DAY 21 - ALMOST HOME

It is such a gift to not be in a hurry! I had the most wonderful day, and I thought this would just be the first of two long travel days.

BREAKFAST
After a wonderful night's rest in this beautiful room, I came downstairs to find the table set with tea and a lovely bowl of cut up fruit - great big blackberries, cantelope and strawberries with vanilla yogurt. And I thought, "Yum! Great breakfast!" When I was almost finished with that, they came out with a homemade cinnamon scone and jelly. And I thought "Yum. Really great breakfast!" And after I finished that, Linda asked me what I wanted for breakfast! I said, "I thought this was breakfast!" But no, my choice was an omlet with Vermont cheese and fresh tomatoes, or a large pancake with bananas. Yikes! I asked for a one egg omlet, so that I could say I had Vermont cheese on my trip. The omlet came with two links of maple sausage! Yum. . . .really really great breakfast!

VERMONT COUNTRY STORE

Spent about an hour combing through all the items in this mammoth store, but didn't buy very much. I can always order out of the catalogue if I really want something. But I loved looking and seeing the store. I squirted my self once more with Yardley Lavender for good measure!

SERENDIPITY

Here goes another one of those strange happenings that crop up in my life. Yesterday as I was driving through Vermont, it wasn't just the theme from Newhart that was going through my head. When I saw the sign for The Great North Woods, my brain began to think: Whose woods these are I think I know. Before I knew it, I had my mind wrapped around Robert Frost and all of the poems I knew from memory, including Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. I was having trouble remembering all the words to my favorite Frost poem, Mending Wall. So I was thinking how when I get back home, I need to get out my Robert Frost book and revisit his poetry. While I was thinking all of this yesterday, I had no knowledge of where Robert Frost was from. .just that suddenly, and for about an hour, I was mulling over his words.

Today I headed down Rt. 7. I decided to stay on back roads because Vermont is just so darn beautiful. At one point I nearly missed a sign that pointed off to the right and was Highway 7A - above the numbers was written "Historic." At the last possible moment I veered on to highway 7A, because it just sounded interesting. I was sure it would join back up to 7 eventually and I'd be back on track. As I was tooling down 7A, I suddenly saw a sign indicating "Robert Frost historic site." I couldn't believe it. I turned into the drive and found myself visiting the house where he once lived, and from which he wrote Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening! The museum was fascinating. I spent quite a long time reading all the exhibits. I was the only one there besides the woman behind the desk. She and I started talking and got quite involved talking about Frost. She is the president of the organization who runs this site. When she found out I was from Afton, she talked about how close that was to University of Virginia, and how many Frost first editions and historic writings are in the rare books library at UVa. When I told her that a member of my book club works at the library, and that we've actually met at the library twice, she told me she knew my friend. I invited her to come and stay at my house if she wanted to go to the library to do research, and she's very excited about coming maybe in February! It was the most amazing visit! As I left I noticed that she drives a Rav 4 and that she was planning to jump on the lawn tractor and cut Robert Frost's grass between visits from people to the site! She said she loves cutting grass on a tractor!!!! How funny is that???? All because Robert Frost took over my head yesterday and I made the split decision to take 7A! I ended up going to Barrington down the road and visiting RF's gravesite!

MAKING TRACKS

The rest of the drive was also beautiful. I would like to thank the state of New York for one of the nicest roadways ever - The Taconic Parkway. It made for a nice transition between the back roads I had been on, and the first interstate I had to get on.

Right now I'm in Scranton, Pa at a hotel. I will make the rest of the trip home tomorrow. I will blog one more time tomorrow night. I should have only a few hours tomorrow and get home mid-day. Tune in tomorrow for the end of this phase! RP