I'm going to try to fill you in on the journey my mom and I took out east last weekend. So of you might have noticed the winter storms that took place at home in the Midwest and out east. It didn't slow us down, except for that one flight delay...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
So first things first, I was told when I got this job that my subaru wouldn't make it out here. And that was hard, because just like all those actors in the commercials, I love my subaru. But I could face the facts and see she wouldn't have been able to make such a journey. I then set out on the journey of buying a car, and I hated it. It's so much money, such a commitment, and too much of a betting game in the used car realm. In the end we got lucky, and found a nice used CRV that I got to bond with on the trip out. It's pretty. And I packed it full of my things. And everything went smoothly on the trip out. (You might notice in this picture that the cat had already gotten its dirty paws all over the car...)
So we set off on the morning of the 2nd. It was snowy/blustery/foreboding out, but we were not rushed and took our time. Weather got a little more winter stormy as we entered Indiana, but roads were still clear.
The same was true as we entered Ohio....but then things got worse. All that darn lake effect started making trouble and then the sun went down and we were driving in some ucky things. We pushed all the way Cleveland, traveling the whole time right behind the winter storm. We saw many cars in the ditch, but we drove carefully and made it just fine.
As we got into town, and checked into our hotel we started to notice the city was shut down. The roads weren't cleared. The airport was shutdown. We decided to walk across the street vs drive to a restaurant for dinner. (See mom trekking through the blizzard below.) Then we saw that the restaurant was closing early because the storm. So we walked back through the snow, got in the car, and went on a search for food. We found a KFC, and they informed us they only had 6 wings left....we took them all. Then we holed up in our hotel and let the weather pass through over night.
And the morning brought sun, clear roads, and Pennsylvania!
We got a few views of that darn Lake Eerie which was causing all the lake effect snow from the previous night.
And we also got to see lots of cars in the ditch from the previous day/night. I will say I'm not surprised to see these semis in the ditch. In the bad weather they were consistently passing all the cars on the left lane going much faster than the rest of us.
Sadly New York did not have a welcome sign (How rude!), but we entered the state regardless and made our way north for a stop at Niagara Falls. There were no crowds....but it was cold! Instead of that mist that covers you from the falls in the summer months, we were getting hit with ice pellets! But it was pretty amazing.
Here is a rainbow over the Rainbow Bridge to Canada :)
It was pretty hard to see the falls because of all the water turning to ice and the sun shining through.
The rest of New York brought us some traffic in Buffalo, and lots of tolls. We stayed in Syracuse for the night, then the next morning we broke from the interstates to take the scenic highways through northern New York and Vermont. We passed through Saratoga Springs, which we had stayed in a couple summers ago with friends and that was neat.
Then Vermont!
It really is the Green Mountain State! I could not get pictures with my phone while driving to do it justice, but gorgeous views as we made our way through Vermont.
Lots of downhill skiing, small touristy towns, and windy roads along the rivers.
And covered bridges!
This covered bridge is downtown Quechee (the town where I now live).
Alright so activities around Quechee include hiking to see the Quechee Gorge. I don't have a good picture of the gorge (We didn't make it all the way down because it was cold and we were ill prepared for deep snow hiking), but here is a photo of the pristine winter woods and the bridge over the gorge which is the oldest steel bridge in the country...or maybe the longest standing...I can't remember.
Quechee is one of those small touristy towns in the area, but there is a Dunkin Donuts which is sooooo exciting!
I will get you many more pictures of my workplace and all that goes with it but here a couple of signs...
We went to a Vermont farm and tasted cheese and maple syrup.
There is a super fancy glass gallery in town that has a vase for hundreds of dollars, but you can also watch them do the glassblowing int he basement which was cool.
We saw more covered bridges...
We stayed at an old fashioned Vermont Inn which was awesome in itself. Very quaint and lots of good food.
And I'm about 15 minute drive from New Hampshire which has all the things you need from a city: box grocery stores, clothing stores, high end shopping, and panera.
Mom was suppose to fly back on Monday, but the bad weather at home cancelled her flight. She automatically got rescheduled for Wednesday so she got a couple more days in New England. I took my second day of work off to take her down to Boston for the airport. It was a nice drive out of the Mountains and into the city. All I really got to see was the skyline and the harbor, but I'm definitely looking forward to exploring Boston in the future.
It's my weekend now (Thursday-Friday). I've taken time to move into my new house which is just across the street from work. It is quaint as well :) and bigger than a silo.
