Vermont and Charleston

Charleston

Oh my goodness - a giant delay in posting. I actually have a good excuse this time however. Our week long trip to visit friends in Vermont turned into an additional trip for me down in Charleston to help Tiffany house hunt. They move on August 9 so there was not a minute to spare. Huge move for their family of 4 - they're moving from the DC area.

Mt. Equinox summit

Vermont was gorgeous, in every direction. Our friends live in Manchester, a very picturesque town, and we had some fun exploring a little bit of their mountains which are quite different than the Rocky Mts. First they are 400 million years old, second they are all 3 to 4,000 ft in elevation. As comparison, Rocky Mts. are approx 80 million years old, and we have over 50 peaks that hit over 14,000ft. Quite a contrast! It was cloudy hazy day but still beautiful anyway. It is also home to the only Carthusian monastery in North America. No visitors allowed but lots of information on their life at the center. Strict rules of behavior is putting it mildly.

Hildene - Robert Todd Lincoln's summer home

The guys were in a golf tournament and we girls marched off to do hard work: shopping, gallery strolling, and touring historical properties. Tough life...

Everything is quaint, cute (I overused the word to no end) and gives a real sense of the look and feel of the 1700's. Handmade crafts, amazing pottery, and of course the cheese, blueberries, and masses of maple syrup and local honey everywhere.

Robert Frost's home

Visited Robert Frost's home, you know the one. The prolific and famous poet who wrote "But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep".

Our friends were the perfect hosts. They've just moved into a new home that is still undergoing transformation inside and out and it's quite spectacular even not finished. A fun time was had by all and Mark and Tom won their flight. And a postscript, on our drive from the airport to their house, bear number 4 appeared. I'm having an amazing bear sighting summer.

So Mark and I drove to the Hartford airport and said goodbye while I went off to Charleston and he went back to Miami. Living a strange life for sure at the moment. Charleston is equally as charming as Vermont just in a very different way. Southern to its core.

We raced around and looked at houses until we were silly, but were successful in finding a very cute house in a lovely, family friendly, great school area - Mt. Pleasant. That's not Charleston proper but its just a hop, skip, and a jump over the bridge into downtown. Chris will be making that commute daily, but it's short indeed compared to DC area commuting.

breakfast at Toast - cheese grits, fried green tomato, crab and egg, and giant biscuit

Charleston is a very big food town, something Tiffany and Chris are thrilled about. Tiffany wisely had us stay downtown so at the end of each exhausting day we had a great dinner to look forward to. All were great: Butcher and Bee, Sorghum and Salt, and The Darling Oyster Bar. Yum.
Back to Star Mt. and company expected the end of the week. Yippee!