Holiday travel is fun once you get on the road, but it can be a hassle sorting out the details. Everyone's coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner and as people get older, it's a little trickier figuring out logistics. We're driving from New Hampshire to Syracuse, NY to pick up my 97 year old father-in-law.
One of the benefits of working online is you can pack up your laptop and take your job on the road. We decided on a long weekend, and stopped to visit friends along the way. Taking the back roads might take more time but the views driving through the mountains is beautiful. With a relaxed schedule, there was also time to pull over and get some great photos of New England barns.
Bed & Breakfast Overnight
As we were already in Manchester, NH on Friday, we decided to start our trip Friday night. We stopped at a lovely bed and breakfast, the Applebutter Inn in Taftsville, VT. Once you've got to pack an overnight bag, it's easy to through extra clothes in and we prefer bed and breakfasts where the buildings and owners all have personalities. The owners, Michael and Barbara are originally from New York and they've lovingly restored their home t in 1854. It's a Federal gabled house, authentically restored and on the National Historic Registry.
Traveling Through Vermont & Lots of Barns
When you work on your computer for hours and hours, it's nice to stretch your eyes and enjoy the outdoor scenery and we really did find other holiday travelers as we drove through Vermont and New York. It was good to see that most roads washed out by the storm in August 2011, have been repaired although they're still working on some of the bridges.
What we found were lots of magnificent barns, many of them still working barns or possibly just storing old farm equipment. It was fascinating to see which barns had people living in them after writing Barns and Sheds: What They Can Teach Us, and learning that homeowners add extra windows and landscaping when renovating barns to live in. What I continue to be amazed by is how functional and beautiful barns are, without all the fussy trim and landscaping we automatically assume houses need.
Overnight at Peter’s Mountain House, North Creek NY
Maybe it was meant to be a storybook weekend, our holiday travel to pick up Grandpa was a real treat with good friends and weather. We stayed with Peter who's house sitting in this gorgeous mountain house, decorated with lots of cool Adirondack furniture and accessories but what I really enjoyed were the amazing views from the deck.
We got to Syracuse, NY about 4pm this afternoon and Grandpa was thrilled to see us. We talked, sorted through lots of paperwork and went out to dinner. Tomorrow we'll head back to New Hampshire and more Thanksgiving preparations. We're glad we made the trip as holidays really are about family, friends … okay, and food!
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