Who could ask for more?
Today we drove to Illinois. Dean worked in the back seat for part of the drive. The only delight of that part of the day was listening to Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.
The second delight of the day was going to Danny and Julie’s. They are delightful!
And they have delightful hens.
Spent the day packing for our trip to the Midwest. I also spent some of the day looking at my Panda Planner that arrived yesterday, becoming excited at the possibilities. Am I finally going to become organized? Will I be able to keep it up on vacation? Of course — I’ll have all the time in the world; I’ll be on vacation after all…
We spent the past eight days settling back into our normal routines. Dean working long hours, me puttering around the house. There were a few delights though:
We had a few days left with Clare after our return from Lake Gaston. They were generally delightful — being with Clare is almost always delightful.
For dinner one night Dean and Clare made a vegetarian version of pasta carbonara which was tasty.
Clare found delight in some scratch-off art cards I’d bought for the engagement party. One night she sketched ghosts of friends and family on them. They are delightful.
This afternoon we dropped Clare and Pete off at the train station for their journey west.
We said goodbye to Lake Gaston this morning and headed home. It’s always nice being back home after a trip and today was no different.
Since the pontoon boat went back yesterday we had some time on our hands. Clare’d expressed a desire to visit The Cryptozoology & Paranormal Museum in the nearby town of Littleton, NC, so we went. It was interesting and the owner was very nice. We only saw two rooms, I think there has been more rooms open in the past, but it was something to do. I didn’t realize that Bigfoot was not limited to the PNW.
After the museum we went to a state park where Bigfoot had been sighted. We didn’t see Bigfoot.
On the way back to the cabin we stopped at an abandoned plantation that was more creepy than the museum.
Finally we got ready for Clare’s early birthday celebration, had cocktails, ate dinner and celebrated Clare.
Andrew, Alex and Bennett (Clare’s friend from high school) arrived Monday night. I stayed up just long enough to welcome them and show them their rooms.
Because each day was similar, I’m grouping the delights together.
The pontoon boat was possibly the highlight of the trip. I think Dean took the crew out twice a day most days (Rupert, Chum, and I went out with them on Thursday). The kayaks were also a big hit; he Airbnb had two and Dean brought his two. We also used the fire pit. It was delightful watching everyone have so much fun.
When I'm Sixty-four 