How I Spent My Autumn Vacation, Part 1: The Plan and Getting There

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Maria Langer

A recap of where I went, who I visited, and what I saw.

Regular readers may have noticed that I’m blogging a lot less frequently that I had been in the past. I think the main reason is that I’m keeping so damn busy. This means I’m spending a lot less time in front of a computer and have a lot less time to spend getting my thoughts out in this blog. To my supporters — especially those who have donated to help keep this site up and running — I apologize for not delivering the content you expect to find. Please try to accept another promise to do better.

And that’s what this series of posts is about: summarizing how I spend 18 days from the end of September to the beginning of October. You saw some of the pictures in “postcard” posts; here’s a bit more to fill in the gaps.

The Plan

I began planning this vacation years ago — probably as far back as 2014. The idea was to go out to Vermont to visit my friend Tom and his wife Tammy. Of course, you go to Vermont at the best time of year — autumn, when the colors are peaking. But for a few years I just couldn’t get the trip together. First I was busy building and finishing my home. Then I was busy enjoying my home and satisfied myself with local trips I could easily make with my truck camper.

But by 2017, I was ready for more substantial travel.

As you might know, my work keeps me pretty much glued to the Wenatchee, WA area where I live from mid May through August. Last year, I was lucky enough to be able to escape to Oregon for the big solar eclipse; my cherry season work ended just a few days before the eclipse. That same year, I’d decided to move my camper and boat down to Arizona in October so I could enjoy the trip down there. (The previous year, I’d gone down around Thanksgiving and it was too cold to hike or even enjoy the various places I stopped along the way.) So I turned that into a two-week long road trip that took me to visit friends and sites in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. Obviously, I couldn’t squeeze another vacation between my August and October trips — I have to be home sometime.

This spring, I started thinking about it again. I had lots of airline miles on Alaska Air. I had lots of free time after cherry season. I consulted Tom for the best time to come. I consulted my brother, who lives in New Jersey where I’d likely enter the area. And I thought about the other things that I might do when I arrived, like spend some time in Washington DC, taking in a few museums.

I sat on the fence for a week or so. And then one morning I just said “screw it,” and I booked my flights to and from Newark. Cancellation fees would make it very expensive to change my plans. My trip dates were set: I’d leave here on September 22 and return home on October 9 for a total 18 days away

(I should mention here that the only thing that makes trips like this possible is a great house-sitter to watch over my home, my garage-based barn cats, and my chickens, who were producing an average of eight eggs a day. I have the best house-sitter.)

Arriving in Newark

I flew into Newark with Penny, a half case of wine, and a huge rolling suitcase.

Because there are so many wineries in the Wenatchee area, Alaska Air will check a case of wine on a flight out of Wenatchee Airport for free. I packed a half-case box with four bottles of wine, a bottle of locally produced apple moonshine, and two jars of my honey. I padded them around with bubble wrap and shoved two of my scarves in there. As you might imagine, the baggage handlers managed to break one bottle of red wine, soaking — but fortunately not ruining — my scarves. A nice woman at the baggage claim area gave me a $75 credit on my account for the next time I fly.

My brother met me at the airport with his Maserati, which I assume was a gift to himself after his divorce. (Everyone should give themselves a gift after a divorce; my gift to myself was my new home and the flexible lifestyle I’d tried (unsuccessfully) to enjoy with my wasband throughout my marriage.) It’s a low-key black sedan that’s very comfortable and wickedly fast. I got to give it a try myself the very next day.

On the way back to his place, we stopped for sushi. As we polished off an enormous sushi boat, we reminisced about the time years before that’d we’d gone to a favorite sushi restaurant in Teaneck, NJ for “happy hour” half-price sushi and had eaten until we were ready to explode. Langers love good food.

Here’s my brother Norb with the sushi boat we shared for dinner. Seriously: it could have fed four people.

Back at his place, I settled into his bedroom. He’s only got one bed and he let me have it because he had to get up very early the next morning. He’s a competitive shooter and had a match in Old Bridge. He left me the keys to his car — he’d take his Toyota truck. We chatted for a while and then turned in for the night.

(Continued in Part 2: The Farewell Tour)

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: Okemo Mountain Resort

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Maria Langer

Friday was a glorious day in Vermont and, after making a quick trip to Rutland with one of my hosts to run some errands, I headed out to Ludlow for a drive up Ludlow Mountain in the Okemo Mountain Ski Resort. My destination was a fire tower at the top of the mountain that would require a drive to a parking area near the top and a 1/2 mile uphill hike.

Fortunately, the road was paved and in decent condition — I’ve been driving my brother’s Maserati this trip and it does not like rough roads or potholes — so the trip to the top, which crossed several of Okemo’s ski runs and wound through the forest, was pleasant and smooth. I backed into a parking spot among about six other cars in a gravel lot. Then Penny and I continued the trip on foot though a half-open gate up a relatively steep gravel road running through dense forest. The sound of trickling water was present, coming from one side of the road or the other all along the way.

My host had told me that I’d have to walk to the ski lift to see the tower in order to find it. While it’s true that the tower wasn’t visible from the road, I did spot a small wooden sign pointing to a very narrow trail into the woods. The tower was just another 1/10 mile away. We took the path.

Although it was a bright, sunny day, the woods were dark and cool. The path was muddy in some places, with large boulders that kept me out of the mud as I climbed over them. Another sign at a fork in the trail directed me to the left. Moments later, we were at the bast of a small, five-story fire tower with spindly legs and a tiny wooden structure on top.

Here’s a view of the fire tower from its base. I shot this after my descent; three hikers are on their way up here.

The steps were steep and I had to carry Penny. (Another benefit of having a small dog.) I paused briefly for a look at each landing. The view kept getting better and better. The steps got steeper and narrower at each level. Soon we were through the trap door and standing in the tiny room at the top.

Here’s a panorama looking east from the fire tower.

I could also see Ludlow far down in the valley.

After about fifteen minutes of drinking in the view, I picked up Penny again and carefully made my way back down. We met some other hikers as we made our way back down the trail, including a couple who had stopped upon seeing a garter snake alongside the trail. He pointed it out to me and I got a good look as it slipped away into the brush. His wife was apparently terrified and I heard her whining to him about it even after I’d left them behind on the trail.

Back out on the sunny gravel road, we hiked up to the ski lift. As my host had said, I could see the fire tower from there.

The view of the fire tower from near one of the ski lifts.

I also got some great views looking down the mountain along the parked chairs of the lift.

A view down a ski lift at the top of Okemo Mountain Resort.

On the way back to the car, I poked around in the forest a bit. This time of year I’m always looking for chanterelle mushrooms. Although I didn’t find any there, I did find other mushrooms growing out of the forest floor.

The obligatory mushroom photo.

We spent a little more than an hour atop the mountain. then it was back in the car for the drive down and a lote lunch.

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: Dorset Quarry

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Maria Langer

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While scanning Google Maps for some day trip destinations this morning, I stumbled upon Dorset Quarry. Dating from 1785, it’s the first marble quarry in the area and the oldest quarry in the United States.

A popular swimming hole in the summer, it was pretty quiet on a partly cloudy autumn day. Here are a few photos.

A view of Dorset Quarry from the north side.

Piles of very large stones stacked along the north side of the quarry.

The quarry’s large pool is fed by a small creek that cascades out of the forest.

Can you see Penny running toward me in this photo shot on the south side of the quarry?

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: An ATV Ride in the Forest

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Maria Langer

I’m in Vermont this week, spending some time with some very old friends. Today, we mounted up on their ATVs and headed out into the national forest near their home on some of the roughest ATV trails I’d ever been on. Here are a few photos.

Penny came along, of course. Although she normally stands on the fuel tank of my ATV when we ride it at home to do chores, this ATV had a smaller tank and the roads were a lot bumpier. So I put her in a milk crate fastened to the front of the ATV. Here we are at the start of one of the trails.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but there’s a stone foundation of an old 1800s farmhouse here. This was one of many completely cleared farm sites 200 years ago.

This campsite is my friends’ sons’ favorite.

Wallingford Pond is more of a lake than a pond. As you can see, the weather wasn’t exactly perfect for fall foliage viewing.

Another narrow trail through the woods took us to this old dam which still provides a farm several miles away with water.

Our last stop was an off-the-grid cabin high in the mountains. The views are supposed to be amazing but today the clouds lifted just enough to give me an idea of what I was missing.

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: Rondout Valley Campground

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Maria Langer

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Back in the early 1970s, when I was about 12, my family owned a 22 foot Prowler pull trailer. For two summers in a row, my dad pulled it up to a Catskills campground in Accord, NY and parked it there. My mother, sister, brother, and I would spend the summer there and my dad would join us on his days off.

They were great childhood days. We made friends with a family from Brooklyn (the Murrays) and another family (the Smalls — where are you Albie?) who were doing pretty much the same thing. Every day was spent doing stuff outdoors: fishing, swimming, splashing around in the creek, exploring the woods. There was an abandoned blueberry farm not far away and in season we’d all go pick blueberries. There was a rec hall with pool tables and pinball machines and a jukebox. I can’t tell you how many times we played “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” on that thing.

They say you can’t ever go back, but that’s only partially true. I went back today. 40+ years later, the place is bigger than it was, with lots more campsites. The trees have grown and there’s lots of shade. I walked around with Penny for a while and reminisced about the old days.

This one lane bridge is the only way in or out for the campground.

This building, which we called the Pavilion, was open sided in the early 1970s. They showed movies in there on Saturday nights; it’s where I saw The Graduate at the tender age of 12 or 13. Our friends’ parents pulled them out after the tasseled pasties scene. Oops.

This fifth wheel is parked in the campsite my family occupied our first season at Rondout Valley. The trees weren’t there and behind our site was an undeveloped pasture.

The second season, we camped near here, with the creek behind us.

The rec hall is gone without a trace, but the waterfall just outside the campground remains.

An Eclectic Mind

Web site and blog for Maria Langer, writer, video producer, jewelry artist, boat captain, and helicopter pilot. Blogging since 2003.

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