Vermont and Four Wheeling Fun

Hello Vermont....

We made our way from Massachusetts to Vermont around June 1st.  Traveling there was absolutely gorgeous.  In our travels we have made some great friends and our journey took us to Springfield Vermont to visit a couple we met while we were in Idaho last summer.  They have property in Vermont, an old Farm that has been in the family for over 50 years with an old barn full of treasures to go through.  The two of them have been working on this old barn for weeks.  It is a huge structure over 40' high with a basement.  The outside is a weathered brown.  In the basement there were stalls for the cattle with trolleys for moving cans around and such.  The floors have some rotten places and will need to be replaced so that, when finished, you don't fall through.  All in all a wonderful building but a whole lot of work.

The BARN....

Our hosts, Tom and Sherri along with Tom's Dad, also named Tom took us out four wheeling on Saturday.  Let me tell you when someone said Tom they all answered.  It was so fun.  They took us all through the mountains with lush green ferns, babbling brooks, streaming waterfalls and the occasional deer sighting.  My Tom was the perfect driver, taking me on a wild ride.

Waiting for Tom to come down the hill

Blasting out of the mud....

Crossing a wooden bridge

Careful of those maple syrup lines.  I have a cool little whoopee cushion to save my whoopee from bruising.

I was muddy water up to my hips, thanks to Tom M's Dad.  That water was Burrrrrr Cold !!!!

Tom M  playin in the mud.

This was just too fun...Note to self we must get a couple of these so we can do this more often.  Now where do we put them???

Salam Witches

Salem Massachusetts.

A cemetery with a monument to the witches who were hanged during the trials.  Very old grave markers some from 1700's and 1800's.  

Walden Pond

WALDEN POND

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings.

We found Walden Pond at sunset on the drive out of Boston back to Littleton where we were staying.  

Tom and I at Sunset.  The ranger was nice enough to take a picture. 

A beautiful place.

Glad we didn't turn

A low bridge in Massachusetts. We are 12' 6" high. This sign was posted after the turn and with no turn around room.

Surprise !!!

Sorry for the delay in posting, traveling has been very busy.  We left Pennsylvania and headed to New Jersey for 5 days to visit some friends, John, Linda and their two boys Jonathan and Christopher.  We had a great time hanging out with them and catching up since we haven't seen them in years.  John and Tom have been friends since elementary school in Phoenix.  While we were visiting with them I got a little itchy and Tom got some headaches.  Concerned about Lyme Disease because our tick fiasco and on the advise of experts John and Linda who have been dealing with this disease for years we decided to get tested on our way North.

Driving North through Connecticut we found an Urgent care so we parked in a Wal Mart while we went to the doctor.  Since we had difficulty with reservations for the Memorial Day weekend we spent those days parked in Wal Mart parking lots anyway.  Yes we were Wal Maritans for a few days.   The doctor took our blood and tested it saying he would have results in a few days but it seemed to be a little soon and he didn't think we would have a problem so we headed to Massachusetts to visit some friends.

Surprise we did, while leaving Massachusetts Tom got the call that he had some positive band show up on him.  Me I am fine everything was negative.  Now Tom is on a 30 day dose of antibiotics and then needs to be tested again.  Strange, I had 11 ticks and he only had one.  Guess it's true what they say, it only takes one.

The Amazing Pennsylvania Link....

While in Gettysburg we went to the library to do some genealogy on Tom's family.  Back in Kentucky we found that Tom's maternal grandmother was born in Pennsylvania, something he didn't know.  So we decided to go to the local library to find out more.  After doing some checking and a little research on their Ancestry Data Base we came up with few facts.  A maternal great- grandfather and grandmother and a mystery as to why Tom's grandmother lived with an Uncle during the 1910 Census. It didn't make sense and we wanted to know why.

I pulled out my surf board and began my internet surfing.  After a few small swells and few clues I came across the big Tsunami wave.  I had located a family tree with Tom's Maternal grandmother and branches which extended back to the 1600's.  All this hard work done by a wonderful person in his family who had been researching and working on this for more than 20 years.  We now had names, links churches they were members of, births and deaths, cemeteries they were buried in.  The most exciting information was the mystery was solved as to why his grandmother lived with an Uncle.  It seems her mother passed away so the children went there to live for a while and had been there when the Census took place.  Tom contacted the person doing the research and they have spoken via email a few times.

So Tom finally has some history to his family and knows of the deep roots he has in Pennsylvania. To find out this information has been a terrific bonus to our adventure....

Our Nations Capital

Honestly we couldn't do Virginia without doing our Nations Capital.  As much as I am saddened by the state of our country and the errors of those who pretend to run our government we went into the city to check things out.  It was truly amazing how busy the city was for a Sunday.  The change since we were there in the mid 90's is apparent.  Police and Barricades to keep out the people who want to do harm to our way of life.  Truly a sad sight to see.

Renovations on our Capital.  Can they make over Congress too please.