Cville Band Concert: The Classics

 Always nice when they play at the Paramount:

Happy 49th Birthday, Kevin!

 

Benji and Alex's Big Train Adventure

We got home from vacation on Monday night, and on Friday Benji turned around and started back to NY again to take a "transit trip" with Alex. The first leg was taking the Cardinal from Charlottesville to Manassas by himself (Alex and Soph met him at the Manassas station):

On Saturday morning, Benji and Alex got up early and made their way to Union Station in DC, where they boarded the Acela train to New York (each in their own train t-shirt, which they received compliments on from two separate people):

Once they got to NY, they took the subway to the NY Transit museum, which is housed in an old subway station in Brooklyn:

After the museum, they had some time to kill, so they explored Penn Station and also got dinner before boarding another Acela back to DC:

Benji was really excited to get the train table for the train we road last month

After sleeping in Herndon, Benji boarded a different train from Manassas back to Charlottesville (the Northeastern) and returned safely home:

Last Vacation Stop: Emily Dickinson house

On Sunday, we drove from New Hampshire back to New York, stopping off to see the Emily Dickinson House and Museum:

The tour included both her childhood home (which she lived in until her death), which is a restoration, and the Evergreen, her brother's home on the same property, which is a preservation - it was fascinating to learn and see the difference!

Happy 20th Birthday, Abby!

 Abby's requests for her birthday, in order. The farmer's market and flowers:

Hang out time as a family (this was in our room at Dowd's Country Inn):

Mini golf with friends:

Carrot cake from Molly's (there was also Thai food):

Vacation 2024: Sunapee

We got up early on Friday morning and packed up to head back south. We were eager to get to Sean's cabin on Perkins Pond, which is one of our favorite places. We got their late morning and had a little bit of time to relax before Abby texted she was done with class. Benji and I decided to hang back a the cabin while Kevin drove over to Hanover to pick Abby up:

Benji and Sean took the canoes out while Kevin was gone (I read on the porch)

Once Abby arrived, we had more water time on the lake:

Sean had kindly made a vegetarian lasagna for us, and after dinner we went on a "sunset cruise" (it was well before sunset) by strapping the canoe to the motor boat:

We sprung the canoe free before docking back at the cabin

For dessert, we tried all the various types of whoopie pies we had brought from Maine:

After a while, Abby noticed it was actually sunset, so we piled back on the dock to see the pretty colors and light:

We didn't stay over with Sean this visit because Abby wanted to be back in Hanover for her birthday, so we said goodbye as it got dark and headed back to campus.

Vacation 2024: Echo Lake and the Basin

Most of the rest of the rain ended up passing us to the north, and we had a mostly clear last day in Lincoln. We started at this breakfast place which was only open a few days a week, but which we had wanted to try (totally worth that wait):

After breakfast, we decided to try our luck at Echo Lake, which was the body of water we had seen from above on yesterday's hike. We got about an hour in before it started to rain and we packed it up:

The rain cleared in less than an hour, so we decided to explore some more, stopping first at the Old Man of the Mountain state historic site:

The site has footsteps all over listing various heights. If you step in the footsteps that match your height and look at the nearest pole, you can see what the formation looked like before it fell

This is profile lake, which used to reflect the old man

From profile lake, we drove the short distance to The Basin, which is a naturally formed granite bowl which has a whirlpool swirl through it. The sign noted that Henry David Thoreau called it "the most remarkable curiosity of its kind":

The Basin was at the end of a very pretty trail along the Pemigewasset river, which Benji and I both waded into at a shallow point:

We ended the day in Woodstock, NH, which is a cute little town with some fun restaurants. We chose the Woodstock Brewery:

Funny box outside the pet store

Kevin took advantage of the brewery and I had a fruity cocktail

We ended with this gigantic dessert