Road Warrior Momma: Dayn15

Day 15 – June 11, 2012

Quincy, MA – Burlington, VT (with stops in Concord, Hanover, Montpelier)

246 miles, 5 hours

Poor Rich, Taxi picked him up at 4:30 a.m. By the time the kids woke up, he was probably circling the ATL…kids bombarded me with, “Where’s daddy?” I spent the morning catching up on paperwork (which follows you on the roadL). Figured I’d make use of the time that we’d have spent in Boston traffic.

No such luck. Major back up heading into the city, at 10 a.m. Once we cleared Boston, no problem…and we made it to Concord before noon. What a cute little town. I always thought Tallahassee was a small state capitol, but Concord…wow. Nothing to it, but it was very quaint. The Capitol building is right on Main Street, and quite impressive. We were greeted by a statue of our 4^th President, Franklin Pierce (had no idea he was from New Hampshire). Main Street was awesome…restaurants, stores (pharmacy, shoe store, multiple clothing stores…NO CHAINS). There was even a record store! It was like a walk back in time & it was bustling. I parked, right in front of the capitol & no meter.

Beyond Main Street & the Capitol…not so much going on.

We drove east to Hanover, NH, home to Dartmouth College. The campus was amazing….like a movie set. We walked around (it was reunion week) and found ourselves on Main Street – again mini- metropolisJ. LOVE it.

Crossed over into Vermont and made a gradual, northern, upward climb to Montpelier, the capitol of Vermont. I hope Paula (Benson) s reading this, because, I LOVE VERMONT! WOW! The drive through the Green Mountains was so pretty (and it was grey & over cast – can’t even image sunny days, fall foliage or winter snow). We got the Montpelier….it was like Mayberry! I looked it up, and it is the smallest US capital! However, the State House (built in 1857) is so grand. Main Street is even smaller than Concord’s. So clean. College kids playing frisbee on the capitol grounds. I wanted to find a realtor. After our self-guided capitol tour, I got gas – FULL SERVICE - at the Citgo station, with the cutest little man in overalls!

Next stop Waterbury….Ben & Jerry’s factory. Need I say more? Kids were in heaven!

Then on to Burlington, and unfortunately a down pour. Still, very cute, green & clean town. Biggest city of the day, too. We drove through the University of Vermont, on our way to the hotel. I saw Lake Champlain in the distance (very grey & choppy), more up close tomorrow. Bellmen promised sun.

BTW – the bellmen…a very young version of Ed Bagley Jr…has a story to tell his family tonight. I was checking in, in the rain. After being greeting by one of the nicest (and prettiest) front desk person ever…I grabbed a bell cart and headed out. About half way through my "ritual", Ed came out and apologized, for missing me. “No problem,” I said. I hadn’t expected help (it’s a Courtyard) and I usually intimidate bellmen with my luggage/crew. He laughed & I kept on loading and he smartly stayed back…but he stayed. Ok? So I got everything situated and told him that I was going to park the car. Well, Hunter and Audrey started arguing, over I honestly don’t know what…and I pulled away…than I hear screams…and stopped and Good Lord, the battle also involved an umbrella (from where?!?!?!)…it was ugly. Well…holy moly, shoulda seen Ed’s face, omg. He was frozen. I almost laughed, except I was so mad at Frick & Frack. I order everyone to sit & if anyone uttered a word, no dinner. I told them Ed would tell me who talked…Not. A. Word. I was very calm, which seemed to scare the kids and baffle Ed.

I instituted 30 minutes of silence in the hotel room and then we got ready to look for dinner. At this point, Bear had a meltdown (over the iPad) and it was kind of hard to calm him. Adios mio, it sucked.

Eventually found ourselves at the Farmhouse Tap & Grill (I needed the tap) and after a short wait (on pins and needles, because of Bear) we sat at a table – in the middle of a crowded & noisy (the nosiest – I swear) restaurant. I was not hopeful. God threw me a bone….fully organic, all natural, locally farmed food…and everyone, including me and Barrett, practically licked our plates. It was California food in VT. And the kids loved it!

Swim time & early to bed…bringing to troupe to Canada tomorrow…little nervous.