Our Holiday Recap

An FYI in case anyone new that might be tempted to judge that we traveled for the holidays.  1) We quarantined for 2 weeks prior to traveling per Vermont's guidelines with signed legal documents saying we did so.  We drove over 13 hours straight overnight in our personal vehicle only stopping to fuel up since we had food in the car.  2) It was just our "pod" of two and we rented cabins in the middle of nowhere so no interaction with others while home.  3) None of our practices from the last 9 months changed while there.  Obviously masked with our 5 layer filters that we even wore in the heat of summer with Air Tamers and Nozin.  IF we visited stores (and it wasn't many), it was only the first hour it was open and takeout only which sucked but had to be done (if the restaurant was even open which many weren't.)  We slathered ourselves with hand sanitizer until a sink was available to scour down Silkwood style with good soap.  We assumed everyone we passed had Covid and would parkour our way out of their path if they weren't budging and given we were in ski towns, they weren't.  Basically, my introvert aversion tactics I've deployed my whole life have set us up well for pandemic reflexes to avoid others.  We didn't owe anyone an explanation but there it is anyway. 😁

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I took full advantage of pre-planned posts to give myself the first week of the new year off, partly because we weren't here for the first few days of it.  We already planned to go to Vermont for Christmas this year before Covid hit and we could isolate in a cabin out of state following strict guidelines just as easy as we can staying cooped up in our own home as we have been for over 9 months.  As mentioned, we quarantined for two weeks prior to leaving per Vermont's guidelines which is the only state (I think) that allows you to quarantine at home before going.  (Damn that is a LOT of misplaced trust but we had zero problem doing what they asked and I guess were naive to hope others would too.)  When we told people this, it was kind of disheartening the first question was always "how will they know if you actually did though" in that tone that suggested "you could just say you quarantined."  Um, no.  My response was "1) we signed legal docs committing to doing so which we take seriously and 2) we're not a-holes and putting others at risk in a state we adore because we couldn't stay home for two weeks."  The freezer and fridge were at full capacity come December 1st as we needed not only two weeks worth of groceries for quarantine but what we already had to take with us for the holiday.  We only had to supplement with some fruits and veggies into the second week with a delivery from Amazon Fresh.  (Don't get the lettuce.)  Lots of Christmas movies and the Mr had craziness at his job the whole time to keep busy.  What we found disturbing while in Vermont were the amount of people who apparently joked and admitted they had not quarantined before coming to town.  There were local news stories about skiers bragging about it.  Yeah, not like there's asymptomatic spread or anything, friggin' jerks.  😠  

We were talking to the owner of an antique store in Waterbury who was actually going to close her doors Christmas weekend because she said despite the storm coming in that was going to bring us our one rainy day, she knew it wouldn't deter the throngs of people coming in from neighboring states for the weekend.  She was relieved to hear we actually did quarantine and said she wished there were more like us willing to prevent the little state that could who stayed mostly untouched until the Fall spike like the rest of the country.  (That being relative given it's size.  It has had less cases total than most states twice or more the size have per hour.)  It was very sad to see her actually scared of people's carelessness and we suspect this is also the reason our favorite restaurant closed it's doors days before Christmas citing keeping employees and customers safe even though they've been up and running for a few months now.  

Sadly, we couldn't get the cabin we rented the past two Christmases we went there so I was quite anxious going into this new one because I couldn't get a feel for the layout as to where to put the Christmas tree, etc prior to going.  Thankfully, I spied a spot that wouldn't be in front of the baseboard heating and it worked out well.  I decorated most of that night then put up our fairy lights that I hang in the windows with Command hooks so we can still have Christmas lights while we travel.   It was exactly what we needed.

Since last year was one of getting back to basics, I wanted the tree to reflect that.  Dried fruit, burlap ribbon, salt dough ornaments, joined wick candles, small bells and raw wood spindles.  

It was always relaxing to look at and I was so glad all of the tree decorations fit in a shoebox for easy travel.

We were able to get in a lot of fun activities on our property like hiking, building a snowman, making snow angels and sledding down the trail.   

We also got in some indoor activities like baking cookies, making the occasional s'more, doing puzzles and watching Christmas specials/movies. 

(You have no idea how proud we were of finishing that 300 piece puzzle.  We are NOT puzzle people!)

One socially distanced activity we did was a sleigh ride.  We were in the back row of a three row sleigh with the driver masked ahead of that and we had our masks on obviously.  I'd say despite the masks and such, this was the best sleigh ride we've done because twice the dude just let the horses rip and we dropped down a few hills in a gallop which was both exhilarating and terrifying at once.  

Speaking of letting it rip, one of our horses (the one whose butt is prominent in the lower left above) must've had onions or broccoli because homeboy had some SERIOUS gas the whole time.  Lift tail...expel.  Not even 7 total layers of masking could save us from Zeus' mighty butt trumpet.  At one point, we were crying laughing while the dude was giving us Vermont history and it was like "we can't hear you over the sonic booms your horse is dropping."  I had this horrible vision that he was going to have explosive diarrhea all over the driver and I was just praying we were out of the 'splash zone.'  Thankfully, we never had to find out but it was certainly the most memorable thing we did the whole time and maybe ever in Vermont.

We went to Woodstock for the new year since going to other states wasn't an option due to quarantine restrictions.  It was a lovely cabin and much closer to town than the place we stayed (but missed) last time.  

We went out for an early peek at the stores before the tourists woke up and we stopped by Yankee Bookstore and I absolutely must give them a shoutout.  First off, most of the stores in VT had sanitizer when you come in and some wouldn't let you come in until you did it.  With Yankee Bookstore, it's very small but I wanted to buy a book to read while we were there.  A woman brought in a return and when she left, the manager (maybe owner?) told his employees that if a return comes in to wipe down the outside of the book with a sanitizing wipe AFTER the customer leaves so as not to offend them but they need to keep everyone safe.  He and all employees were not only masked but gloved and behind plexiglass.  I bought two books just because he impressed me so much.

(When I say we didn't go to stores unless they were basically empty, I mean EMPTY.)

We had fun driving both downtowns at night looking at Christmas lights and Woodstock was especially nice because on New Years Eve, NO ONE was on the streets so the Mr and I parked and held hands walking through the streets looking at the lights and displays of the closed stores.  It was possibly one of my favorite moments of the trip that didn't involve snow.

(The beautiful streets of Woodstock including their covered bridge.)

Most of the time we just enjoyed country drives and the landscape.  It was kind of a bummer to not be able to eat breakfast inside of one of our favorite breakfast places in Stowe but honestly, that place is cramped and loud so I'll take keeping it warm in the Hot Logic to take it back home.  

I'm not going to lie, Covid restrictions and just the way we have to change things for now really did affect things a lot more than we thought.  I wouldn't call this a 'vacation' by ANY stretch of the imagination, it wasn't.  We were not able to enjoy much where public interaction was a possibility.  You don't realize how much you miss seeing people's faces, even strangers.  You know the squinty eyes mean they're smiling and you can hear it in their voice but it's not the same.  Most people seem scared to even acknowledge each other with more than a head nod.  We didn't even walk the rec trail which has beautiful views because of the possibility of bumping into too many people even though Stowe was noticeably less crowded in town than years past.  You don't realize that when you're waiting for your off peak lunch for take out, how seeing a completely empty restaurant makes your heart sad.  Even things that weren't Covid related were sad or irritating.  We had some issues pop up at both places that had me in tears a few times.  We saw the Woodstock Pharmacy, which had been open for 167 years, closed.  It was all I could do not to burst into tears as we read the sign on the door saying the prescriptions would be moved across the river to New Hampshire which is over 10 miles away.  Anyone living or vacationing in Vermont knows a Vermont 10 miles feels like 20 which is going to be a pain in the butt for people who need regular meds.  I still remember the older woman behind the counter who would tell us to let her know if you needed anything.  She was cordial but tough and looked like she could bake a rustic apple pie easily and tow your ass out of a ditch with her Subaru before unhooking you and moving on with her day.  We had car issues and a road trip had to be cancelled and at that point we had to buy a CO detector to make sure what we were sure was an exhaust leak didn't kill us on the way home.  Nowhere within 50 miles to go get it looked at and if they needed to order something?  Well, that was our only transportation so we kept everything within 30 miles of cabins.  Every single day one of us had a headache, one day the Mr had the worst migraine of his life.  I averaged 2-3 hours sleep per night so it was not quite the escape from reality I'd hoped for...needed.   But there were just enough good moments to balance the scales and we got home safely only to be told nothing was wrong with the car.  

We were thankful for the quiet days even if it made us a little antsy especially when the snow fell.  There is something about a blanket of snow on tall pines on towering mountains that makes the corners of your mouth curl with happiness.  I'll hang on to those days because I need them desperately.  Maybe I'll get a few pics printed that make me smile.  We definitely came home with some extra weight we need to get to work on but one thing at a time.  

 

How were your holidays?  (Don't they seem like forever ago now?)

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