After a busy summer driving across the river from my apartment to serve as strategic advisor for my bachelor friend, W, who had bought, much to his chagrin, a fixer upper, an opportunity came for him to whisk me away to Vermont for another weekend.
I was so excited, because I had not seen Vermont in the summer since 2013 when the kids and I visited Hildene.
Summer is my favorite time of year, and that is when Vermont sings.
Meanwhile, W had lots of business to do regarding his family vacation home in Manchester…and then he had too much trouble making hotel reservations for me due to the many restrictions regarding the worldwide virus.
Disappointed, I didn’t get to go.
Then a few weeks later he returned to Vermont with his daughter, who helped him clean out the house.
A few days after my birthday, W asked if I’d like to go to Vermont with him for a few days during the autumnal splendor.
This time, he wanted me to stay in one of the guest rooms at the family vacation home, while he finalized loose ends so he and his family could put the house on the market.
It would be the last opportunity to visit the house…and thus, I realized, probably my last trip ever to Vermont.
So, I said yes.
Wow! Autumn is golden in October, as opposed to the bareness of the November trees that I experienced the year before.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold, just a nip in the air that required light jackets.
Much better than when I visited with my daughter when she was 6 months old and it was windy with a bitter chill!
MANCHESTER VILLAGE
Manchester Village is a charming shopping mecca that I always wanted to fully indulge in.
Alas, on every trip I’ve only had quick moments to grab one thing I needed.
This time we planned that if W was too busy with the house, I could simply walk a couple of blocks to the village to window shop to my heart’s delight!
Well, that first morning, W took me for a hearty country breakfast in town while I served as his strategic advisor for his Virginia townhouse.
What did I think of these fabric samples for the dining room chairs, and sitting chairs for the living room, now that he bought a couch.
Hmmm…I didn’t like any of his choices, since he likes mid-century modern and I like French Country, so I kept telling him he should just buy whatever he liked, but he really wanted my opinion so we just went round and round! LOL So no decisions made that day.
After breakfast we walked around town a little bit so I could see a little bit of the town and enjoy the autumnal splendor.
MOUNT EQUINOX SKYLINE DRIVE
Since the day was so gorgeous, W took me for a drive to the top of Mount Equinox, which overlooks the town.
MANCHESTER VILLAGE
Then we returned to Manchester Village…
Mount Equinox overlooking the town…
The Equinox Hotel…
1811 House…
WALKING FROM ORVIS TO THE VACATION HOUSE
The next day W took me to Orvis to buy some warm clothes for a birthday gift, then I decided I could easily walk back to the house and take my time walking around, if he wanted to drive back to get some things done.
So that was so neat to see how easy it was to walk from Orvis to his vacation house…while walking past several buildings featuring Orvis products and services. They practically own the town!
All the sidewalks in Vermont are made of marble! (Even the sidewalk in front of the Baby Boom shoot location in Peru were made of marble!)
View of Mount Equinox…
Then any easy turn down the lane…
And there is the family vacation home…what a great property!
GREAT FOOD
For dinner that night W treated me to dinner at a great place, though I don’t recall the name.
Then the next day while running errands, we learned a lot of eateries were closed for Columbus Day, but the Copper Grouse at the Teutonic Hotel was open, so we had lunch there.
The Copper Grouse is my favorite restaurant. We had a lovely dinner there last year, and lunch was wonderful too!
While waiting we sat in front of the fire to warm up.
GOODBYES
And then we said our final goodbyes to the family vacation home of about fifty years.
W has so many memories of all the summers playing in the creek with his middle brother while growing up.
Whereas last year we were inspired by the Baby Boom movie to fix the place up, too many repairs became more like the Money Pit movie.
