New England Adventure - Day 6

♫Schubert Serenade♫

Day 6 – Thursday, October 12, 2006

We were up early because we wanted to catch the sun rising over the mountains from our back porch on the second floor.  The rain had stopped and there was fog rising between a hill and the mountains to the West.  I dressed and went down to the dining room to get cups of coffee and was soon sitting in the lounge chair on the porch with my journal and coffee awaiting the sun to appear over the ridge....  

I wrote in my journal:  “The sun is shining because you can see it’s effect on the clouds here and there where there’s a break in the cover….The air smells fresh and cool.  The small pond below reflects the shrubbery lining the far side.  The Willow stands off to the left gently hanging a few branches over the edge.  Birds are chirping and calling and the trout are sending concentric circles outward.”....

We met two other couples at breakfast besides the couple we visited with the evening before.  One was visiting from England.  They were over here to see their son who attended a university in Boston, and then they were touring the area.  

Regrettably,  we were on our way all too soon.  We had much ground to cover as we were headed up to Stowe.  But first we wanted to tour Hildene, the summer home, and later, full-time home of President Lincoln's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln.  We arrived just as it opened....

Inside we were greeted by a very knowledgeable tour guide who gave us some of the history and "played" (he pushed a button) the huge Aeolian organ that Robert Lincoln had installed for his wife.  Lincoln also bought all 250 "automated" rolls of music that were made for it.  The 1,000 pipes lined the walls of the landing of the staircase as you enter into the grand foyer.  His granddaughter lived in the house until 1975.  It was an amazing house situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley with the mountains as a backdrop.  HERE is their website.  This is a view from the back of the house....

Here is another view of the front of the house....

It began to cloud over again so we went on our way, stopping at the Orvis Store and Outlet first. We considered the main store a “museum” as we could not fathom anyone paying $1,200 for a coat!  By now the skies had opened up and the rain came pouring down.  We wanted to make the Vermont Country Store by lunch time and then head north to Stowe.  Once again we relied on the compass and instinct to get us to the unmarked Route that would take us into the heart of Vermont.  As we climbed further up into the Green Mountains in the rain we enjoyed the solitude the rain brought.  The Vermont Country Store in Weston was a destination in itself.  There I bought a pottery soup pot and an enamelware colander to match my cobalt blue kitchen colors in addition to some other items.  After lunch the sun broke through the clouds and we had a pleasant drive through the valley northward.  When Ken stopped for gas I spied a used book store/bakery/café next door so we spent some time in there.  Ken found two 19^th century editions of Longfellow’s books of poems and I found a Barbara Cooney book I hadn’t seen before.

We did not arrive at the Goldilocks Cottage in Stowe, VT until just after 5:00.  We planned to stay two evenings.  I looked forward to just relaxing with no particular sightseeing destination.  We would buy a few groceries so we could eat in and even do a load of laundry.  So you can imagine my consternation when we did not find the key under the door mat as promised.  Ken began looking under everything there was to look under.  He circled the cottage, trying windows and the sliding glass door....

Meanwhile I began calling the numbers the owner had e-mailed me for the caretaker.  At the first number the woman did not know what I was talking about.  The second number the message center was full and I could not leave a message.  I was beginning to have deja vu of our first day's problems at the Vienna Inn.  By now I was having to plug the cell phone into the car to use the car’s battery.  I was just glad I was getting reception at least because we had none at the Battenkill Inn.  I called another number and the fellow who answered was the owner’s husband, but he was on a tug boat in the New York harbor he said.  He was no help, despite his concern, other than to tell us to call Jill, the owner I’d spoken with when I made the reservation.  I called both her house number and cell number and left messages.  By now it was after 5:30 and I was beginning to imagine having to drive back into Stowe (only a mile) and seeing if there was a room in the Inn there for the evening.  Just then I heard Ken yell the good news that he’d found a key hidden behind the electrical box!  Upon opening the door he found the key for us on the dresser just inside the door.  I placed calls to Jill and her husband to let them know we were in, then started unloading the car.  Then my phone rang.  It was Jill.  She was very apologetic.  The next morning while we were out her caretaker left us a bottle of wine and an apology.  I wrote later in the guest book that now we know how the Three Bears could have kept Goldilocks out of their house—don’t hide the key under the mat!  She was still quite concerned about our having a good stay and sent another apology in the mail offering us a 20% discount the next time we want to stay there.  This is taken from the entrance of the enclosed inner porch of the cabin....

I will have more photos of the cabin in tomorrow's post.  The photos, however, do not begin to convey the coziness.  The area off to the right behind the wood stove is the dining room and kitchen.  Behind me is the hallway to the bathroom and bedroom.  The loft also contained a bed.

After getting everything put away, for supper we decided to split my leftover sandwich from lunch and a can of soup I'd brought along.  Our tummies sufficiently full we drove back into town to look for a grocery store so we'd have food for our breakfast, lunch, and the next night's supper.  When we returned we slipped a CD into the BOSE and settled in for an evening of doing laundry and reading all the books we'd bought at the various authors' museums.