Day 7 - Mondays

Ay-yi-yi, Mondays.

Mondays. They'll get you every time...

The title should be: Monday – The Day Vermont Is Closed.

And I got up early! EARLY, people!!

Blagh Flargle Gnaaath P'thata Graabaaata...

(Why yes, in the morning, I channel the spirit of the Tasmanian Devil combined with Yosemite Sam's potty mouth. Or perhaps followers of Cthulhu are simply looking for the coffee pot, chanting as they stumble around? Unfortunately, I have the body of the Tasmanian Devil as well, only inverted. I give The Portly Matron meme a run for its money. There isn't a meme? There should be. I ain't pretty in the morning, folx, and it shows. Especially when I get up early on a frigging vacation morning to make sure I get to a place on time almost three hours away, and I checked the night before that they were open and it says they're only open from nine to noon, and so I'll bleeping get up bleeping early to drive for three hours for a squishie set...)

Spoiler alert: they weren't open.

I could see that bleeping squishie machine inside the locked door, taunting me.

Now, getting there - nothing like creeping along the USA-Canada border, hunh? Including one interesting turn onto a bridge at the top of the US's portion of Lake Champlain, where one sign says CANADA [STRAIGHT AHEAD] and the other sign says VERMONT -->. And you look before turning, and there's the Customs building, right in front of you, with a big yellow gate. We followed the road down into Vermont, but because of the route we took to get to the squishie site, Canada's border was not more than five miles away most of the time.

Sitting there.... looming....

We drove through waves of wet. We stopped at all the construction zones, with one-way traffic on very narrow roads through the upper reaches of the Green Mountains.

Which were hard to see. Because it was Monday, and EVERYTHING is closed. On the flip side, their misty curtains are quite thick. Most excellent sun blockers, soft and cool, though are prone to leave you with a damp sensation. For those living in the heat and merciless sun, I highly recommend. (ducks and gimps in a zigzag pattern as a veritable hailstorm of rotten tomatoes rains down on my location)

Good aim, people! Let me take a moment to shower off the tomato bits, I'll be right back.

So, moving on. Mist, mountains, and closed shops were the story of the day, if I haven't already given you that impression. I enjoyed what scenery we could see through curtains of low-hanging clouds.

The one time I saw an open country store and thought to stop, the truck in front of us pulling a long trailer suddenly cut me off, blocking the driveway to their parking lot. Oookaaaay, that was a tad unfriendly, I guess Vermonters are also grumpy on Monday mornings? Well, definitely one Vermonter, can't speak for the rest of the state. But we traveled on.

Eventually, as we found the lower mountain slopes and were coming back into civilization, we saw an open store in the middle of nowhere. Yay! We stopped! I could get up, and stretch, and move! We were greeted by quite a regal Maine Coon to the shop, where I fulfilled a promise to my mom to get her some maple syrup. And some for us as well, of course. And I got an amazingly spiffy hand-spun glass cup, and we chatted with the proprietor, and bought some AMAZING fudge, decided to eat lunch in the car, paid and turned to go. And the cat was sitting at the door, like he wanted to go outside.

And didn't.

Because the heavens had opened, and the mist had had enough with holding it in.

We skittered to the car, and ate under the companionable roaring of a waterfall.

When it finally reverted to mist after such an embarrassing display, we drove into town.

I had been to Waterbury before, with my stepdaughter, on a disastrous trip that I shan't get into. But what I did do, is take lots of notes, for a time when I would return with my hubby and do the trip correctly. So, I had Planz (tm), and we'd get set up in Waterbury, and do a few small things...

Closed. Closed. Closed.

Finally, the pattern became clear.

But, Ben and Jerry's is open! Well, we need a treat after all that-

Yeah. I didn't think. You see, I was told the last time I was up here, that the winter is the busy tourist season in Vermont, and that everything's kinda boring in the summer.

Welp, that person was quite in error, because I'm sure most of the state had the same brilliant idea that I had, and got to the only open store before us.

I didn't even know they had upper parking lots! That spiral onward and upward like some strange stairway to ice cream heaven.

Right. Time to re-combobulate.

We sat in the parking lot, watching the sugared stream of humanity, while I scrolled to find a nearby hotel. Not many choices at this point in time, but the Best Western had a lovely room available. Eek on the price a little, but really, beggars can't be choosers.

Off we trundle down the road, to check in-

Wait. Did you see that sign? (Vermont is wonderful in that it has signs all over the place for its tourist attractions.) Glasswork? Oooh!

Right. Driving. Important stuff.

Got to the hotel, and I was wiped from fruitless driving. Oh, yeah, and all the frenetic activity yesterday. And I didn't over-sugar myself to get through it, yay! Stuff up to the room, which as I mentioned was lovely.

Oh, hello moth. Did you book this room, too? No? Well, sorry, you must be evicted then. We were careful with a piece of paper and a cup to carry it outside. A Scoparia moth, I think. Not sure.

Now, to find a place that delivers...

Also closed.

Sigh.

Leftovers it is. Time to clear out the cooler anyways. Honey, hand me one of my sodas, please? My blood sugar's on the low side? Whaddya mean I'm out of sodas? I asked you to pack six, this would be my fourth for the trip. Only my emergency caffeinated one is left?? Oooohhh, I'm not a happy camper, I'll be up half the night, and I'm already not doing well in the sleep department! Why are MY sodas sitting at home, but miraculously all of YOURS got packed? Hmm, a mystery for the ages, I'm sure of it.

Nothing good on TV yet, so we watched The Day After Tomorrow in the MST3K style – sound off, completely mocking the science. I'm not a big movie fan to start, and I get rather annoyed when someone messes with science for heightened emotive effect or whatever, but I love watching destruction scenes. So, yeah, a lot to love and hate in that movie.

It got much better when baseball finally came on, though watching Diaz get ejected from the Mets game was rather surprising.

So, I tried to get to bed while hubby was getting ready to go to bed-

KA-PLANG ANG ANGANGAGANNAG!

Hey, this ceiling is really cool! All textured and stercum! Wanna know how I know? BECAUSE I SEEM TO BE ATTACHED TO IT AFTER LEVITATING AFTER SUCH A HORRID LOUD FREAKING NOISE!

When I finally self-spatula'd myself off the ceiling and went to investigate, I found my hubby looking guilty, and one of the false panels under the sink looking a touch askew. Because hubby. Because ADHD. Because he's gotta fiddle and investigate, and when told “NO,” reacts like a puppy being told he widdled in the wrong place again. Trust me, cleaning up puppy widdle is MUCH easier than some of the crap I've had to “fix” because hubby “helped” or “investigated,” and let's not get into the “well, it shouldn't have been that way!” excuses.

I shall not write down what I said next, but best believe it peeled a few layers of paint off the walls. I kept it low-pitched; we are in a hotel after all.

Time to go make friends with a ceiling till morning...