here in September, but when we were getting ready to leave, storm clouds rolled in.  Checked the weather - flash floods, high surf advisory, rip currents, rain, thunder, lightning.  So we decided to reschedule.  How mature is that!

It’s Deb’s birthday, and we are having an Indian summer.  As usual, we head out on a week-middle (Tuesday-Thursday).  Deb has asked for a birthday cake (not happening), a dinner date (probably will happen), a campfire (might happen), a hike (delightful), a stroll on the beach (romantic), and then a nice movie (I’ll tell her how it ends, tomorrow...zzzz)

We hung out at the beach with our beach chairs.  There were dozens of dolphins really close to shore, breaching, smashing their flukes on the surface of the water, swimming back and forth in front of us.  Drex is still miffed by wave action and indignantly struts back to shore after being buffeted around, until he decides to try it again.

Dinner was shredded Brussels sprouts and eggs...interesting...with rice and chicken.  After dinner, we watched the sun set (from the other side of the “don’t walk on the dunes” sign...shhhh).  And then we watched the first two episodes of M*A*S*H. (A birthday present).  I’ll tell her how it ended, this morning!