Travels of Summer

I like road trips! And this past week the three of us drove up to Connecticut and then up to Vermont for family reunions. The first was for my mother-in-law's family the McCormack (I was warned ahead of time about them) and the second was for the McFadzeans.
We left Florida on Wednesday July 29 around 1:15pm with the plan of driving as far as we could before stopping to sleep at a rest stop for a couple of hours before continuing. Jim drove the whole time. We made it through Richmond Virginia by 1:30am and decided to stop for a few hours at a truck stop to sleep or at least rest.
We left at 6:30 am and made it to his parent's house in Woodbury, CT by 4pm on Thursday (even with a unintentional detour of getting on the wrong road in New York, a mis-communication between Jim and his dad in getting directions over the phone to their house). We spent the evening with Nancy (Jim's mom), his dad was showing houses until late and then had to go pick up Kellie (Jim's sister) from the airport sowe didn't see him until Friday morning. Nancy was excited to see Thomas again and how much he has grown and now crawling everywhere, picking things up and putting them in his mouth. It was nice to be out of the car and able to move around and stretch before the next days drive to Vermont.
Friday morning we were hoping for good weather but we woke up to rain. The fact that the van was parked down the sidewalk a ways didn't help much in getting the vehicle packed with our stuff as well as Jim's parent's stuff so we left a half hour or so later than wanted. Despite the rain the whole way we made pretty good time including a stop for lunch along the way.
In Vermont we stayed with Jim's whole family at a little house outside of Stowe. The house was a cute little place usually rented out to skiers in winter. It had four bedrooms perfect for the three couples, 4 kids, a baby, and his sister. Our bedroom had two closets on either side, the ceiling in each was slanted due to the roof so it made them look smaller despite their size. I mention the closet because in one there was a little toddler bed tucked in there and cribs parts against the wall. It completely creeped me out to look in there even with the light on, I half expected it to be haunted (to much watching of Ghost Hunters I guess). What added to that was Friday evening the nephews were running around all over the place playing on the stairs and such and I know I had turned the light off and shut the closet door but when I went upstairs later the door was open and the light on it was weird. I turned off the light and shut the door and went back downstairs. Later for whatever reason I went back upstairs I found the door open and the light on again. Again I turned the light off and shut the door, went back downstairs (really creeped out now) and mentioned it to Jim. He asked the boys if they kept doing that, of course they said no because they didn't want to get into trouble (they weren't supposed to be playing in the stairs and in the rooms, and their parents, Kellie and big Jim were gone to the store). However the incident with the closet stopped so it was the boys after all.
Saturday was the day of the McCormack reunion. I was told before hand that a good majority ofthe family drinks (a lot) and smokes so I wouldn't be too shocked being around it all. It wasn't too bad in the early afternoon while people were arriving and while eating and then after more of the drinking started. Jim's family didn't know half the people there, apparently most of them were McTaggerts part of the family line from a McCormack daughter having married a McTaggert I guess.
The coolest part was in the afternoon, while it is tradition for them to mention milestones in the family i.e. a marriage, births- thomas was recognized, college graduations or any school graduation for that matter (they were back country kind of people so an accomplishment like that is huge) big birthdays that year 21, 40, 50 etc... here comes the neat thing granted its sad to mention the deaths in the family but as a tribute the family had pitched in to arrange a bagpiper to come and play for about 30-45 min. His set started off with Amazing Grace as each of the parts of the family let balloons go as names were read off for each passing. A lot of us found it rather moving even me despite the fact I didn't know these people, I suppose it was more the symbolism. We stood there for a while staring up at the sky watching the balloons get higher and higher until they could no longer be seen. The bagpiper continued to play traditional Scottish folk songs in the background (the bagpipes were still pretty loud but hey how often do you actually get to sit, watch and listen to them standing up on a small hill above everyone else?). Nothing else is worth mention people were getting drunk and eventually I was ready to go.
Big Jim (Jim's dad) took us the long way back through back roads most of Vermont is back road type roads. We drove through downtown Barre and Montpelier (old towns with cool colonial style homes and brick buildings). Sunday morning to go up to Uncle Vern's cabin on the lake (it just a few miles from the Canadian border) we went the long scenic route as well. I must say though that Vermont is a very pretty state. Lots of farms, trees, mountains and back roads the majority of the buildings are older which adds a different kind of an atmosphere compared to anywhere else in a more modern city/area.
Sunday was the McFadzeans, there were substantially less people so it was a bit more of an intimate setting, plus it was extremely windy that day and rainy as well, there were waves on the lake (the lake almost looked like the ocean it was so big). The day was spent eating and visiting with everyone as they were catching up on the built up years. We also had birthday cake which Nancy had brought up from CT for Jim's birthday which was the day before, it was so good! Chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. Thomas had a better day too I think because he was able to crawl around and he got a lot of attention. Its funny, everywhere we go people comment on how they love his hair because it is so soft and stick up in every direction. This day was also nicer because there was no alcohol there.
Monday morning we all left to go back to Connecticut but on the way out we stopped at The Cider Mill so I could get some real Vermont maple syrup to bring home and I even got it in a cool maple leaf shaped glass bottle. The second stop was at Cabot as in Cabot cheddar cheese. Jim and I went in while Nancy stayed in the car with Thomas. I tasted like 10 different types of cheddar cheese most of which were really good except for the Vintage (which means its aged for a couple years) it had a musty sweaty sock type taste I wasn't to fond of.
The 3rd stop was at Ben & Jerry's for a tour of the ice cream factory which ended with a sample of their Chocolate Therapy ice cream. Think of chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate chunks and another chocolate piece in there it was sooooo delicious!! Thomas loved the little bites of it that he got from his daddy- what a mess!
After Ben & Jerry's we drove to Sharon VT to visit the Joseph Smith Memorial, this was one o my favorite destinations. Despite some of the refurbishing going on it was still so peaceful feeling and the weather could not have been more perfect- clear blue sky, temperature in the lower 80s and the sun shining! We went on the little tour and then walked up to the monument. At any of the church historical sites the landscaping is so beautiful. I love the different colored flowers and the green grass and tall beautiful green trees.
We stayed at big Jim and Nancy's again on Monday night and headed back home Tuesday morning. Jim accidentally got off the highway at the wrong place and so we drove through the Bronx until we found the on ramp to I-95. Following the same driving pattern we drove through most of the night and arrived home by 12 or 12:30pm the next day.
I am glad to be home.