Honeymoon/Vacation with Girls

Yes, we finally had our honeymoon night!

Our first night as a married couple was spent here. A nice-enough place but we weren't much in the mood for noticing the decor. ;-) It was a long haul to get there (an event 1 year 5 months in the making, in the literal context). We were happy and relieved.

Due to a glitch in our planning, it turned out that Reyna had her school orientation day on Thursday of our week's vacation/honeymoon. So, we split our time off into "kids/no kids" sections. Monday, we vanned up to the "Pioneer Valley", so-called, of western Massachussetts, returning Wednesday.

A very magical place, indeed. We want to go back without the kids.

Something of a cross between a petting zoo and a regular zoo, this was a nice, small zoo and the girls had a good time. Forest Park is an enormous park in the city of Springfield, MA, with everything from horseback riding to lawn bowling. And, the zoo, of course.

We had a dickens of a time finding this place, as it is out in the sticks. But, it was worth the looking. Both adult and kid friendly, with artwork by authors like Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) in galleries; copies of the books available for reading to the kids; a "hands-on" art studio for the kids to draw, cut and paint; a reading library; and plenty of books for purchase in the museum shop. On our visit, the featured artist was Leo Lionni, author of one of my favorite books, Frederick.

This place was a big disappointment for us, though Reyna says she wants to go back there. There were signs everywhere forbidding climbing on the sculptures, which ruins the fun for kids. The advertising, however, claims that kids are permitted to climb on the sculpures. There was a lot of construction going on at the nearby museums, so the noise level was industrial and we didn't stay too long.

On Thursday, I fell down the basement stairs and sprained my ankle pretty well. I stayed off it the whole day, as much as I could. Reyna went to her orientation at her new school and both girls went to their Dad's for the weekend. Then, Friday, Anne & I rolled out to Vermont. Of course, I was completely lame and barely able to move around. Dreams of hiking and strutting about were dashed. But we were not to be denied our mobile pleasures!

Of course! The World's Best Ice Cream. We took the tour and some free samples, bought some souvenirs.

What goes better with ice cream than coffee? We stopped in at the company outlet store and picked up some supplies. No tours on weekends, unfortunately.

Vermont: maple syrup, cheese, chocolate ... obviously, we had to check them all out! Well, we kind of fell down on the maple syrup, but we definitely made out on the cheese & chocolate departments.

In Burlington, VT, we rode the Burlington-Port Kent ferry across Lake Champlain and back. It's an hour each way. The lake was very windy and the ride was great. We spent the night in Burlington and then headed south.

The ferry has been running continuously since 1759. It's a short trip (seven minutes) but a pleasant one. The web site has some interesting information on its history.