Our Labor Day Weekend was the perfect ending to a crazy summer.
We left home on Saturday, driving up to Shelburne Falls to visit The Bridge of Flowers. I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, so big will post a few of my favorite pictures. You may notice I like to get up close and personal with the flowers.
From Shelburne Falls, we drove up into VT.
We started our day on Sunday by hiking into Quechee Gorge.
It was a visually delightful walk. After, we have headed to the King Arthur Store, where we looked at everything and bought nothing.
From there, we drove home. Monday afternoon was a rainy kind of day. We went to the movies, to see Blinded By The Light. We both enjoyed.
Kids are heading back to school. Does that mean summer is over?
A friend told me yesterday, that it is dark at 8:15 pm. To her, that means summer is over.
I know that summer isn’t over until September. Living in New England, when temperatures drop from the 90’s into the 60’s, that’s when I feel summer is over.
Our summer was filled with travel. Weddings, trips, busy.
The first event for this summer, the first weekend in June, was the marriage of SpecialK’s son. Aren’t they a good looking couple?
Next up was July’s adventure. We left home on July 4th and headed to Boston. Early the next morning, SpecialK’s son dropped off his sons ( aka “The Grandsons”).
We headed west with these two lads, only stopping once we got to AZ.
After a week full of non stop activities, we returned these two to their parents.
We returned home, for 2 1/2 weeks, before heading out again.
The first weekend in August found us traveling again, this time to CO. We went west again for SpecialK’s nephews wedding, Here’s a picture of us with the newlyweds.
I am happily home, and expect to stay here for a while. ‘Til our next journey!
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:00 am. I thought I would offer SpecialK the option of leaving home earlier, something I had pushed against previously.
He readily accepted and at 7:03, we were showered, packed land in the car. After a quick stop for gas, we headed east along the MA Pike. We were at the Framingham Logan Express bus terminal, tickets bought and car parked by 8:30 am. We hung out, waiting for the 9:00 bus.
We boarded the 9:00 Logan Express and by 9:30, we were approaching the counter, wherewe checked all but the backpacks we carried. The employee who checked our bags told us he wanted to put us on an earlier flight. There was rain in the area, and he didn’t want us to be delayed, so we accepted. We took the 11:11 flight to Philadelphia, arriving by 12:30. Then, the long day began.
Our flight out was scheduled for 4:30. By the time we landed in Philadelphia, we had already been informed of a 2 hour delay. I will save you all the minutiae, but at 7:15, SpecialK sent me a text to come up to the gate. I went up to the gate, listened as they said they were golf loing to pre board and one wheelchair passenger went down the runway.
It was a while before the other wheelchair passenger was loaded onto the plane. Finally, we all boarded the plane. After all passengers were seated, the pilot told us that he had no intention of taking us on a 9 hour flight with no flushing toilets. He asked us all to deplane.
We got off the plane, and an hour later we were notified the flight was cancelled. We were quick to respond and were given two of the last available seats for Sunday nights flight.
We waited another e stwo hours for our bags, because you know, they had other flights arriving and couldn’t do two things at once.
I apreciated the pilots words, and thank him as we all know hygiene is important. I also want to thank Oliver, as he made the best of a long day, and he appreciated my political hiumor.
Sunday found us waking up in a Philadelphia hotel. I was determined to complete my steps before I boarded another airplane. As we waited for the hotel shuttle bus that would take us to the airport, we were notified of a delay in our newly scheduled flight. Before you jump to conclusions, we finally did take off Sunday night at 5:42.
Last October, I got an email from Southwest Airlines, with a $49 one way fare sale, good for specific time periods, and must be booked by tomorrow evening. What would you have done? I showed it to my husband who suggested several trips, San Francisco, maybe Tucson? I asked what we would do in Tuscon, and he suggested we go to Sedona. I had learned about Sedona many years ago, and having never been, I quickly said “Yes”. He decided we would fly to Phoenix, and drive to Sedona. Looking at the time restrictions, he decided we would fly out just before Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, and have a long weekend in AZ.
As we are known to do when traveling, we booked accommodations on Airbnb. We found a place called ‘Agape Mountain View’, which was an in-laws apartment over a garage. When standing on the deck, we could see Tuziqoot Indian Ruins.
We arrived Thursday morning, having taken a 6:50 a.m. flight from LAX to Phoenix. (As a side note, do you think taking a very early morning flight sets you up for a full day somewhere? Just wondering.) We drove through Sedona, pulling off at several parking lots to take pictures.
Bell Rock, in Sedona AZ
Friday, we went to Jerome. We saw the Haunted Hotel, and walked through town. It began to snow, and then snowed heavily. We never made it to Jerome State Park, heading back down that hill, watching as the snow turned to rain.
The Jerome Hotel was built to be a hospital. Many people connected to mining died here, and the nurses claimed the building was haunted. In the years since, it has been converted to a hotel. Known as the Haunted Hotel, is it haunted?
This was the best way I could quickly think to photograph snow. It was snowing!
A snowy drive away from Jerome. Driving switchbacks requires slow speeds in good weather, in snow it can be treacherous.
On Saturday, my husband thought it would be a good day to hike. He has 15 year old Uggs, and I brought the best I had, a pair of old New Balance sneakers. We began walking, and due to the precipitation of the day before, the paths were very wet. My sneakers began sinking in the mud, sliding my feet in directions I hadn’t intended. We never made it on to the Courthouse Loop trail, with my husband deciding we should hike up the backside of Bell Rock. It wasn’t my best moment. But according to my Fitbit, I did ascend 25 flights.
When we returned to the car, we headed directly to the Famous Footwear outlet and bought me the only pair of hiking shoes they had. In a town with many trails, how could these be the only ones they had? I wore the shoes out of the store, abandoning my New Balance on their front mat.
We left the outlets and continued to a sports bar in Oak Creek, to watch the Patriots secure their place in the AFC Championships.
On Sunday, we headed back to the trails, intending again to hike the Courthouse Loop, which is estimated to be 4 miles. The trails were still muddy, and this day we hiked almost 6 miles, ascending 49 flights.
Why are the red rocks red? From a book by that name, “…is due simply to rust. A very thin film of oxidized iron coats each grain of quartz sand in the sandstone formations around Sedona. This iron oxide is a powerful coloring agent. … As the iron-bearing minerals react with oxygen and water, red iron oxide is created and forms a very thin, paint-like coating on the quartz sand grains. Over millions of years, the loose sand grains are compressed and cemented into the rock called sandstone.”
On Monday, our last day, we packed our bags, and headed to Phoenix. Every vacation must come to an end, and ours was no exception.
Two From Natick Live Healthy 