September 12, 2010
Not every adventure goes according to plan. It seems that once one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong. It all started when we realized that we didn't know if we were going on an adventure at all. I thought Anne had said that she would rather do something else other than the lake picnic I had suggested the night before. Two theories. 1. Anne did not say she didn't want to go and had I been wearing my hearing aids, I would know that. 2. Anne said she did not want to do the picnic and said she might like to so something else. Regardless, at 9:00AM in the morning, we needed to come up with a retirement adventure for the day. No problem ... picnic at Silver Lake in Barnard, VT.
We grabbed the cooler and started chunking in stuff from the refrig ... ham, bologna, cheese, Lillie's dill pickles, chips, mustard, mayo, 2 garden tomatoes, a few granola bars, water and soda. Anne retrieved the trip bag with the salt and pepper, napkins, knife and forks. One blanket, two beach towels, lawn chairs, and our cart to roll it all to the picnic site and we were set to go. One stop at the store for ice and bread and we would be set.
We stopped at the store on Route 30. Anne headed inside for the ice and bread and I got out to fill up with gas. Since last night, the gas had risen to $4.01 ... Anne returned to the card and said the store was out of bread ... an ominous beginning. I cranked the car and headed off in the wrong direction ... I u-turned and continued.
We settled down for the two hour drive to Barnard. Half the fun of an adventure day is the things we discover along the way. We always find something unusual. Like the twin silo barn near Hartland that had been converted into a house. And the folk art chairs for sale on the side of the road.
Before we knew it, we arrived at eh General Store in Barnard that was directly across from Silver Lake. We still need bread for our picnic sandwiches. The large sign on the door said, "Open - 7:00-10:00AM". It was 11:30AM. A local passing by informed us that the nearest grocer was in Bethel - about 8 miles away. We drove to Bethel for bread and returned ... the bread was now about as expensive as the gas. The sign at the entrance to Silver Lake State Park said, "Closed for the Season".
In lieu of the beach, kayaking and fishing, our alternate plan was to picnic beside the lake across from the closed Barnard General Store.
Plan B turned out just fine. We had our picnic ... the sun was shining, the breeze was warm and the scenery was beautiful.
We even had local sculpture to enjoy.
I had noticed another spot, Lake Lakota, on the map when plotting our trip to Silver Lake. Since our plans had changed, we decided to check out Lake Lakota just to see what it looked like. Maybe I would come back some other time to fish it. A few missteps later, we found Lake Lakota Road. About a mile further, the sign said, "Closed. No Trespassing. Members Only". We continued, regardless of the sign just far enough to see the lake in the distance and turned around. The barking guard dog was so annoying.
I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that we were getting a bit discouraged. However, I had an ace-in-the-hole. To get to Barnard, we drove through Woodstock ... and by Billings Farm. Plan C would be the the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park ... a park for which we had our senior citizen lifetime free pass. We pranced up to the desk and presented our card. The clerk said, "Sorry, the pass is not good here"! We stayed anyway and signed up for the mansion tour.
This national park is all about conservation and how three families with direct ties to Woodstock, VT envisioned a system of conservation of our natural resources, implemented a conservation system, and preserved it for future generations. We toured the Billings mansion.
We got the dog and pony show from Ranger Rick.
Gettin' educated is tiring!
The mansion was redone in Queen Anne (fitting don't you think) style. Hence, the ornate woodwork.
Beautiful gardens.
Nice pool and pool house.
Who says you can't be a philanthropist, and comfortable at the same time?
So, today's retirement was in actuality a retirement misadventure. Nevertheless, we had a great time and loved our museum visit. All that was left to do was drive to Keene. I was only 1/2 hour late for taichi. What a great ending to a great day.
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