The most relaxing vacation of my life

It's not really that hard to earn the title of "most relaxing vacation of my life" since I am used to family vacations where you wake up around 6 AM every day to cram as much high-velocity action! action! action! as possible into the minutes and hours. And of course there's often some sort of melt-down to add to the excitement. In short, my family is awesome. But just as there is a time to be awesome, there is a time to chill . . . (That was definitely a quote from the Bible, yes?)

This vacation also easily beat out the honeymoon for most relaxing since I did not have vertigo and we made zero stops at the emergency room. Though true that you have never lived unless you have spent hours just sitting in a chair trying not to move so as not to disrupt the ear canal or better yet walked down the street in a jaggedy un-pattern just waiting to fall on your face, sometimes you just want to have some control over a few simple bodily functions . . .

This trip was basically perfect. It was beautiful, tranquil, and felt very much like the calm before the storm. (No, I'm not pregnant.) Though by the end of the week we were pretty much ready to get back to the semi-city life. Ah, Vermont. Land of the unpopulous, where the only major chain restaurant is Ben and Jerry's, where hippies and kids that belong in the movie Juno (wielding pipes--what WERE they doing?)roam the streets of your capital city by night, where reside the paradoxical friendly/guarded folk, where everyone is conscientious and conscious and McCain stands no chance, where every town is a small town, and the hills/mountains roll on in unobtrusive beauty. We probably couldn't live there long term (well maybe if I become a famous writer and am asked to teach at Middlebury), but a week was wonderful.

Quick, before the memories starts to fade, here are some photos:


This is the view from our back porch where we stayed on Lake Elmore:

This is in Burlington:

El Esposo is standing on the remains of a cabin overlooking a vista on our hike up Mt. Elmore.

This is the only picture we remembered to take at the Ben and Jerry's tour. I think it's supposed to be a giant straw or something?

Us Canoeing. The picture is kind of odd, but I kind of like it.

Middlebury: