Vacation, pt 1

Hilary gets her vacation doled out in week-long blocks a few times per year. It might seem like a lot in aggregate, but is a small pittance compared to the 60-80-hour weeks and weekends she outs in between. I, aside from some long weekends here and there, haven't had a proper stretch of time off since I started my current job some 20 months ago. So, we were determined to take a real, honest-to-goodness vacation when Hilary had some time off this first week of March.

We looked at going someplace warm (the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico, for instance), but got scared off by the price. We ended up staying close to home and having a winter wonderland vacation in the north country. We ended up staying a few nights at a cottage that's a part of the Farm by the River Inn, where Hilary and I spent a fine long weekend some months back. Knowing that it would be difficult, probably impossible, to do the kinds of things we wanted with a 2-1/2 year old in tow, we brought along some help in the form of my mother.


We are all actually pretty good about traveling light when it comes to ordinary trips, but we also were bringing four pair of skis (2x downhill, 2x XC), a pair of boots for each pair f skis, two pair of snowshoes, enough warm layers for an antarctic expedition, some food for the week, an impressive variety of wine, our dog and his provisions, entertainment options and a carseat for Brynna, etc. etc. On Monday we slowly, painfully, packed up roughly a metric ton of gear between our station wagon and my mother's car, and eventually rolled out of Concord under cloudy skies and freezing rain.

After reaching the cottage and settling in a bit, we headed into town to our favorite North Conway restaurant - the Flatbread Company, for some awesome wood-fired pizza. We split an excellent dessert four ways for my mother's birthday as well.





The Farm by the River isn't really a working farm any longer, although they have leased a piece of the land to a fella who wants to make a go of it. Instead, they keep about a dozen horses and take folks on carriage, sleigh, and horseback rides. In the background there is Cathedral Ledge, one of the best places in New England for rock climbing.

Are we relaxed yet? (images by B)