This morning, I was awake by about 0600 and spent time reading, doing Duolingo and checking the news. It had snowed overnight and everything outside looked white and clean. By the time I ventured upstairs, I found that Eileen was already awake and we had a chance to talk and have some tea together. The fire in the woodstove was burning brightly and her living room was warm and cozy. We spent time working on some word puzzles she likes - it was a quite relaxing morning. We were planning to take the dogs skiing a bit later but then Eileen got an EMT call and was gone within about five minutes (0705). During the time she was away from the house, I did some shoveling, played with the dogs and moved firewood. I was still outside when Eileen got back (0830) and she joined me in moving wood. We'd started a conversation that was interrupted when she had to leave and she asked to continue that while we did some cleaning around the house. She also made breakfast (scrambled eggs) for us and we had plenty of time to finish talking. After 1000, we started to get ready for our ski and left the house about 30 minutes later. Usually when I visit, we go to Higley Flow State Park - today, though, we drove down to Hannawa Falls and headed to a place where we could access to the Browns Bridge Postwood Park Trails. By 1100, we were parked along River Road at a trailhead and began our wintry adventure. The trail system was extensive and we never went over the same ground. Eileen told me she'd broken trail the previous week but it was impossible to see any evidence of that. Actually, I’ve never skied in such deep snow (probably 24 inches, plus drifts, through most of it) but the weather was perfect (30ish, no wind). We spent roughly 90 minutes (3ish miles) to the east of River Road and had a nice time skiing together - the dogs seemed happy too. Afterwards, we drove back to Eileen's house, arriving at about 1300. Both of us were quite hungry by then and it was great that we had yummy leftovers to eat! We started talking some more but then Eileen mentioned that she needed to go to the Firehouse to fill out some paperwork. I asked to go with her (to see the place she is so passionate about) but she suggested it would be faster if she went alone while I waited at the house. Even more surprising, she took the dogs (I think she thought she was doing me a favor). While she was away, I did some reading - actually, I almost fell asleep during this window and was surprised when she returned just after 1500... Unable to rest even for a short time, Eileen then started moving more firewood... Eventually, she suggested that we play a game of Scrabble, something we haven't done in a while. Of course, I agreed, and this game continued until about 1700. At that point, she told me she needed to make dinner for a party she was going to attend with her friends. It was fun to watch her work - she was very efficient and was ready to go by 1800. When she left for her party, I departed for home (listened to audiobooks on the way). Initially, I used the same route I'd used on Saturday morning (NY-72, NH-11B, Malone, US-11, NY-24 and Military Turnpike). Unlike the beautiful weather the day before, though, it was snowing tonight. I'll admit that I was quite nervous that I might not make it all the way... As I continued east, I reached a point where I had a choice of traveling the shortest distance option or my usual route. The shorter way would have taken me through the Adirondacks and that didn't seem wise with all the snow. Instead, in Ellenberg, I chose to get on US-11 and head towards Rouses Point. This turned out to be good because the snow was lighter for the rest of the time I was in New York. After Champlain, I used some back roads to get to the bridge over to Vermont and, from there, I was soon on US-2. I used VT-78 to reach I-89, where I found that he weather was OK. Also, the traffic wasn't too bad - I thought I was home free! However, after I got on the Interstate, I started to encounter a LOT of scary weather. As I passed through Waterbury, I seriously thought I might have an accident due to the curvy roads in the Winooski Valley. Not long after that, though, I passed near Montpelier and things got easier. I thought about stopping but I was making very good time up to that point. As a result, I arrived at my condo by 2200 - almost exactly four hours after departing Potsdam. Overall, the drive by the fast route was about 30 miles longer than the others I've tried with shorter distance or no tolls but it seems like the quickest way. After checking in with Eileen and doing a bit of rudimentary unpacking, I headed to bed (2300). Very glad I got to spend some quality time in the North Country this weekend!
