One Week of Winter

It's already Spring, but I'm going to write about Winter. You see, everyone around town is talking about how we went from Autumn straight into Spring with no Winter at all. Some folks are happy, but some are not. They say that it would have been great to have at least one good snowfall so that they feel like they at least had some winter. That actually happens quite often in Cincinnati, no good snowfall at all, but I don't point this out to them. I don't want to rub it in while I'm telling them that I did have Winter! I had several days of winter with a couple of good snowfalls up in Vermont where I visited Joanna and Seth during the Christmas Holidays.

Paul and I drove up together and left on Christmas Eve Eve Eve around 7 pm. We stopped at our favorite rest area at Chautauqua Lake near Jamestown, New York, hometown of Lucille Ball. This rest area is a small distance off of the interstate, perched on the side of the lake with a gorgeous vista, is never crowded, the car lot is far from the truck lot, and (get this) it has a night watchman. The bathrooms are spectacularly clean, airy, dry and tiled beautifully as though it were a hotel. I almost felt like I should check in! But instead I just washed up, brushed my teeth, and went back to the car to sleep. Since it's winter and New York, we were a little concerned about staying warm. Paul refused to leave the car running, thereby burning up precious fossil fuels. So we compromised by turning the heat on full blast while we were in the bathroom with the hope that the car would stay warm through the wee hours of the night. I was skeptical, but we were warm as toast.

The rule is that the first person to wake up starts driving. The benefit is that they are treated to a wondrous morning view of the lake.

See! Who wouldn't want to wake up to this!!?

I always wake up first, so Paul always misses this.




After getting situated back on I-86 my first order of business was to find coffee. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can find a Starbucks. But more often I find a Dunkin' Donuts. They abound in New England for some reason. We purchased breakfast to go but it wasn't that great. Paul bought a munchkin (donut holes) variety pack and found that they really are all the same. They just put different coatings on them and pretend like they are different flavors. At various times in the day, we kept eating them hoping for something good. It got to be a joke where one of us would say with huge appeal, "You wanna munchkin!?" and the other would just laugh. We couldn't wait until they were gone.

After driving the yawning breadth of the great State of New York we finally entered Vermont. Entering Vermont is exciting because you think you are almost there. But you never are almost there because Vermont has no short cuts. So we drove over hill and dale enjoying the scenery. We drove over winding two-lane mountain roads that had rumble strips down the center line. We passed through quintessential New England hamlets all decked out for Christmas. We drove through snow and ice and sunshine and past ski resorts and farmland and wooden covered bridges until we finally arrived at our destination:







Smuggler's Notch Resort.





This notch or pass in the Green Mountains has a long history of being used as a smuggling route. In the early 1800's when the US government imposed an embargo on English imports, the British shipped to Canada instead and smuggled the goods down through Vermont. And once again during Prohibition, liquor was smuggled from Canada down through New England. The smuggling route uses the thickly wooded Long Trail that has caves and caverns which were handy for storing goods.

This old print on the left is a little over-dramatized, I think.

Because the notch looks more like this:



The next day, Christmas Eve, we all went snowboarding. That is, me and a bunch of 20-something year olds. I board very carefully taking no risks because I can't afford a broken wrist (or anything else for that matter) in my line of work. So I was the old lady conservative snowboarder playing catch up to all the kids. But the little darlings all politely waited for me at intersections and lifts. Thanks, guys, for not leaving me wondering where you all went!

That night we celebrated Chanukah. Same as the night before. In fact this Jewish holiday is celebrated for 8 days running. Why don't the Christians celebrate Christmas like that? Perhaps if we had time to spread it all out, it wouldn't be so stressful. Last I checked there were 12 days of Christmas, for goodness' sake.

After the party, Joanna and Paul and I somehow squeezed Joanna's things in with all of our stuff (I had been lovingly toting around all my Christmas presents that I didn't want to leave in the freezing car overnight. But I was ready to leave them under a tree for good!). We're talking presents, suitcases, snowboards, and other gear!  Then we went to spring Thunder from his dog sitter and squeezed him in on Paul's lap. He was greatly excited to be free and with us and going for a ride all at once! The true Christmas spirit!

Driving along Vermont back roads through small towns on Christmas Eve is like viewing Christmas card after Christmas card.

Paul's Girl

 Once we got to Jo's house, the first order of business was to vamp up the furnace. Brrrrrrr! Then we had a hot drink, decorated the Christmas tree listening to A Very She & Him Christmas and put all the presents under the tree! We kept wondering why it was still so cold in the house. Then Joanna realized she had lit some candles directly under the thermostat. It didn't know how completely freezing it was 10 feet away and so the furnace did not click on!

T

The next morning dawned cold and grey with snow flurries in the air! Jo and I made coffee and snuggled into the living room gazing at the pretty tree and talking. We wondered when it was safe to rouse Paul from sleep without suffering his wrath and decided to start breakfast instead.

Then when we could stand it no longer we woke him up! He was right there on the futon after all. He reluctantly agreed to get up and then, as is our Christmas tradition, Paul plays elf and hands out the presents one at a time so we have the luxury to ooh and aah over each one.

Seth and Raffi arrived bang on time for breakfast, and we had a feast!


The rest of the day was spent not doing much, as Christmas should be. I volunteered every time to take Thunder out, and instead of one quick freezing jaunt around the back yard, we went on a Christmas Day neighborhood romp. I put on coat, hat, snowboard mittens, and Joanna's wonderfully warm and stylish snow boots (I decided I would buy some too) and Thunder and I went exploring.


It was funny to see the moment Thunder realized we weren't just going around the back yard. As we approached the back door he pulled that direction and I pulled toward the driveway. As we approached the car, he waited for me to open the back door for him. And when he realized we were going for a walk (!) his joy knew no bounds! I took him mostly to the cemetery because it was peaceful and quiet. Snow fell gently as we walked respectfully around. I love cemeteries! I love to read the tombstones and guess at the lives of the dead and think about their marriages, their children, the sentiments they wrote on the grave markers. One whole corner was filled with only children. I wondered if there had been some epidemic, but the years of death weren't all the same. Possibly several epidemics. Or not. Maybe just a children's corner.

When we got back, Thunder was eager to tell his Momma and Papa where he'd been. His Momma told me the cemetery is off limits to pets for obvious reasons. Ah well. The birds and squirrels and dear doo doo in there and nobody stops them. Plus I made sure Thunder did his business at home as usual.

Cooking Christmas dinner was delicious, warm, and cozy with Joanna's scrumptious recipes. Oh, and manhattan cocktails for the cook(s)!

We were making beef tenderloin, and a savory vegetarian flaky pot pie for Paul, but luckily he shared it with the rest of us. A deep red Christmas wine completed the meal. I don't remember dessert. Did we have dessert, Joanna?

 The day after Christmas, Seth and Raffi went skiing early, hoping for that elusive "powder". I decided to try to summit Mt. Mansfield in the snow and cold. My long-suffering children agreed to accompany me. Mt. Mansfield is the highest point in Vermont, and I am trying to summit all the highest state points in the East.






Having studied the trails the night before, we decided the best way up in the snow and ice was to snowshoe up the toll road. We geared up and hit the trail in good spirits.

The toll road crosses some of the ski runs at Stowe. So we had to hurry across the trails making sure that we didn't get in the way of an oncoming skiier or boarder. Joanna didn't like this and felt in their way. But we managed to make her cross a couple of times!






The day sunny and cold, the trail sun-dappled, the views spectacular, and the road long. We were nearing the top, maybe 3/4 of the way along, when we took an appraisal of the hike. My feet were like ice blocks, and I was running out of energy. The kids were tired but their feet weren't cold. We realized the toll road didn't actually go all the way to the summit, but only a trail which would be steep, windy, and icy. We decided to come back in summer!

Once we made that decision, we turned and bolted for the car like homing pigeons.

I'll be back, Mansfield! It was worth a try! What a beautiful mountain.

At home we had a warm drink and Joanna fell immediately asleep.










I started to read but was sleepy and fell asleep too!

Thunder was sleepy as well, although he didn't go snowshoeing with us.








That night we celebrated Paul's birthday early in Montpelier. And so ended my one week of winter in 2011-2012.

We celebrated Chanukah.



 

 We celebrated Christmas.

I got a week of snowboarding, snowshoeing, crisp cold air, jaunts through the snow with Thunder, beautiful wintry vistas, nighttime drives with churches, snow, and Christmas lights.

Vermont always has winter!