This past Thursday Andrey and I took a nice long drive to Rutland, Vermont. We spent the night at Greg's house, Andrey's childhood friend. Friday morning we woke up, grabbed coffees and headed to the stores to do some pre-camping shopping. Shop we did. Dicks, the grocery store and Big Lots!
We packed our cars and drove to the Mountain Top Inn. Greg and Max's (Greg's brother) plan was to buy a beach pass through the hotel and use one of their canoes to get Andrey and I across, while they kayaked across the lake. We walked up to the front desk only to be told that there was a wedding on the beach that night and there was no way, NO WAY, we could get beach passes. We walked back to the cars concerned, we needed a whole new game plan. We were sitting with our thinking caps on when the manager of the hotel came out to tell us that the wedding didn't start til 5 (it was 2) and that we could certainly use their beach as a drop off point. No buying of beach passes necessary- how kind is that? Here's what I know, next time Andrey and I are in Chittenden and needing a hotel we're going straight for the Mountain Top Inn.
We packed up the boats, paddled across (I'm super, duper good at paddling, it turns out) and then searched for a good camp ground. We ended up finding a perfect spot. We had a table, a fire pit and three different areas to put tents. Greg and Max set up by the fire fit, Andrey and I set up right at the lake front, so when we opened our door we had a gorgeous view, and Elena and Mike set up behind us in a clearing. We had our own little beach and lots of space around us, we didn't see anyone else for three days, basically.
We spent the next three days reading, chatting, eating, swimming, kayaking, eating, fishing, eating and laughing around the fire. To say it was a great weekend is an understatement. On the way back we had 4 seats on boats (2 on the canoe, 1 on each of 2 kayaks) and 6 people- the only reasonable way to get back was to blow up 2 air mattresses and have Andrey and Mike toe me and Elena back to the main land. I highly recommend you end every vacation this way.
Hello! Let's go! Waiting for Andrey to get the car all packed. Also, check out my Rugged Maniac shirt. I love it! It's my new favorite piece of clothing.
Andrey and I stopped at a very creepy abandoned diner right outside of Woodstock, New York on the way to Vermont. The food was greasy and I found a hair in my chicken fingers. Ew.
Major, major food preparations.
Waiting for Greg and Andrey to get fishing licenses at Dick's. The hat was a Christmas present I got for Andrey.
1 canoe, 2 kayaks and an inflatable boat filled with loot. One of those kayaks is not ours.
Check that view.
Mountain Top Inn's beach.
Camp fire.
That is my little head and the other one is Elena's. We are the only ones in that huge lake. So serene.
.JPG)
Kayaking.
