Family Time

Once again, it has been over a month since our last RVing blog post. I specify “RVing” blog post because we’ve created a second blog to cover our backpacking adventures. That blog will become much more active next spring and summer when we attempt to through hike the Appalachian Trail. Until then, you may see one or two posts on it as we work out the kinks of backpacking and sharing our experiences.

Rochester and Grandkids

As we write this, we are on our way to Maine for the summer, having just spent the last month or so with family and friends. The first two plus weeks were in the Rochester area where we got to visit our daughter, Katie, her husband, JC, and our two grandchildren, Leo and Willa. This was the first opportunity we’ve had to meet Willa, who was born in January while we were in Florida and we opted not to use air travel during the pandemic.

We spent as much time as possible visiting our two lovely grandkids and their parents. This included all the weekend days while we were in the area, including Memorial Day weekend, as well as a couple evenings during the week. We got to visit the playground and play with Leo, we went to the zoo one morning and spent a lot of time hanging out. Leo was quite impressed with “Grampy’s Big Truck”, so we now have a new name for our F350 dually.

In between visits with family, we tried to catch up with as many friends as possible while in the area. Dan managed to be in town for the first in-person game night since the pandemic started. He has been able to participate each month as they moved to an online forum and now that things are slowly returning to normalcy, online game night will succumb to the preferable in-person option. It was nice to be in town for that transition. Game night is usually hosted by our oldest (not age but duration) friends, Marty and Jeannine, so Amy got to keep Jeannine company while the guys had their game time.

Marty and Jeannine also joined us for dinner at Katie’s over Memorial Day weekend. This was their first opportunity to meet Willa as well. Jeannine has been a big help as stand-in for Amy while we are on the road. She spent the night and took care of Leo while Willa was making her appearance into the world. It was a good to have everyone together for an afternoon.

We took a nice long hike with our friends, Rick and Ellen, followed by a nice dinner out. We got together a second time at their place for a relaxing dinner and great time socializing just before leaving town.

Amy took a bike ride over to visit with Mary Ellen. On another night, we drove over to spend some time with Pati & Val to check out their new pole barn and the progress they’ve made on renovating their RV. Rounding out our visits with friends was a nice lunch at the Genesee Brew House with Jane and Kristy. It was great to catch up with them and with all our friends that we got to see during our stay in Rochester. We’ll be back through in September and hope to hook up with all of them again during that stay.

Hanover and Another PhD

The last two plus weeks of the past month were spent in a nice campground in Thetford, VT, about ten miles north of Hanover, NH and Dartmouth College. We booked this campsite back in early January to make sure we had a place to stay for our son’s graduation/hooding ceremony for his PhD in Mathematics. We are so proud of Doug as he joins his two sisters in obtaining this highest of academic degrees.

The pandemic prevented any formal ceremony from taking place but we did drive over to Doug’s advisor’s home for formal pictures. We were invited back a few days later for a more relaxing visit and celebration.

Among the activities not directly related to the degree ceremony was a visit to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) and their raptor rescue center. This was a nice experience but after witnessing the raptor demonstration at the dessert museum near Tucson, it was less exciting.

Hiking was big on the agenda while we were in the area. We took our first short hike with our backpacks loaded down and things went pretty good. We would return to the same trailhead a week or so later for our first overnight stay. Doug joined us on this adventure and you can read more about it in our backpacking blog.

Also in the category of hiking was an afternoon climbing Killington with Jamie, a close friend of Katie’s and the rest of the family. This hike was easy for about 2 miles and then became very difficult for a little over a mile as it seemed to go straight up to the peak. The views were worth it! We ate our lunch while taking in the broad vista before our return hike down. While on the peak, we met a couple of through hikers that we would see again as we finished our 17 mile overnight hike.

It has been a great month and we look forward to even more family time in the weeks ahead. We will arrive in Dan’s hometown of Dixfield soon and will spend most of the summer with his sister, Becky. Later in August, we will camp near Acadia NP where Amy’s sisters will meet up with us. Until next time, thanks for reading.