July 29, Arlington MA to Stowe MA, to Montreal Quebec to Ottawa Ontario

Early Sunday morning breakfast with Dennis and Kathryn.  So nice to connect with old friends and get caught up.  We also got their take on what Mitt Romney was like as Governor of their state.  They were not impressed!  Wish we could stay.  What a nice visit.

We had a beautiful drive through New Hampshire and then into Vermont.  The green mountains of Vermont live up to their name.  Everything is lush and green.

Lunch and the afternoon were spent with Dick’s dear friends from his Ph.D. program:  Dennis and Michelle Reina.    They live in a great house just outside of Stowe VT.  We arrived as Dennis was putting some finishing touches on his Japanese-style pond.   We got the tour of all of the beautiful wild property.  We heard plenty of great stories of adventures, including Dennis doing battle with a porcupine and a family of woodchucks. 

The two of them do really interesting consulting and training work on trust and betrayal in organizational settings.  Both of us really respect this work and find it very useful in our lives and work.  We spent a great afternoon eating a healthy lunch of organic veggies and grilled buffalo burgers.  Then we traded stories of our families, our work out travels and your interests.  What a blessing it is to reconnect with old friends.  The Reinas just got back from working with a client in South Africa.  Such interesting stories they had to tell.

Again, wish we could stay, but we have to get on the road towards Canada, and they need to be up at 3am to catch a 6:00 flight.  Great that we had this little overlap of time!

On our way out, we drove by the Headquarters of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  If we had had more time, we could have gone on an ice cream tour, and the seen the graveyard they have with headstones for the ice cream flavors that didn’t make it.  Maybe next time.

The drive towards Canada ground to a halt when we spent over an hour and twenty minutes waiting for the lines at the Border Crossing.  It occurred to us that we were arriving at 6pm on Sunday evening, likely a time when people from Quebec were returning home form their weekends in the Sates.  Traffic just slowed down to stop and go…mostly stop.   It is hard to be stuck at the border when we know we have five more hours to drive once we are across.

The final part of our drive went easily, driving through Montreal, where we enjoyed seeing a beautiful sunset and the terrific scenery.

On this trip, we have been driving by the most animal crossing signs that we have seen in a long time.  Everything from turtle crossing, to deer, to deer that seem to be being chased by moose, to beer.  We have been fortunate to see quite a lot of wildlife.  What a treat.

 Ultimately,  we arrived at Dick’s sister Marti’s house in Ottawa a little after 10.  We were ready to stop for the night, but so please to be at their home and welcomed so warmly.