The 12 Vacation
Prologue
Start 12 days in advance sending area maps and sample
itineraries to the visitors. Practice running through the list of activities
with Rebecca from Brooklyn.
Chapter 1 – How to turn a 4 hour car ride into 5 hours
Carol and Gina start the arduous trip to Vermont a little
later than 12:30 Friday afternoon (the original plan) NOT because Carol is late
packing the car, but because Gina arrived a little late. Carol finds it
untenable to begin such a long trip with a dirty car but is unwilling to stand
in the 16 degrees weather and wash it herself by putting quarters in the Mike’s
place in China. Topsham has a car wash
and it’s “almost” on the way.
Unfortunately, there are about 12 choices on the menu—(I was not there
so Gina and Carol will have to correct the details) touch or no-touch, wax or
no-wax, etc….. Carol finds that the car goes faster when it’s clean. I leave work, expecting the girls to be
sitting on my doorstep at 4:30 and when I call, they still haven’t reached Hwy
89! I tell them they have another hour to go. This makes Ladies Night at the
Tip Top Pottery studio (bring your own wine and then paint pottery) seem like
something to reschedule. Shortly after 5:30 I call to encourage Carol and Gina
that they’re almost here and indeed, they were in my driveway.
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Chapter 2 – The Reunion
Having not seen these lady friends for almost 3 weeks, we
needed to do some major catching up. “Do you put the ginger ale in first or
last? Do you want to use your Maker’s
Mark or mine? Do you want the blue wine
glass or the big wine glass?” Before we can really play we have to unpack the
car and set up airbeds. I’m a little worried as it is apparent these two
friends have packed for a week and I was really only planning on hosting them 2
nights. It is a wonder they found any room in the car to put the boxes from the
NH Liquor Store. We spent a bit a time exchanging hostess gifts. Gina played us
an audio text of Izzy’s newest accomplishment: “Nona, I peepee on potty awwwl
by mysef….5 times.” I showed them a blog of Ryley’s hair from curly-before-fro
to the sheared-bald-after and to the stubbly-post-play-regrowth. Carol shared
her Tupperware of perpetual vegetables and other kitchen delights we called
dinner.
The Shakespeare in Love movie that I procured for us
on the TV did not go well for us “due to the late hour.” Betty White's "Off their Rockers" was easier to follow.
Chapter 3 – White River Junction is the center of the
universe
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Chapter 4 – Saturday’s festivities
We spent a leisurely morning of coffee and sour
cream–apricot scones a la King Arthur mix in my bistro. A bit of time was spent
trying to figure out how to send a voice message of our own, but we mastered it
and then Gina got an undecipherable message back from Izzy. We played it over and over until we finally heard
it right : “Sheva Shing, Nona!” Gina finally had to ask Luke what it meant. (“Travel
Safe, Nona!”)
Carol had brought a craft from creative friend Silvan of how
to make ice orbs into luminerias, complete with instructions and disclaimer
absolving any responsibilities for getting food dye all over the house. We
filled up massive water balloons and stuck them outside.
We braved the 16 degree sunshine for a neighborhood walk to the Quechee green via the library. Carol has library envy (mine is bigger than hers.) Simon Pearce still has the window wreaths and twinkle lights on from the holidays. We watched some glass blowing in wonderment at how the young artisans don’t get thigh burns from the molten glass or repetitive motion injuries of their wrists from the constant spinning. We went out back where the waterfalls are about 92 % frozen. We cruised the “Seconds” shop where a wine glass is marked down from $120 to a mere $60 each because of some defect we cannot detect. We silently judged the young couple with a clipboard who was going around listing items for their wedding registry (items NOT in the seconds shop.)
King Arthur Bakery, Store and Baking School are a must see
on the itinerary. We have second breakfasties so we don’t have to shop on an
empty stomach. Many fun cooking things you had no idea you needed abound. (You can check their catalog if you can’t get
to visit me in Vermont.) I had never seen it so crowded. We must have waited 12
minutes just to order a sandwich.
On the way back to local shopping, we stopped at the VA to
see if my preferred parking was till there. It was. Quechee is only 12 minutes away
to the Fat Hat (women’s clothing/ housewares/jewelry.) I forewarned Carol and
Gina that there was a big dog that lived there. I couldn’t recall if his name
was Dakota or Wyoming or Rockies or something…. His name is Ozark and he is a
gentle giant. He immediately sensed that Carol loves dog hair on her black
clothes so he would go and lean quietly on Carol until she patted him. Gina
joined Ozark on the floor to show her appreciation. We found very many
treasures in this store where everything was 20-50% off. We had just exited
when Gina thought better of it, and went back in for a cute spantaloon/swing
top outfit she could wear to work. Although Gina knew just what she wanted, the
lady checking out ahead of her must have taken 12 minutes to ring up $565 worth
of purchases.
Headed to the Cabot Quechee store in the mall, I suggested
there was a statue of Omer and within nanoseconds, Carol recognized it. We held
up traffic to take more photos. We started at the Lucky Elephant and rambled
through 5 or 6 shops all connected. We weren’t really too interested in more
loot—we were headed with purpose to the wine and cheese tasting. Someone had
our key spot so we took some time in the Antique Mall. Then, when Gina and I were spent, we couldn’t
get Carol out of there. She had the only find of the day: a crackled glass
pitcher in the perfect shade of orange for her home décor. While she was in the little girls’ room, I
stood in line for at least 12 minutes and then almost got bumped to the back
for inappropriate hovering. We made it
to the wine tasting just 10 minutes before closing. Sarah the wine girl for
Putney wineries was there. Rebecca and I had met her last weekend. She gave us
recommendations and hot tips but was somewhat distracted with her iphone and
never did produce the cinnamon and clove so we could mull the apple wine.
Chapter 5 – Interesting and Interestinger
We did retrace our steps back to White River Junction, but
it’s only 12 minutes from Quechee. It has been staying light later so at 5:12
pm we got to admire the tiny WRJ downtown and train station. I took them to Elixir, a vacuous brick,
pretty still cold (i.e. hadn’t turned the heat on yet) building as we must have
been the first diners of the evening.
They asked if we had a reservation (so they would know which of the 20
empty tables to put us at.) By 6pm it was crowded so we decided maybe it was
worth staying for food. The waitress recommended an exotic ginger martini and
it was a special hit with Carol. AFTER we ordered food, they brought one slice
each of baguette and dipping oil. We
spent 12 minutes tasting it trying to decide what the green herb was and
finally asked the waitress. We couldn’t isolate the flavor because it was
parsley, sage, rosemary AND thyme.
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| Carol "borrows" Gina's cashmere neck warmer |
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| Pan-seared scallops on kale |
The salmon and scallops, planted on kale and risotto, were great and we took pictures because it would gross out Omer and Phil. Getting home proved daunting. Carol and Gina wanted to pay the bill and sent me away. I stood waiting at the front door while they stayed waiting for me to come back from the lady’s room. I finally went and told them I wasn’t in the lady’s room. Then Carol wanted to use the lady’s room and then stood outside the door where another lady said someone had been in there 12 minutes. I convinced the ladies that, since my apartment was only 12 minutes away, they could wait that long. However, Gina gummed up the seat belt in the back seat so we had to play musical chairs. When Carol got in the back, the seat belt was still gummed up. So I pretended that everyone was buckled while I drove back to Quechee. “ Sheva shing!”
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Back at the apartment we dissected the balloon globes: water jumped everywhere on the kitchen counter because they weren’t quite frozen through and through. Pictures/movies/candle lighting/hooting/hollering—I’m sure the apartment-reside-er upstairs thought we were daft. The orbs were amazing. Thin shells of ice in mostly spherical shapes, some with icy ridges. Each of the three had self generated a hole big enough for a tea candle but with varying degrees of symmetry. We didn’t care. We carried the ice balls outside the door (okay, Carol did) and planted them in a snow bank. We lit them, holding matches with kitchen tongs. And with the full moon landing like an alien ship, we were messaging and email and Facebooking pics all over. We couldn’t get our men over at Janet’s neighborhood bar in China to respond, so we finally called them on a landline . We tried a face chat but it was loud and unruly and we were quite outraged that they seem to have hung up on us. We consoled ourselves with cowgirl cookies, bread and Moroccan dipping oil and hourly checks to see the effects of the moon on the ice orbs.
It was an early night—no movie but deep philosophical
discourse about whether keeping in touch with ancestors was a biggie or
reaching out to extended not-related family was a substitute. No sooner had
Carol hopped into her cozy corner air bed, she got her second wind and started
chattering away while Gina and I ignored her and went to our respective beds in
the other room. Some people are clearly morning people and some are clearly
night owls, Carol.
Chapter 6 - Sunday
dance lessons
Gina and I slept in late (til about 7am) and then played
some on our pads and pods while Carol didn’t.
Someone said: “I can’t get out of bed. These blankets have accepted me
as one of their own and if I leave now, I might lose their trust.” Maybe it was Carol.
I got all educated on what Gangnam means:
First: Barak Obama
Gangnam style
then
Second:
Really fun to watch...twins
Year end 2012 Twins Gangnam Style Video
Length: 3:29
Before dance lessons, we check the ice orbs by day. After
dance lessons, we pack up the car. Off we go, over the Quechee Bridge and then
over the Quechee Gorge for photo ops. I
escorted the lady friends back to Fat Hat for one last 50% off bargain –so sad
that Ozark was not at home. I led them over the Conneticut River one last time
departing Vermont, only to get to the New Hampshire Liquor Outlet and find they
have no Vermont wine to take back to Maine.
We made due with New Hampshire gift and then with group hugs, I send
them off on their way.
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| Gina just has to climb up on the rail |
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| No, No, Gina, don't jump |
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| Okay, Gina, Go, Go! |
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| Oops! Sheva Shing, Nona! |
Epilogue
In addition to the “12” references above:
12 – the number of times Gina put in a password, trying to get on Draw Something
12 – the number of minutes it took to pack the car
12= 4 minutes to the Gorge plus 4 minutes to take pics plus 4 minutes to Fat Hat
12 – the number of times easier it is to wash oatmeal out of a mug after soaking in coffee overnight versus soaking in water overnight
Add your own revisions/corrections/ 12’s:
(Consider this a trial vacation for when Christine and Denise can join the crew, although goodness knows where their luggage will go.)
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