We lost count of our meals today

We have already had a great trip! We left the house at 4:15 AM, made it through security at the Huntsville airport with two teenagers and no international incident occurred. Our flight to Detroit was uneventful (which is a very positive comment for airline travel), but our plane in Detroit was delayed a few minutes due to weather problems in Iowa. The delay was a good thing, as it gave us an opportunity to eat another “breakfast”.

With a few minutes to spare in Detroit, we took the boys to see the lighted tunnel with moving walkway that goes under the runways, the elevated red train, and the dancing waters in the middle of the terminal. Even though we were delayed a few minutes leaving Detroit, we arrived ahead of our scheduled arrival time in Burlington…go figure.

The boys seemed to enjoy the flights, listening to their music some of the time and playing a game of Phase 10 for a while.

They enjoyed the path that took us over one of the Great Lakes, and we debated about which one it was…possibly Lake Erie. We don’t remember our geography too well! They pointed out nearly every baseball field we flew over from Huntsville to Burlington. It was strange how they did not seem to notice any schools, colleges, or universities beneath us!

We arrived in Burlington about noon. Temperature 75-degrees. Quite a change from the high 90’s we have had recently in North Alabama. We rented a car, loaded up our gear, and headed for the next meal, which we all decided was our third or fourth meal so far today! (We got up very early, you remember! We’re allowed an extra meal or two!)

After lunch we drove to Mt. Philo State Park, just south of Burlington. We drove to the top of the mountain and planned to take a hike. We got out the hiking poles, put the day packs on our backs, locked the car…and it started to rain. We returned to the car, and the shower passed over in about ten minutes, so we went on with our plans to hike. The hike originated on top of the mountain, but took us about half-way down the mountain and (as you would suspect) back up to the top. The hike was beautiful. It took us beside tall cliffs where we saw a huge bird’s nest (possibly a hawk?), and through a natural rock tunnel. We hiked through beautiful woodland, and by this time the sun had reappeared and it was warm…actually a bit hot and muggy…but still a great hike.

The view from the top of Mt. Philo was spectacular. From the top you could see beautiful Vermont farmlands, the Green Mountains of Vermont, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains across Lake Champlain in New York state.

On the way back to Burlington we stopped to take a photo of something we all thought was hilarious. It was a beautiful old church building with a sundial, but the sundial had been carefully placed under a archway so it was not in the sun at all. We decided that you were to take your own flashlight and shine it on the sundial and make it tell whatever time you wanted it to be. Or, maybe the people attending worship services there just set the sundial in the shade so they would never be officially late for services. Anyway, we had a good laugh out of that one.

By late afternoon we returned to the motel and the boys spent a while splashing in the motel pool before going out to eat once more. (I am not sure exactly what meal this was, but we ate again anyway.) After dinner at a local Friendly’s restaurant, we played cards in the hotel room until 8:00. At that point we took a break for a “field trip” to the lobby where Olen had learned that milk and warm chocolate chip cookies would be served to the guests.

After the milk-and-cookies break, it was back to our “Nine Hole” card game, which ended with Bailey absolutely whipping the rest of us unmercifully. We took all of the punishment we could stand until 9:00, when we told the boys it was time to go to their room for the night.

Before they left, Jacob asked, “Is this the same day that we picked Bailey up at oh-dark-thirty?” Yes, Jacob…this was all the same day, and that is why we are sending you to bed (or to your room) at 9:00!

So, we sent two fourteen-year-olds to their own motel room for the night. They are right next door to us and have strict orders not to leave the room without calling us. We figured it was probably wasted breath to tell them to go straight to bed, but we imagine it won’t be too long until they will fall out from pure exhaustion. I think that will work.

It has been a long day, but a great day. Thank you, parents, for allowing us this wonderful opportunity to share these days with your children. They are really great young men, and help us in so many ways. We hope they are enjoying the trip as much as we are.