My mom had a noon flight out of Montreal today.  We planned to get up at 7:30am and got up at 7:00 on our own.  We packed up and needed to leave by 9:30am to arrive at my mom’s latest desired arrival time of 10 am and I wanted to try and give us more time and leave by 9.  We got everything loaded up and were on the road by 8:50. We made it to the airport by 9:20am.   Everything was going swimmingly.  Except we were at a regional airport and not the international airport we needed to be at.  This would be less embarrassing if I hadn’t made this mistake before.  I can’t remember when but I once took Nole to the wrong airport and when we went to France, I once went to the wrong airport to pick Nole up.  Maybe I’ll learn from my mistakes, eventually. 

We had almost an hour drive from the wrong airport to get my mom to the correct airport.  We also had to make a detour when Google Maps tried to send us over a bridge with low clearance (we had the camper with us which is about 10 ft tall). At least half of that hour was due to traffic.  I got her here at 10:12 and she made her flight just fine, if not a little more stressed. 

After leaving my mom at the airport, Google maps took me over the Champlain Bridge (the good bridge) fairly quickly with almost no traffic congestion, to the border, and through Vermont in just under 3 hours plus stops.  Customs was easy although the agent did board the camper and look around to make sure everything was as it should be and we weren’t smuggling anything. 

We stopped at a gas station for lunch.  Nova was feeling a little queasy so we sat on the grass to eat and rest. There was a beautiful view so I took a few pictures.  It’s hard to take many pictures on driving days because I’m pretty preoccupied with getting us there, getting set up and all the other tasks that need to be done.

It was a comfortable drive today through Vermont, and Quechee State Park was right off of the highway and easy to get to.  Quechee is pronounced “kwee-chee” for those wondering. 

Esme was alarmed by this sign on the information board as we pulled in.  There are also warnings about bear and moose but the ranger told me there have been no raccoons, bear, or moose spotted this year, that no bear have been here for several years and that moose are a very rare occurrence in this area and generally would not come into a campground. 

I saw this other sign and asked about the program and they gave me books for each kid to work on.  Later, some of the kids worked on them with adult help because they were kind of challenging and required someone to Google some of the answers. 

We had a smorgasbord for dinner (i.e. we brought all the food out and let everyone decide what to eat).  I had cheese croissants, banana pancakes with peanut butter on them, and fiddlehead ferns I bought at the market yesterday because I wanted to try them.  Joe cooked them up and a bunch of us tried them.  To me, they’re kind of similar to green beans or asparagus.

Melissa, Joey and I went to West Lebanon, New Hampshire, to look for new Crocs since Joey lost one of his today.  I wanted to upgrade from the Walmart “Crocs” I had that were white and had gotten stained pretty bad from all the mud over the last couple of weeks.  I found a pair I liked and bought them.  Now I have to decide if I will keep the white ones for muddy days or not…

We noticed that West Lebanon seems to have everything!  They have Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Home Goods, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Sierra, Barns & Noble…even a Moe’s Southwest Grill!  They also had the biggest pet store I ever saw!  I took a picture of the Moe’s to show Cal, since he worked at the one near home until it closed. 

We got some groceries and tried to shop conservatively so we would eat more of what we already have in the camper and the cooler.  I also got some different plates for the camper since I noticed the ones I had say “for cold food only” and aren’t microwave safe. 

Our campsite has no hookups at all so we are trying to conserve battery.  It shouldn’t be too hard now that we don’t need to run the heat all night.  The heat runs on propane but the fan runs on electric and can really drain the battery.  

Yatzeck’s blog post for today