Sydney and I arrived home safely on Friday night . . . and then our internet provider was down for two days, so there’s a lot to cover since then.
I married an interesting man. To make the drive home seem more fun than arduous, Sydney decided we’d take the ferry from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, which meant that we got to spend three hours walking the decks, eating a nice packed lunch in a leisurely fashion, and reading, rather than spend 5 hours on the road. I think the primary motivation for him was the chance to spy seabirds with his binoculars, but I appreciate that he was trying to cut down on my road time, however incidental to his main goal.
Continuing his “this is part of the vacation” theme, Sydney stopped in western Massachusetts so that we could take a short hike before driving the rest of the way home. I think he’s learning that a happy Erin is one who has been walked regularly, much like a growing puppy. And it worked: after our hike I definitely didn’t have trouble sitting still for the rest of the drive! That might be, however, because the “short hike” turned into a 3.5-hour serious climb up the face of a mountain. We poured sweat, stretched our legs, and climbed up and down until our knees were shaky. And, oh yes, the trail was not terribly well-marked, so we got a bit lost coming down the end of the trail and ended up trying to break our own path down the steep terrain before backtracking to pick it up again. But it was great! We sweated, we breathed fresh air, and we got to see something besides concrete. Highlights of the hike include hearing several bird species that are rare at home, eating wild blueberries at a gorgeous lookout spot that gave us a view of the Berkshire hills and valleys, and scaring up a porcupine (he quickly hid under a rock, but we could still see him if we crouched down).
Erin
Alan Schmierer