Berkshires Vacation - Day 7

Ah, our last day here in the mountains. We got a very late start - Shara didn't get up until close to 10:30, and I had to wake her. I guess this vacation schedule is getting a bit out of hand. Today we decided to take a hike and found the Ice Glen in Stockbridge. We grabbed some lunch at The Housatonic Cafe in Lee. The Yelp reviews sounded great and indeed it was. It was also slow, as stated, so best not to be there when you have somewhere to go. I had the Everything veggie - Lettuce, tomato, cukes, olives, roasted red peppers, onion and fresh basil with honey mustard on an herb-cheese ciabatta roll. Shara had the Brooklyn Bridge - First-cut pastrami shaved with Baby Swiss, sauerkraut and spicy mustard on sour dough bread. Grilled for the thrill! The bread was amazing as were the sandwiches. This was honestly one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. I think it was the combo of the calamata olives, peppers and onions. But tomorrow we're going to get more of this bread. I found it's Berkshire Mountain Bakery bread and it is incredible - chewy and perfect for sandwiches.

Once we got out of there we went to the car and helped someone out with a jump. I had to get the manual out, but refound how to open the hood of the car. He was most grateful. On to Stockbridge to find the Ice! And find it we did. I stopped at town hall to ask exactly where it was and the tax collector gave us the directions on getting to the trailhead. We were parked where we should be to get to it, so all was perfect. The weather was nice but we still put on bug spray. The trip into the woods was very nice - old growth forest with tons of knotty roots to climb over. We made the decision to go to the ice glen, rather than the fire tower and this was a great decision. Shara led the way up the boulders and down and through the narrow paths, It was a lot of fun and cool and cool - the boulders stored lots of the cold in between and made little caves that could hold ice through summer. We didn't see any ice but did get cooled off nicely. On the way out it started to rain and luckily we were in the forest so not a big downpour on us. Shara then took a look at the nearby playground and then we headed back to the resort. On the way back we stopped at Chocolate Springs for a treat. Shara chose the Coffee Mousse Cake and I got some dark chocolate basil discs to have at a later date because I was wanting to try that Wow Cow "ice cream" again.

Back at the resort, Shara hung out in the bedroom while I had a conference video call with church, then we went to dinner. You can see the Yelp review but one comment Shara made that didn't get into the review was, "the wings are like little bites of heaven." We had a fun time being girls on the town. and didn't get back until after 10 PM. That was bad enough but then it turns out she read for a while, slept for a bit and was then up for 45 min. around 12 AM. Obviously she's still sleeping so I will pack around her.

Today we'll head back and will stop at the Berkshire Mountain Bakery to get some of that amazing bread and try to recreate the sandwich experience we had yesterday. Also need to stop and get blueberries. The ones we had the first day tasted like what blueberry flavoring is modeled after! All in all, this was a great vacation, despite the sadness that reminds us to appreciate all of these times as much as possible because life is short. Not just the big vacations but the everyday events and the people we're fortunate enough to share them with.

Berkshires Vacation - Day 3

We had another leisurely morning, having some of the breakfast supplies bought the day before. We discussed some ideas of what to do and decided to check out Mount Greylock. It's only about 8 miles away from the resort. We went to the visitor's center and got a map and some hints from listening to the ranger at the desk and decided to head to the summit because they were giving a tour at 1 PM. When we got there we listened for a few minutes but found it rather boring so decided to take a walk until 2 PM, when a scavenger hunt began. We found the Overlook Trail and walked in for about 10 min and then walked out. It was in the woods and very pretty, but rather moist, as the ranger had warned us about. Not a big deal though - down hill then back up. Went about 1/3 mile and on the way back to the map, which is by the parking lot and where the scavenger hunt was to begin, we got to walk on the Appalachian Trail. That was a real treat! We found a rock with a Thoreau quote saying basically learning about nature was just as important as a classical, college education.

We got the scavenger hunt list and set to work. It took us about an hour and a half and we were all over that summit! It was great and we learned about the subalpine trees that grow there - the only subalpine forest in the state and the war memorial, which to me looked like a chess piece. I mentioned that to Shara and wondered if it was the king or queen. She thought it looked like a pawn and that was a great observation and we discussed the use of the pawn in chess and how it could be related to the use of soldiers in the military and if that's what the designer of the monument may have been thinking. We also spent some time looking at the surrounding landscape, which was simply amazing. What an oxymoron! Here's what we saw:

Shara demonstrating her fear of heights:

Eventually she made it farther down to where you can see the people in the distance. It wasn't bad at all - just look at the few yards ahead and not out in the distance.

We also split a linner at the Bascome Lodge - a grilled ham & cheese which came with coleslaw and potato salad. It was good and the dining room took full advantage of the overlook. After eating we decided it was time to head back to the resort. Shara wanted to practice riding her bike. She fell the other day and skinned her knee and is still freaked out so the practice didn't go so well and she's wanting to give the bike away. We'll figure that out later. Since shopping cures all ills, we went to Pittsfield and checked out one store that was still open at 6 PM on a Sunday - Brits R' Us. A great store with a very nice owner who truly understands customer service. He was waiting for some people and if he's there, he's open. And not just open but also very nice and welcoming. We had a nice talk while Shara counted her change to see if she had enough for a Chocolate Frog. She was just short but of course I bought it for her and she'll "pay me back". We also found real Cadbury candy and got a couple bars to sample - flake and crumble (honeycomb). I think I'm trying to show Shara that less sweet is a good thing. It was fun looking around the town and reading the medallions in the street, marking the original buildings. Very cool, old town and certainly one that's being reinvented (gentrified). We did think it would be a good idea to get some dessert though and again went back to the resort to have a bit of healthy fruit and vegetable before doing so, We went to Krispy Cones, a traditional soft ice cream stand. Shara got a dipped cone and I had a sundae, which is the best way to have soft ice cream, in my opinion. It wasn't exactly ice cream though. I tried something new called "wow cow", an all natural, water based frozen dessert. I wouldn't want to have it on its own but as a texture in the sundae it was great, and only 60 calories per serving!

To end the evening, we went to the indoor pool again. There were kids in the outdoor pool but it's not heated and there's no way I was going to go swimming in 66 degree weather. It was hard enough walking to the indoor pool, not to mention walking back dripping wet! So another very late night and fun-filled day for both of us!

Thanksgiving Prep

Shara had Alan and I write 2 poems each, an acrostic and a haiku, each to be written on lined paper and turned in for review. These will be read at Thanksgiving. So now that I'm thinking about it, I can't share until then. Sorry. However, I'm also realizing that I didn't post the Halloween photos. Darn that Facebook. I keep forgetting about this blog because of all the posting done over there. I'll do another summary from fb on what's been going on in our lives the past several weeks!

Veteran's Day Hockomock swamp tour; Pete our fearless leader showed us around the Nip.
Shara's design idea for our french bread.

Summer NH Vacation - Day 4

The last day - much too short. We did more touristy things, but they were popular (very) places in nature. The first stop after a relaxing morning was to Diana's Baths. It was only about 10 minutes from our resort, to the West of the Saco River. The reviews warned of it being crowded and they weren't kidding. We got to the parking lot, which both Google Maps and my GPS got wrong, and waited a few minutes for a parking spot. Had we gotten there a bit later, I would have seen that everyone was parking on the road as well. We wore our water shoes, sprayed up (bug & sun), I put the new hat I got from the five & dime (similar to this one) and we were off down the 1/2 mile or so path through the woods to the "baths". We came out and found the crowd. Some people were in the water, but it was freezing! We went in, looked around, then back to the path and up a little more to see what it was like higher up. It was just as crowded but we hopped around on the rocks a bit, after navigating our way through the woods. We got in about calf deep and that was nice and refreshing but anything more would be numbing. It was fun walking on the rocks. I was a little nervous and kept annoying Shara by reminding her to pay attention and think before she went. It was slippery in areas and I didn't want the day ruined by scrapes and bruises. There were none and we both enjoyed the baths.

We left and when we got back to the lot realized we came at a good time. The place was packed - like they let the busses out! We got in the car and moved on to our next stop - lunch. We agreed that we'd just get some pizza or subs to take to Echo Lake for our picnic. The easiest place to go was Elvio's in North Conway. It was very good. Shara got the eggplant parm sub, I got the Italian Sub (fried eggplant, roasted peppers, tomatoes, garlic, basil, mozzarella), and we "split" a piece of white pizza. Back to the car and down the road a few miles, past Cathedral Ledge and onto Echo Lake. We got there, found parking on the road, loaded up and went in. We ate and Shara gave me a bite of the pizza. The crust was really good. She said she started eating it and forgot we were going to share. I was happy she was enjoying it so much she forgot. My sandwich was excellent - homemade bread too. When we were done with our picnic at a table under the pines, we found a spot on the beach. Not the part that was roped off with the lifeguard, but a little ways down. It was great. We swam, played catch in the water, swam, played catch in the water, and stayed in the water for over two hours, surrounded by a spectacular view of cliffs, similar to this. When it was time to move on, we realized how tired we were and decided to go "home" and relax a bit before deciding what to do for the evening. Shara was hungry at that point so we had an early dinner of various leftover, including the eggplant sub, which survived a day out. Health inspectors would be upset but no one got sick!

Showered and feeling much better I found Tuesday movies at Settler's Green. They put out a blow-up screen and have people come and set up chairs and show a free kids movie. Homeward Bound was the movie for the night and we headed over. There was a pretty good sized crowd by the time the film started. We set up our chairs, got a cupcake from White Mountain Cupcakery (Boston Cream) and a banana peanut sundae from the ice cream shop there. Aside from my having to be a pain and ask the guy for a larger cup/bowl to put the ice cream in, because it was overflowing and would be impossible to eat, it was a fun night. The bugs weren't too bad, we had sprayed up a little, and the movie was good. Neither of us had seen it before and I'd recommend it. A little girl in front of us got upset near the end, but all turned out fine, of course. When we left, Shara had to find a bathroom so we went in and "borrowed" the one at Applebee's before coming back to the room and going to bed Really Late!

Patriots Day

Shara and I went to Moose Hill today to see if there was any activity left in the Vernal Pools. We didn't see much but had a nice hike anyway!

Shara on the Vernal Pool trail

After we went to Crescent Ridge for ice cream before heading home for me to finish upgrade activities for work and Shara to put away some stuff. Then we played hide and go seek tag before she left for dance and I made dinner.

In the evening Alan made a fire and we roasted peeps! It's going to be our "Easter" tradition. Then we laid out all the candy we received on the dining room table and traded what we didn't want and others did and threw out what no one wanted. Way too much candy, as usual.

Peep on a stick at night

We went to Sheep Pasture today so Shara could show us where her class picked up and examined  roly poly beetles. We trekked around for a bit and finally Shara spotted not the same log they gathered specimens, but another log with the tell-tale signs of  roly poly activity - holes around the log where the beetles ate through. Really cool that she was able to spot these. When we were cleaning last week, we found her insect collecting jar - the top is a magnifying glass, and she immediately said that we had to go to Sheep Pasture to find the roly polies. Glad we were able to do that - and what a gorgeous day to go - cool, sunny, and the Azaleas were all in bloom. Beautiful! Ended with some ice cream at Daddy's Dairy and back home for a shower to get off all the grungy dirt and dust - had taken a quick trip to the Geocache beforehand to replace the wet things inside. Someone must not have shut it carefully and everything was reported as soaked. There were several dirt bikers out, and even though they're very respectful of walkers, there's still a good deal of dust about.

Last night we were at church for the goods and services auction. Shara read her book until more kids arrived and then she wanted me to bring her down and couldn't kick me out fast enough. Apparently she's rather comfortable hanging out with the kids at church and had a great time watching movies and doing whatever else kids do!

Sedona Winter Vacation - Day 5

Today we hit two out of the three planned National Parks. We went to Walnut Canyon and Sunset Crater Volcano national monuments. Before we went, we picked up sandwiches at Sedona Memories bakery. When we got there, just after 9:30 am, they had a closed sign up. I went to check the hours on the door and they didn't open until 10 am, but the owner saw me looking in and opened up early for us. Lucky for us because the sandwiches were really good. They have a limited menu but you can make your sandwich any way you want and all the breads are homemade. I had a turkey on multi-grain. It normally comes with (and I'm not going to remember everything) avocado, cheese, cranberry sauce, sprouts, mayo, lettuce, and sunflower seeds. I think that's all! I had it with everything but the avocado and mayo. My jaw was hurting a bit when I ate it, it was so big! Alan had the roast beef with cheese, horseradish, mayo, sprouts, lettuce..., on a French roll. Shara had ham and swiss with mayo on whole wheat. From what I heard, the whole wheat was really good. It tasted like white bread and was nice and soft. Meanwhile, it was the brownest wheat bread I've seen! I told her that wheat bread can be soft, it just depends on how it's baked and by whom. I have to admit, I'm still learning how to get a good texture. It's not very consistent.

Anyway, back to our day. We headed up towards Flagstaff again, up Rt. 89A, the one with the trip through the mountain with all the switchbacks. It's not as bad as the first time, now that we're used to it. It took about an hour to get to Walnut Canyon. They had a tour starting at 11 am that I thought would be fun to go to. It's nice to have the rangers explain things and we get to learn a bit more, or certainly different, from what's in the brochures. Katie, our ranger guide is from New Hampshire and gave us a perspective of the Sinagua people who came to the Walnut Canyon area after the eruption of the volcano at the Sunset Crater Volcano site. The really interesting thing about Walnut Canyon are the cliff dwellings. They built their homes into the sides of the stone cliffs that form the canyon. After our tour of the front part of the site, we spent a lot of time in the museum  with Shara as she completed her Jr. Park Ranger booklet so she could earn another badge/pin.

After she took her oath, we went and had our sandwiches in the car because it was too cold to sit outside and eat. It was fun to have a car picnic and none of us could finish the sandwiches. The sandwiches gave us some new energy that we could use to get us around the Island Trail. It's a mile walk around an island in the middle of the canyon with several of the dwellings. They were interesting but none of us could imagine how they could live on a cliff, let alone in the cold. Alan put it well, "not growing up on a cliff, I'd never be able to live like that." We also heard other people wondering how many people they lost off the sides. I have no idea how someone not fit could do the island walk. There are 185 steps down and the same back up. Even if it wasn't at an elevation of 7000 feet, it would still be tiring. But we did it.

Next stop, Sunset Crater Volcano. Shara was wanting to go to the volcano for a while and even though she found it interesting, it was a bit monotonous for her. We started in the visitor's center so we could get the Jr. Park Ranger booklet. This was faster to fill out because much of it was what she was able to find on the Lava Flow trail. Walnut Canyon was mostly what was learned by reading the exhibits in the museum. We still spent some time at the Sunset visitor center because they had a seismograph that measured how hard you jump, a monitor with up to date earthquakes around the world, and information on where volcanoes have happened throughout the world. We learned the correlation between earthquakes and volcanoes and how frequently earthquakes happen. The Lava Flow Trail was a mile circular trail, first paved, over the lava flow. We then went off to the more interesting part of the trail. This part went through the actual lava and cinders. It was quite interesting and the dead trees that were throughout the area were particularly beautiful, with their twists and spiraled roots and trunks.

By the time we ended the trail, it was 4:40 and the visitor's center closed at 5 pm, so we headed there so Shara could finish her program. This time she had to ask the ranger 3 questions, along with reporting what she found on the trail and answer some of the questions. She asked; how many tours do you give a day? What is a normal day like for a ranger? Why are the trees twisted? One part of the packet she missed was the question, "Explorer and geologist John Wesley Powell thought that the cinders at the top of the volcano resembled a brilliant sunset. This led to the name Sunset Crater. What do the volcano’s colors make you think of?" Since she missed it, she had to give the answer to the ranger on the spot. She thought for a good minute, not feeling rushed at all, and finally spoke, "beautiful red". We thought that was a really good answer.

Having truly earned her third badge, we had to leave without seeing the Wupatki site. It was so close, but we didn't want to be there until dark and it would already be after 6:30 before we got back to Sedona. We started driving and took a little detour to see the Painted Desert Vista on the grounds. It was about 5 miles away and I was curious what it was. It turned out to be a view of the Painted Desert some 140 miles away, but so clear. Truly amazing that we could see that far away and it was quite a different perspective. On the way back, Alan had to wipe down the inside windows because the sun was setting and hit so bad it was very hard to see, especially when driving down a twisting mountain. But he was happy he'd finally be able to go back to Sedona through the Oak Creek mountain. While we were driving, Shara worked on a word find puzzle and laughed at us when we sang. There were a couple, "oh, stop!, eww!'s" We decided to go out to dinner because we didn't have enough leftovers amassed yet. We had to give Arizona a chance at better sushi so went to Szechuan Chinese Restaurant, Sushi/Martini Bar. It was good, not fantastic, but much better sushi than last night and the variety was tons better. Shara had a California Roll, salmon sashimi, and miso soup. Alan had a turtletini (what we make at home plus Frangelico), and a dinner special of hot and sour soup, appetizer plate, and Mongolian beef. I had ma po tofu and finished Shara's Sashimi and 1 piece of California roll. Then we stopped next door at Natural Harvest market for some apples, which turned out to include a teeny blood orange that Shara's going to have for breakfast, and some funky monkey dehydrated fruit for the plane ride home. Oh yes, and a piece of cherry pie to go with the leftover chocolate cake from last night's quest for decent dessert at 8 pm.

Sedona Winter Vacation - Day 4

This morning we stuck closer to Sedona and didn't rush to get out of the condo. We took our time and decided to check out Jerome, a copper mining "ghost town". We drove up the steep mountain to get to the visitor's center, went in, watched a cute documentary about the town and its illustrious past and how it's changed into an artists' colony. The museum as small but gave a very good history of mining and gemstones. We didn't spend too much time there because it wasn't all that exciting. We left to go check out the town. There are several shops and a few restaurants but the most interesting part is how they're all laid out on the mountain. It's a lot of walking up and down steep stairs. They have quite a few nice shops, featuring local artists. Shara pressed a couple more pennies here, so we have our souvenirs. The store we all liked the most was the Nellie Bly Kaleidoscope store. Aside from the magnificent works of interactive art, the girl working there was really sweet and fun. She made her job interesting by really talking with the customers and having fun with them by showing them ways to look at the kaleidoscopes or how to shoot a digital photo of, say, one's daughter, through a scope.

We decided if we were going to do anything else, we would need to leave, so we did a little more shopping and headed back towards Sedona to hike more. We went to one of the more famous rock formations, Chimney Rock. The hike was the Chimney Rock Loop Hike and we all had a really good time. Shara loved taking turns playing tour guide and is quite a ham. When we left, we were hungry, again, and no one had any real cravings so Shara, as usual, wanted sushi. We tried to talk her into something else and Alan was skeptical about sushi in Arizona, but I got out the phone with the very spotty Internet service, and found a place that may or may not have been good. Turns out it wasn't very good. The nori was rubbery, the fish was ok, but nothing special, and the edamame were overcooked. But we ate anyway, of course. I needed dessert after that, and we didn't have anything for breakfast the next day, so we went and sought out the Wildflower Bread Co. It had gotten great reviews but it seemed like Panera. It was very good and very like Panera. We got a couple of baked goods for the morning and I chose a piece of chocolate cake for my dessert and Shara chose a root beer for her dessert. I ate most of mine and she had about 1/2 of hers.

The excitement for the evening was trying to get two thorns out of Shara's back. She was not happy with it at all. More scared than anything. Alan was able to get tweezers from the resort's front desk and get them out pretty easily, but that didn't happen until after a lot of crying and screaming.
We all slept pretty well after that drama!

Sedona Winter Vacation - Day 1

This morning was a bit less relaxing than I had hoped. I was very close to finishing up the post for the travel day and noticed an email saying our mail server wasn't responding, so I had to take a break and get that working. I am very hopeful it was just because of spammers taking advantage of IT people having a day off for Presidents Day. I'm sticking with that. Anyway, that did contribute to how the morning played out. As I was behind on getting ready for the day, I had Alan shower first and take Shara to a complimentary hot breakfast from the resort. They didn't stay for the shpiel but had a yummy breakfast. It sounds like they enjoyed talking with an older couple there too. While they were away, I got showered and dressed and ready for our Pink Jeep Tour.

Since we came into Sedona while it was dark, the drive into the town gave us our second awe inspired moment. "Oh my god!" was the best I could come up with. Shara even commented several times how beautiful it was. People are correct when they say the pictures don't do it justice. Realizing that, I figured I wouldn't spend my day taking pictures that others have already done so much and often much better. Alan drove so I could look around and get a sense of where everything was located. We got into town after the 30 minutes we were supposed to get to the tour location. In fact, we parked about 1/2 mile away from the office so it took a little while. Even still, we had time to check in and go to the bathroom.

All the people for the 10 AM tour met downstairs and got assigned their guide. We were in a group with a couple from Las Vegas and another couple; a teacher from MA! on his way to Atlanta to look for work, and his friend who lived in Atlanta. The three of us were on the left side of the jeep. I was behind the driver, Shara was in the middle, and Alan in the back. Once we were all aboard, we made our way over to the Broken Arrow trail head. There's no way our rental car would even get over the entrance to make it to the parking area! The jeep went right on in and up and over! This was a ton of fun, but we learned a lot about the vegetation in the area and the geology. For example, the purple cacti are dying and losing their chlorophyll.  "It was bumpy and fun!", says Shara. Here are all the pictures.

Ahoy!

Some were taken of the other jeeps, to show what we did before them. The tour stops and gives us photo opps. It was tons of fun and a great way to become introduced to the rock formations in the area and understand how fragile the environment here is. The rock is not hard and all the cars and jeeps going up the mountains do a lot of damage. Pink Jeep works with the forestry service to add back rocks that erode and fix the damage they have done as well as others.

I'm glad we picked them for our tour. I also got a discount coupon to use with the tour that came with 3 free lunches at their cafe. So after the tour we went to the cafe and each had a panini, drink and chips. The best part was were we ate them. The cafe had chairs around a deck overlooking Oak Creek and surrounded by the red rocks. We spotted a blue bird that is probably called a Steller's Jay (according to Shara's Sunset Crater Jr. Park Ranger activity booklet), and a butterfly on a small blossoming cherry tree. After lunch we walked around the town and sampled several flavored balsamic vinegars and olive oils. Had some ice cream and decided to let the fates take over what we would be doing next and followed the blue ovals in the sidewalk. It happened to take us to where our car was parked! Can't argue with that sign. We headed out of town, stopped for a few groceries and back to the resort. Put the groceries away and were back on the road to find the trail head to Airport Loop. This hike was supposed to get us some nice views of the sunset reflecting off the rocks. Well the beginning of the trip was fine. We parked at a church and found the trail. We walked up the rather rocky path and then over to the right, towards the airport. There were cactus flanking the path so we had to watch our step, but other than that, after the initial hike up the hill it was pretty flat.

Laurie and Shara on the Airport Loop trail

We walked and then wondered if we should go farther and try to do more of the loop, head back or check out another trail called Tabletop Trail. It was only 1/2 mile each way, so we continued on that direction. About 1/2 way to the end of Tabletop Trail, Shara fell. She only fell on her knee, so it wasn't too bad but she was tired and didn't shluff it off. We dragged her farther and almost to the end she wiped out again. So at this point we turned around and headed back. It was getting dusky and we knew it would be a little slow going. Let's just say the last 3/4 mile of the trip was Alan leading with his flashlight app shining light on us following. I held Shara's hand and that made both of us much more comfortable. She was pretty miserable, I was super-stressed and Alan was quiet, just trying to get us back as quickly as possible. So we learned though we feel like responsible, thoughtful adults, we can do stupid things like bringing a seven year old out for a hike so close to dark.

no, that's not cream sauce, it's cheese!

We got to the car, kissed the ground, and headed for dinner. We ended up down the road at the Red Planet Diner. When all else fails, go for comfort food. It was really good, surprisingly enough. The place seemed a little iffy. I hadn't read any reviews but hey, how bad can a diner be? Shara had the red planet pasta - linguine w/ tomato cream sauce and chicken. It came with a salad that she wanted made into a Caesar and garlic bread. Boy did she eat! Alan had a double bacon cheeseburger w/ fries. I had eggplant parm with a salad that I split with Alan and it also came with garlic bread and linguine. We took home 3/4 of Shara's pasta and I thought we asked for my pasta wrapped up too, but I wasn't paying that much attention so that got tossed. I wanted dessert and they had fruit pies, so I had cherry. Would you like that heated or cold? What kind of a question was that? Heated please and with ice cream. Shara had a root beer. Alan sat there being so stuffed.

Back at the resort, Alan gave Shara the choice of sleeping in the bed or the couch. She chose the bed with me and I was very happy with that! No snoring and her cold is pretty much over by now so she wasn't coughing.

Stowe Vacation, day 6

I have no pictures for today but we took a drive up Mt. Mansfield and checked out Spruce Peak via Smuggler's Notch, "A shorter and easier route to this scenic pond leaves from the parking area at the top of the Notch. The trail is steep and rocky for the first half mile, then flattens as it traverses Spruce Peak. It is another half-mile to Sterling Pond and a round trip total of 2 miles." We only went about 1/2 way. After going up the steep and rocky part, Shara wiped out on a tree root and called it a day. That was fine because Bubbe and Papa made really good time and were basically ready to meet us at the resort. After they settled in, we went to get tickets for the local theater production of Oklahoma. We thought we'd be able to get dinner in the village, but could see that wasn't in the cards, so headed back toward the resort and ate at Piecasso. I didn't think very well and didn't mention to the waitress that we had tickets to the theater, so had to hunt her down to let her know. Then things got speedier.

Shara loved her first experience of musical theater. What she didn't like were the gun shots, but we were warned before the show started. The next day I downloaded the soundtrack from the movie and got it onto her mp3 player. Then I heard she saw the movie at the Lookers!

First day of camp

Shara had her first day of camp today. Tina took her and helped her find her group, gave her a hug and kiss goodbye and off she went. Tina said she was excited and had no problem. When we picked her up she was all smiles and that lasted through the night. The part she didn't like was writing in her journal. She was supposed to draw or write about her favorite part of the day, which was the hike she selected to take for their choice time. They gave them all a small notebook and pencil, so I can see why she had a tough time drawing a picture. But she really like the rest of the time. She even earned a good job coin that she can use in their store. She knew one girl from school too. I think she's almost as proud of herself as I am of her.

Last night we all went to Cirque du Soleil's OVO in Boston. It was amazing. afterward Shara said she wants to take gymnastics at the same place Tenley goes. I told her that there are some gymnastics taught at the dance class she's probably going to go to. She was so excited by it all, and rightfully so. We all were. If anyone is thinking of going, do it. It's well worth it.

Cape Cod Vacation

Alan & Shara setting up the tent. After we got the site together, we went with Jill & Andy to Wellfleet to pick up sandwiches at the Box Lunch. We ate at the town pier, then headed over to Mayo Beach. Alan had everyone holding their ears with our Wheelies. Can't wait to get some WD-40! We had fun - the water was really warm, but the wind was fierce. Shara and I played some catch then took a nice walk down the beach - collected a few rocks, looked at tons of horseshoe crabs - yes, they were dead, and climed some rocks. When we headed back, everyone was already packed up and waiting for us. I guess the wind was a bit much!

We all went back to the camp site and decided what to do for dinner. The one thing Shara really wanted to do was play mini-golf, so we went to do that before dinner. We got out of the car, start walking to the office, and Shara wipes out on a speedbump. We changed plans and went to dinner instead. We ended up at Mac's Seafood Shack in Wellfleet. Shara wanted sushi and I heard great things about Mac's. We had a bit of a wait - 40 minutes, which wasn't bad considering some other people had over an hour and a 1/2. And it was just a Tuesday! So we sat around and drank some good wine, watched lots of people, and enjoyed talking to some of them. When we finally got our table, we ordered and the food arrived and we were done. Dinner couldn't have lasted more than 45 minutes, and we even had salads first. They didn't have Shara's favorite - sweet potato maki, but they did have salmon, and she liked that. I had lobster risotto, which was good, but overpowered by the Parmagiana cheese (I think). Alan had sushi too - one of the specials with tempura shrimp and another with cream cheese, jalapenos and tuna? He said it was good. I had a taste of the shrimp and it was great. We also split a 1/2 dozen oysters. They were very good but we still don't see what the big deal is. I guess we just don't get it. We didn't have dessert because it was rather late. We had a nice walk back to the car. Shara felt like it was Halloween - we were walking through the neighborhood to our car, which Alan parked at the pier. It wasn't a long walk, but it was chilly!

In the morning, Alan & Andy went to get doughnuts and coffee at the Hole in One doughnut shop. I tried a chocolate cake doughnut. It was very good. Shara had some of that and a chocolate frosted. We then got ready to go to Provincetown to take a walk on the Jetty. It was a little scary in places, but Shara did great. We went all the way to the other side, up to see the beach, and back. It was a 2 mile trip!

Jill and Andy went back quickly but we took a little more time. After cleaning up a little, we went into town for lunch. We ate at Cafe heaven. It was excellent. I had the banana, cornmeal pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup. Jill had the tuna melt w/ home fries, Andy had a Greek salad & home fries, Alan had a tuna boat (open face tuna melt on homemade English muffin), and Shara had 2 eggs over easy with sausage. We all agreed we'd go back.

This was basically Shara's first time in Provincetown, so separated from Jill and Andy and walked the streets, had some gelato and went into the kite store, the fudge shop, down to the water, and around until she got tired and wanted to leave. Can't blame her, she had a busy morning. Jill and Andy went to the Portuguese bakery and then headed back to their car, then to the campsite. We joined them there and then out to mini-golf. We made a stop for dinner first and ended up at the Jailhouse restaurant in Orleans.It was just ok. Shara liked the broccoli and cheese sauce that topped my open-faced turkey & broccoli sandwich. Alan had way hot Buffalo wings and Shara loved her mac & cheese. We went golfing at the place in Orleans. It was great and we all had so much fun. Shara got to feed the Koi and then sucked her fingers! After we got some ice cream across the street , then went to bed.

The next day, which was our last full day, we went to Wellfleet and checked out Lieutenant's Island. We had a walk from the car along tidal flats, over a bridge, towards a beach. Shara was truely freaked out by the crabs. She had a bad experience a few weeks ago at a beach with Tina. Shara didn't get bit, but most others did. So the way in was a bit whiny until she got over it, which she did, good thing. We saw lots of crabs and made a stop on the dunes to have a snack of beach plums. Good thing Andy was there because he knew what they were. The trail lead to a beach around a little harbor. It was so peaceful. Hardly any people were there. It did look like it was going to rain, so we didn't continue past the beach. We were about 1/3 of the way to the end of the hike and turned around to head back. That was a smart decision because about 1/2 mile from the car it started to rain and kept picking up. Shara was fussing, but then we started singing marching songs and actually had fun.

Lunch was simple because we couldn't think where to go. We ended up at another Box Lunch in Eastham. It was ok. They got my order wrong but it was still pretty good. Jill and Andy were planning on going to Race Point beach and we joined them. Shara was tired and needed to relax a little. We saw a seal when we were there, but not tons. Jill said they saw lots at Nauset Beach last time they were there so we went to Nauset next. I didn't realize how much time goes by on the beach. We didn't leave until after 4:30 and got to Nauset later than planned because I wanted to stop at this bakery - PB Boulangerie. OMG - I've never eaten such wonderful bread, which is all we got this day. Shara had hot chocolate - I'm sure it was just shaved chocolate melted in hot milk. Alan had a coffee and I had a baguette (we all shared a small one, hot out of the oven). We brought the remains of the bread to Nauset Beach to share because everyone has to try bread this good. We hung out at the beach for a few minutes, not seeing any seals, and planning our next move, which was Provincetown for dinner. Jill was interested in checking out Frappo66, which sounded good, but we ended up at their favorite pizza place - Georges. It was ok. I had an gyro and a salad. Alan thought his sub was great, Shara didn't eat really anything, Jill's pizza did look quite good, and Andy's salad looked ok. The best thing though was our parking spot. We got a nice spot on the pier and headed back after dinner to wait for the awesome fireworks that I had forgotten all about. The Pilgrim Monument was 100 years old and they were having a big celebration that day. Shara fell asleep on the ride back because she knew if she didn't try hard, there would be no tv for the ride home. We didn't bother waking Shara up but slipped her into her sleeping bag like a loaf of bread into a bag. She did have to wake for a minute because we needed a little help, but was then out again in no time. After getting ready for bed the grown-ups had a glass of wine and looked at the lovely stars.

For breakfast on our last day we went back to PB Boulangerie. We did have to wait in line because apparently everyone else knows about this place too. Well worth every second! Jill & Andy got there a little earlier and got hot chocolate for Shara so it would start cooling. Alan got a coffee eclair (pretty good) and a chocolate croissant (excellent). I had a raspberry croissant - raspberries baked on a bed of creamy cheese filling, over a super buttery, flaky dough. It wasn't too sweet, melted in my mouth and was just amazing. Jill had the olive batard, and I think Andy split it with her. Shara had a plain croissant with the most chocolatty hot chocolate ever. She actually didn't like it because it was too chocolatty. I asked for some steamed milk to make her a lighter version and all added some of the chocolate to our various coffees. After Jill & Andy went back to the site to get packed up, I waited in line again to get some things to go. They had put out a batch of almond croissants, so I had to get one and they also just put out a dark chocolate, candied orange brioche that looked great. And a 1/4 of a huge farmer's bread and a fromage e lardon batard. We had the batard for dinner and lunch the next day and the pastry for breakfast. The farmer's bread was used for a turkey sandwich and then grilled to go with the souvlaki for Saturday's dinner.

After the packing job, we decided to join Jill & Andy at the Chatham fish pier. Shara (all of us really) loved watching the fish come off the boats. There were also a bunch (at least 4 made it over to the pier) of seals. We could have stayed there for longer than we did. We had lunch from the fish market - we split a fried seafood platter and onion rings. Then we went back to watch more of the boats and seals. The trip home was uneventful and we actually got everything unpacked and put away in a very short amount of time so we were able to spend some time in the pool before having a light dinner. We had to save the s'mores until Saturday evening because the town was set to spray Friday, which they did. We played some Wii instead.

July mini-vacation

We had some fun times the past few days. Wednesday Shara & I had a leisurely morning of playing with baby, swimming, and hanging out, followed by a short trip to the West Bridgewater library, a round of mini-golf at Golf City, and an ice cream across the street at Good Days. It was so hot! We kept taking drink breaks during golf but both sweat up a storm. We then stopped at the market to get food for dinner. When we got home, we didn't have long to wait for Alan & Liz arrive. That was a real treat, having Lizzy here for dinner & overnight. Liz, Shara & Alan went in the pool and I got dinner together - grilled chicken w/ an Indian sauce, grilled vegetables, and fruit on the side. The grapes were really good and everyone enjoyed a nice, relaxing dinner.

Thursday we got up and had breakfast and then had a great swim. Liz, Shara & I raced and played for over an hour before getting cleaned up and heading out for a day at Legacy Place. We had lunch at B-Goods, saw Toy Story 3; Shara has to remind me to bring the tissues because all the movies we see are such tear-jerkers, ate ice cream at JP Licks, and did some shopping at Oop & Whole Foods. The man behind the counter at JP Licks really liked Liz and was very informative about the different flavors. Yes, she is "quite a dish!" Shara and Liz had fun at Whole Foods picking out vegetables, but food shopping certainly isn't one of Shara's favorite activities. She was really cold by the refrigerated section and a little bored by the beers, but had fun in the veggie area. We took the long walk back to the car and then took Liz home. She did a nice job decorating her apartment and suggested having Shara come over for supper one night while Alan & I have a date night, then we could all sleep over and go home the next day. I thought that sounded great! Shara fell asleep on the ride home but then perked up for dinner. That night she couldn't sleep, saying she was having bad dreams about the sad movie. She ended up sitting on my lap while Alan & I finished our cocktails and watched Glee. Seems like it all went over her head, but it was the first time she was in the room while we had a "grown-up" show on.

Friday Alan & I were going to have a hard hike and take Shara to Tina's for some swim fun at Theresa's, but Shara petitioned us to take her too, and seeing as we weren't going to go on a really hard hike, told her that was fine but she had to know that we were going hiking and if she wanted to go she was not allowed to complain. She agreed and we went up to North Andover to walk around the Anderson Ward Reservation. We stopped to pick up lunch at Panara and had an enjoyable picnic under some pine trees. It wasn't really hot out of the sun. We then took a walk up a hill to see the solstice stones, which were more of a sun dial/compass. Shara did complain, but not the whole time. She just didn't like walking up-hill, but then got over it and we actually had a nice time, until we got more into the woods and the bugs started biting us. We ended up going quickly down the hill and more directly to the car than we had anticipated. The next stop was to Smolek Farms. I had heard about them for a while, and it was a small place with a few deer to feed, geese, and PYO berries. We didn't pick anything, but Shara played for a bit on the playground with another little girl who was there with her family, fed the deer; you pour the corn down a tube and they eat it at the bottom on the ground. Shara found that she could look down the tube and watch them eat - that was cool, and then we, of course, got ice cream. I had an amazing parfait - soft vanilla ice cream with raspberries. They were frozen, so very juicy and they put on a lot! Shara & Alan split a lemon slush. The ride home took 2 1/2 hours, 1 hour longer than it should have because of all the traffic. We got home, Shara had to be woken up (only fell asleep 1/2 hour before getting home) and she and Alan went swimming and I fixed dinner. Basically leftovers but made into a Southwestern salad with more grilled vegetables. Shara now likes grilled zucchini too! She was able to sleep well last night.

Girl's Day Out

Saturday Shara & I went shoe shopping. The morning was spent relaxing before going to the driving range for her golf lesson, which went well. The kids got 2 turns of 5 or 6 wacks each, to get the ball closest to the flag. They were fine with the waiting in between. Better than I - got rather bored waiting, but it was a nice day and good to be outside.

So for the shoes - she has none, unless you count 1 pair of ratty sneakers and 1 pair of croc-like sandles. So we went to Newton to the kid's shoe barn and tried on several, not looking at price or anything. If they fit and Shara liked them, I was prepared to get them. She is rather particular with her tastes and can tell very quickly if something is worthy of her trying on. Most weren't, but we tried the Sketcher's Twinkle Toes, Merrells, some glittery dress shoes, pink Converse all-stars, none of which felt good on her feet. The heals were too loose and the toes too tight.

So, as promised as her (more like my) treat for us having a fun time shopping, we went to Cabot's for ice cream. I've been wanting to go here for years and finally made the trip - it was only a 1/2 mile away from the shoe place. It was well worth the trip! This was the best ice cream (frozen yogurt) I've had in a long time. I had coffee yogurt with bittersweet fudge & marshmallow. If anyone knows the recipe for their marshmallow (I wouldn't be surprised if it was watered-down fluff), please let me know. Shara had butterfudge on coffee ice cream w/ whipped cream. She really wished she got the marshmallow, so we'll have to remember that next time.

When we finally finished - I have to learn to eat as slowly as Shara, we went to Marshall's and tried some more. She doesn't like the thong sandles (I don't either and I hope I didn't influence her), nor sandles with the ankle strap. She's really limited. She did try the ankle strap ones on but they didn't feel good. Nothing fit but a pair of crocheted boots on clearance. So after all that she still doesn't have shoes to wear to Liz's graduation. I'm going to get her a new pair of sneakers at least. Same as she has now.

Today we went to Church after a yummy pancake breakfast. Her new thing is having chocolate chips on the cakes. I made them with banana & put on a few chips and voila, she's eating them. We then took a shower together - time was running out, and went to church. The kids made a tie-dye shirt to wear on the field trip next week. They also ate plums, apricots and corn muffins. It was nice to see everyone and Shara had a good time, though she calls it "torch", short for torchure. I have no idea where she got that from. Not me.

After being one of the last to leave, we picked up a sub for Alan to add to what we brought from home for our picnic and went to the Blue Hills for a day in the great outdoors. We had so much fun. It's amazing how much a year is for something like hiking around. Shara was running up hills and walking down rocks. There was no complaining of being tired. We all played freeze tag in a field and saw horses and watched a soccer (football) game. Then played for a little while at the playground. Shara was on a swing which was too short for her. She moved to a higher one. A few minutes later two of the bigger girls came over to swing. There weren't two swings together, so this Big, probably 9 year old, stood very closely to Shara's swing and stared at her, trying to bully her. Shara looked right at her and said, "I got here first" or something like that. The girl stayed there for about 2 seconds while I looked on and held by breath, and then left. I was proud and relieved.

Then it was time to leave and we had a meltdown, the whole ride home, so too tired, we cancelled dinner & a movie. We were doing a Shrek marathon this weekend - friday we saw Shrek and tonight we were supposed to watch Shrek 2. So we were both upset, but dealt with it, and hopefully we'll be able to watch it tomorrow evening. We really like dinner & movie nights.

First hike of the season

Today we decided not to plan on the weather and good thing because we went for a great hike in the Blue Hills - 2.6 miles along the Skyline Trail! Shara did great - walked all but about 20 feet herself and went up lots of steep rock and down steep rock. We passed a family and talked to them a bit and the mother was so surprised such a little kid was hiking such a hard trail. I was too - but we were doing a geocache and just following the trail! We actually didn't get to the end of the cache because we missed the first turn early on so continued to another one, got up to the antenna for the first part of the cache, and then it started to sprinkle. I said, let's just get going down because we're all tired and have a long way to go. So we did and the direct route was pretty darn steep, but we all did it and had lots of high-fives at the end! Shara made up a cute song on the way up, "in my eyes i can see glass and it's green" which really speaks poorly to the amount of broken bottles we saw on the trail, but well to her songstress capabilities.

Last week Shara was really mad at me because we were having a somewhat bad time of rule- following, and we took away TV because she wouldn't come in from outside and started playing the chase me game, where she's on one side of the pool and I'm on the other and go round the circle - yeah, right, so that night I'm doing her hair and she's crying saying, "I wish I never came out of your tummy, I wish I never came out of your tummy. I want to go live with other people. I never have any fun with you. Brutus and I are going to live alone in our own house, without mommy and daddy." Cute, isn't she!