We made a quick stop at Jennifer's place to pick up a pack-n-play and a high chair. Huh? Jennifer was a teacher at Amy's school before relocating to Burlington last year. She gracefully let us have some gear that could be dumped into a rental car rather than an airplane hold saving us unimagineable annoyance. Yee ha!

We rolled into Sugarbush around 1am. Late for there, but not too bad for the west coast. This discrepency between time zones was clearly going to be trouble, but at that time we were doing ok. Clara, unfortunately, wasn't. She decided she had little interest in sleeping and even less interest in me. "Mommy! Mommy!" This meant I could sleep while Amy was forced to try to comfort the sleepless beast by cuddling, walking, and finally driving. It was 4am Eastern time before they finally got to sleep. (Yes, I fully realize how wonderful Amy is that she didn't wake me up to help.)

We slept late the next morning trying to recover. When Clara did finally get up I took her into the living room so Amy could sleep a bit more, though there wasn't that much more to be had.

Ryan and Amy had arrived the day before and already been to the market so we had cereal for breakfast and once we had our eyes fully pried open we went for lunch in Waitsfield. The pub we chose was rather uninpsiring, but did fill us up enough to continue.

The girls headed off to a surprise bridal shower for Jessica while Clara, Ryan, and I headed south along the edge of the mountains. Our goal was to hike the "Great Cliff" on Mt. Horrid. The road was a little two-laner which dropped into little canyons and ran along the White River. The northern section was a bit swampy and lo-and-behold a big sign that says "Moose Crossing."

Did we dare hope?

Nah, certainly it's more like a joke for tourists. But wait! There, in the stream... MOOSE! Ryan whipped a u-turn and I jumped out. I ran across the road which likely frightened the hell out of the moose who was content to watch the shiny cars go zipping by. She headed for the woods allowing me only two long-distance photos before she disappeared.

This was going to be a good trip for Amy after all, huh?

We continued south looking for more moose before turning west into the mountains themselves. Now keep in mind that when I say "mountains" I really mean "hills" because few of them get much about 3,500 feet. We drove up to Brandon Gap where the Long Trail intersects the road.

The Long Trail is sort of like a Pacific Crest Trail for Vermont. The southern portion is also part of the Appalacian Trail system, but the Appalacian Trail headed east into New Hampshire a ways south from where we were. I'd read lots about the Long Trail and it sounded nice, but not nearly as nice as the PCT. Still, we were here and it was time to hike.

I threw on my pack and picked up Clara. We had purposefully left her backpack at home since this was to be her only real outdoor adventure and the stoller seemed much more useful. This hike was only 1.2 miles round trip (is that really a hike?) gaining only 600 feet. What the book didn't say was that it was 600 feet pretty much in stairs. Ugh.

We hoofed it up the trail with few problems and were soon standing atop the "Great Cliffs" which really weren't all that great. It was a small area of exposed rock in an otherwise heavily treed area. We could see quite a ways to the east and south and a bit to the west as well. North was blocked by the rest of Mt. Horrid. We took pictures and ate some goldfish before heading back down to the car.

We saw no moose on the way back, but did bounce into the condo to show Amy the few pictures and tell her that we were bound to see more moose in the coming days. (Can you sense her anticipation? Can ya?) We showered and got ready to head out to the rehearsal dinner picnic thing at the groom's family's vacation house.

We arrived early because it only took a very few moments to get there. Oops. We wandered around aimlessly for a while waiting for the rest of our branch of the family to arrive. The bugs were growing bad, but we had spray and even won a few friends by sharing.

Unfortunately, the tent (aka: the big top) had to be moved into a recently cleared field of brambles because the massive stakes tethering it down couldn't make it through the stone under the soil near the house. The ground was really uneven which was a minor problem for adults, a moderate problem for Clara, and a wicked problem for the grandparents.

Grandpa Peter is in a wheelchair most of the time and it took three of us burly guys to get him into position at a badly slanting table. Grandma followed behind with a cain and someone at each elbow and Great Aunt Claire made it mostly on her own. Unfortunately, they were all pretty much relegated to the table for the entire evening while Clara was far more interested in exploring.

She met some other kids and ran around like a nut before finally, finally falling asleep in my arms. After most everyone else had eaten I transferred Clara to my sister Amy and got food myself. Clara never so much as stirred for the rest of the evening. Hurray! We excused ourselves before the real fun began, but after we escorted the grandparents back to their car. In spite of being on west coast time we were dead tired.

The next day was the wedding, of course. We started late, again, but nevertheless managed to arrive at the grandparents in time for lunch. Most of the family was staying at a little motel just down the road from us because Grandpa needed handicap access. Sadly, their accommodations were much worse than ours and the space to hang out inside was very limited. As a result, they didn't really get to see much of Clara or Kestrel (Sean and Karen's nine-month-old daughter) playing in the grass.

We headed back up to the condo and got ourselves ready just in time for the babysitter to arrive. We were a bit surprised to find out Clara wasn't invited to the wedding, but it was done in such a proper way that it wasn't offensive at all. (And given her state of mood it was a great thing she wasn't there.) Christer's mother had arranged a babysitter that Clara would share with Kestrel at our condo. Nice, easy, simple. Woo hoo!

Except the babysitter wanted $25/hour for both kids. Ouch. And the wedding was from 3pm - 10pm. Ouch. Needless to say, we grumbled a bit. Then Aunt Bonnie heard about it and she grumbled a bit. Then most everyone was grumbling a bit and before you know it Christer's mother was declaring it was an outrage and instead of $25/hour we'd pay $10/hour and she would work out the rest with the babysitter. No more grumbling.

The wedding was in another more-or-less inaccessible spot for the grandparents requiring we all but carry them down to the lake. Still, the location was beautiful even if the weather was a bit blustery. Everyone looked as fine as they should and smiles were everywhere. Even the cows in the pasture behind us seemed entertained by the pastor's decision to shorten his 45 minute sermon to 37.5 seconds given the impending storm. (I timed him and he was actually closer to 56 seconds. Humph.)

When it was all over and done with we cut to the head of the line to get the grandparents out of the rain. We parked them in the appetizer area and went off in search of appetizers. What we found was a full bar. Uh oh. Ryan was still a hurting little puppy after the night before so he wasn't terribly interested in anything to drink in spite of his previous declarations about the "hair of the dog." Amy was driving so that left me and my sister. She had Shirley Temples with vodka (dare we call those "naughty Shirleys?") while I stuck with wine for the most part.

The weather was quite hot and sticky, but occasionally a burst of wind would whip through to cool us and we were still better off inside than the ducks being beaten down by the driving rain. The appetizers were actually brought around by waiters which worked out wonderfully because it meant we didn't have to go far to get food for the grandparents.

After a few hours getting lit we headed upstairs to the third level of the big round barn that had been converted into a wedding hall. It was dark but for the twinkle lights and candles. We were at table three surprisingly close to the bride and groom and surprisingly far from the rest of our family. All the cousins sat together which made for a great opportunity to get to know each other again.

Dinner was a three course affair with raviolis, salad, and salmon. Tasty, all. Our wine glasses were never empty and the service provided by the staff was top notch. When the band started to play was when the grandparents decided it was time to go so we helped them out to the car before deciding to vacate ourselves.

Kestrel was a good little girl and had slept for much of the night, but Clara was continuing with her sleepless ways and as such probably should have been with $25/hour. Oh well. We put her back down to sleep and she seemed content enough so we soon joined her.

The next morning (it's Sunday, by now) was dedicated to the brunch-n-swim at another vacation house. We're still not sure who it belonged to, but it had plenty of biting flies, mosquitoes, and uneven ground so it might have been owned by the same folks as the rehearsal dinner hosts. The food was great and for the first time we could see relief on the faces of the wedding participants. They relaxed as people jumped into and out of the pond at the bottom of the hill.

Unfortunately, the brunch was the last hurrah for the grandparents before they headed back south to Massachusetts. Grandma cried a bit in the car while everyone else told each other we'd see them soon in Portland when the last unmarried cousin, Tara, gets married in September. We tried to convince Grandma that she ought to come out for that event, but she would have none of it. She'd rather give us the money than fly again. We're still working on her.

Since we would see everyone soon anyway we said only brief goodbyes. I invited the newly-married couple to join us for a hike the next day, but they opted to catch their flight to Aruba instead. Pansies.

We headed north instead of south to the condos and soon found ourselves at Vermont's Number One Tourist Attraction: Ben and Jerry's. Yes, seriously. The tour took only half an hour, tops, and that included a 10 minute video. The plant is amazingly small given the amount of ice cream you see in the stores. We were a bit let down when we remembered that Ben and Jerry had in fact sold out long ago and the company was now just another cog in the Unilever corporation, but the cofee coffee buzz buzz buzz still tasted good. (I'm still annoyed that they killed off Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, though.)

From there it was north to Stowe which was a bit of a let down. It's probably way cooler in the winter and I don't just mean in terms of temperature. As it was, we wandered a bit before heading home to meet up with Amy's friend Jennifer, her husband Michael, and little A.J. A wicked storm crashed down on us on the way home, but then cleared up before we got there. Nevertheless we decided to skip the pool and head straight to dinner. (Does it seem like we do nothing but eat?) Mexican in Vermont is definitely different than anywhere else, but still decent even if the tacos tasted more like chilli than... well... tacos. We grabbed a movie for a relaxed evening after all the festivities and called it an early night.

Monday dawned with perfect hiking weather. A few broken, scatterred clouds to give the sky texture and temperatures in the mid seventies with low humidity. Ryan and I headed off to hike Camel's Hump while the girls decided on a bit of pool-time and shopping in Burlington. The hike was good as was the pool, apparently, though I haven't seen the video yet.

Dinner wound up being pizza again which was one food that didn't seem to be all that risky. We watched another movie before packing to head out the next day. Amy, Clara, and I were headed home via Burlington and Detroit. Amy and Ryan were headed to Maine, then Boston before heading home two days later.

We were out of the condo early Tuesday morning and soon found a Starbucks (thank goodness!). After fueling up we met up with Jennifer and A.J., did the Gymboree thing, got lunch, and finally found ourselves exhausted at the airport. Clara slept much better on the way home than on the way out, but she was still somewhat challenging. By the time we got to Seattle it was after 10pm and after picking up the dog and saying goodbye to Amy's parents we were finally home around 11pm.

The extra day after all the festivities ended was a godsend, but we could have used a little more time to relax, probably after returning home. I was back at work on Wednesday, of course, and Amy was fighting with a stack of mail, a mountain of laundry, and little Clara who remains cute and loveable, but can't seem to find her sleep patterns. Soon... soon.