My Boy Chose...

...Dartmouth!

So Joe formally accepted the scholarship to Dartmouth, and I couldn’t be prouder or more happy for him. Getting into a college of his choice was a goal he’s worked hard on for the last three years, but he wasn’t expecting any scholarships, especially full rides! He’s thrilled, and relieved that he can use his college fund for things he wants or needs later on. 

James and I are looking at homes up there, but just to look right now. We did find a beautiful home that runs as a top notch bed and breakfast that was surprisingly affordable. Aidan would manage it, while we took care of the grounds. It’s called Grey Gables and it’s on the Historic Register. So, we may take a trip up there to check it out and see if the plan would be doable sometime this summer. 

The only thing about that place is...it’s haunted. By friendly spirits, it seems. One is an old lady who likes to clean. The other two are a boy and girl who stare out the window. Those two sound a little creepy, but the current owners say they haven’t experienced any paranormal activity. 

Here are a couple pics:

Okay, so part two of our trip. On Thursday, we headed to Dartmouth early in the morning, and took the family tour. 

It was really nice. I didn’t know Dr. Seuss was a Dartmouth alumni. They even have a special room dedicated to him that students can study in:












And downstairs in one of the libraries is a giant wall to wall mural depicting the “Epic of American Civilization:”

One thing family members learned about but didn’t get to experience, was the homemade chocolate chip cookies the dining hall bakes every 15 minutes. Ben, our tour guide, explained that they were gooey and hot and soooooo delicious, but didn’t offer the parents and family any. Lol. But Joe got some, so that was good.

After the tour, we had some free time with Joe before he had to go back for orientation and other activities, so we found a very cool little diner on land that used to host an old amusement park. The food was delicious, and afterwards, we fed the alpacas at the alpaca store there. And then we had to shop in the immense antique mall. That antique mall is by far the biggest and best I’ve ever been in. I think I only was able to browse about 1/8th of it before we had to take Joe back. Seeing only a portion of that fantastic place gives me a good excuse to go back soon, because I left it unfinished.

I bought a few old books — an early translation of The Poetic Edda, a book that featured many of the early London Newspaper articles about archeological discoveries, and this little Tarzan book:

After Joe was back at Dartmouth, Aidan and I went back to Quechee, this time to hike Quechee Gorge. It was beautiful. Near the top of the gorge, the roaring water echoes up the canyon, making it very loud. It was neat to experience the gradual quieting of the waters as we approached the bottom. And Aidan loved it, especially the way the leaves crunched under her feet. She then proceeded to make a “feet crunching leaves” video and posted it on Instagram. Lol.

She also wanted to be the “princess on the hill” so I got pics of that. 

And some more pics. There was a little mud bog at one point and I found this single proud little yellow flower beaming up at me:

Once we made the slightly strenuous hike back to the top, we had some ice cream from the little snack and gift shop there. It was nice, sitting in the  verdant grass and eating ice cream with the rushing water in the distance behind us, and rolling green hills in front of us. Quechee and the surrounding area is breathtakingly beautiful to me, and I could see myself living in a cozy cottage on one of those cozy hills. Maybe one day...

The road and distant places were calling to us, so we drove, just drove, turning where we wanted and not having a set destination. We saw some amazing things. I like graveyards, and like reading the tombstones and imagining the lives of those that passed long before me. So, this peaceful little resting place was a nice place for that. Then we saw something we’d never seen before—a crypt dug into the side of a hill. 

At one point, we stopped near a bend in the river to “mud lark.” That’s what Scottish people call treasure hunting in the mud alongside rivers and creeks. 

We found some interesting stuff from a house that had slipped off the side of the high bank long ago. Just a few little trinkets, so we picked them up and kept them as souvenirs. I didn’t find anything Native American, but not for lack of trying. And that was fun until Aidan stepped in what she thought was a tiny puddle but ended up being an ankle deep hole of muddy water. That soured her on the joys of mudlarking quickly, because those were the only sneakers she brought. 

It was starting to get late anyway, so we headed back to the hotel, and ordered room service. It had been in the 30’s and 40’s all day, so we ordered some hot comfort meals. I got a delicious chicken pot pie with the flakiest, most delicious crust ever, and Aidan got some vegetable bowl. Then we watched an Office marathon and laughed until we finally fell asleep. 

And so ended Day 2 of our trip. I’ll post Day 3 soon with lots more pics!