In a Big Country

We started out at 9 AM again, this time heading north into upstate New York and Vermont. It's beautiful country up there. The leaves are just beginning to turn colors, though most are still green. Pumpkins and corn line roadside stands. Rivers rushed and gurgled under ancient stone bridges. Cows grazed in velvet fields, near stores selling tractors and farm equipment and beautiful old hotels built to look like Tyrolean homes. There was patchy fog when we left, but by the time we arrived at the Vermont Country Store, the sun was out, the breeze was blowing, and it was a perfect early fall day, neither too hot nor too cold.

The Vermont Country Store in Weston prides itself on being a purveyor of practical and unique items. Practical and unique they may be, but their fancy blouses and pajamas, recreations of vintage toys, kitchen gadgets, hand-made soaps, huge bottles of hard-to-find shampoo and lotion, and retro holiday decorations tend to be expensive. I did find something among the clearance items in the rooms upstairs. Dug a pretty pale-blue cotton floral Ella Simone nightgown with long sleeves, satin ribbon trim, and buttons down the front off the clothes racks. Picked up another bottle of leaf-shaped maple syrup like I bought the last time we were here two years ago.

Headed back down the highway to Manchester for lunch. We ran into two problems at this point. First of all. Pastime Pinball just cut their hours two weeks ago. They're now only open on weekends. Second, the Manchester House of Pizza was closed for the entire month of September while their owners were on vacation. (They were closed at this time last year, too.) 

We ended up eating at The Works Cafe, a tiny restaurant down the street from Pastime Pinball. Their specialty is sandwiches and breakfast items made from the freshest and healthiest ingredients. I had a spicy Sunrise Burrito with eggs, bacon, quinoa, avocado, sweet potato, pico de gallo, and cheddar cheese. Yum! Spicy enough to clear my sinuses, but still good and filling. Lauren said her turkey avocado sandwich was really good, too. She had thick, crispy sour cream & onion chips; I had salt and vinegar. We both got sparkling waters.

As we headed down Riverside Heights, I saw a sign on a large blue building that said "The Vermont Flannel Company." As you can guess, this is a local store specializing in hand-made flannel clothes and accessories, along with stuffed animals and clothes for them. They even had rolls of plaid flannel fabric. Almost everything was way too expensive for my budget, including the toys. I did find two plaid flannel scrunchies that were only $5 each. They were a lot like the flannel scrunchies I bought at the Big E's Vermont State House years ago. Those scrunchies are getting kind of stretched out by now. I was glad to have replacements. Lauren bought a pair of purple plaid flannel lounging pants.

Our next stop was the Northshire Bookstore just a block down the street. They sell small selections of every kind of book on the planet. They only had a small cozy mystery selection. I ended up with Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah for Halloween next month. Found the second original Maryellen book, Taking Off, used for a mere $2. 

We spent the next hour or so browsing. Our next find after Northshire was a nifty antique and country store, not unlike a cross between the Barrington Antique Center and the Vermont Country Store. Cool as they were, we found nothing there. Long Ago and Far Away mainly sold crafts made by native artisans as far away as Alaska. Everything there was beautiful, but too expensive or hard to carry home. We strolled through a small war memorial park before ending up at TJ Maxx. I didn't get anything there. Lauren found a nice black floral blouse. 

Headed back down to Massachusetts for dinner. One of my favorite places to eat in Lauren's area is Bob's Country Kitchen in Lanesborough. They're a tiny little rustic cafe that sells basic diner fare. They're very popular with locals. We got there just ahead of two big groups that took up more than half the dining area. I had "Bob's BIG Melt," turkey and bacon on grilled rye with "tangy sauce" (mustard-based, I suspect). Lauren had her favorite ham platter with applesauce and mashed potatoes.

Lauren wanted to bring her parents two slices of apple pie from there, but they were out. We ended up at a near-by Stop & Shop to grab an apple crumble pie. I also finally found the Mountain Dew Voo Dew Zero Halloween flavor. I can never find the Zero sugar version at home! (It was...ok. Mountain Dew claims it's supposed to taste like candy corn. I didn't taste candy corn. I tasted a weird, sweet fruity flavor.)

When we got in, we had our apple crumble pie ala mode with cherry ice cream while playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This time, we just played each other and the computer. We ran through the Leaf Cup and the Banana Cup. No trouble here! Lauren's Richard Dawson Mii came in first every time. My best showing was second on Donut Plains 3 and Royal Raceway.

I finished the night on the Roku Channel with an old favorite of my stepfather's. He loved Spenser For Hire in the mid-80's. I read a few of the books in the early 90's, too. I figured the episode "Autumn Thieves" was especially appropriate, both in honor of fall starting tomorrow and it being set in the Berkshires. After a relic is stolen from a museum while he's pursuing the thief, Spenser finds himself keeping a Berkshires inn owner and the thief, his son, from being hurt by a ring of art collection thieves.