Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Vermont is for Lovers

We had such a wonderful time on our mini-vacation to Vermont. We relaxed, we did outdoors stuff, we enjoyed some actual snow (some real, some man-made), we ate well, drank good wine, and read a lot. It was a perfect little getaway.

Very, very white people on a covered bridge.
We look relaxed, but not the smiliest.
The other, more smiley pictures had far
too many chins and nostrils to post.
I think one of the things that made it so amazing was that (for the most part) we gave fertility a rest. Even though our next cycle is weeks away, I gave myself a pass. I ate what I wanted and drank what I wanted (coffee! wine! port!) and didn't think once, "oh my freaking god, I am destroying my egg production right now. I am poisoning my womb with this delicious glass of vacation wine. I should flog myself and take a scalding shower and wear a hair shirt immediately."  I did not let the guilt seep in. I let myself have fun. I enjoyed this time away, and, apart from a few fertility-related conversations, we left it behind.

We learned a few things on this trip. First, if you don't have to, don't leave on a Friday afternoon. It sucks up a whole day of your vacation and makes the drive incredibly stressful. Especially when most of it is in the dark and during hypnotic-in-the-headlights Syracuse-to-Amsterdam snow squalls. Do yourself a favor and leave on Saturday morning. Second, double check what Goo.gleMaps tells you is the fastest and best route. The route it took us on to Grafton, Vermont was probably the fastest if it is daylight and you are driving a mudding truck. For us, in Bryce's car with 4-wheel drive but a sports suspension, it made our trip 7 hours and 45 minutes instead of the 5 hours 30 minutes it was supposed to be. You can't go 45-50 on a very steep, very dirt, very potholed road that takes you down a mountain with no houses and nothing but a ditch and a stream and lots of woods on either side. Which was the last 10 miles of our trip...at 10:00 at night going 20 miles an hour with Bryce freaking out that we had taken a wrong turn and were headed into Deliverance territory. Funny now, not so much then. Third--if you have to eat gluten-free, pack a meal if you're driving to Vermont. I can't eat anything on the Thruway and then we ended up in backwoods central NY, unfortunately eating at a horribly managed Wendy's at 8:30 at night because there were no other options for me. That was some major poor planning!

But those are the only negatives--once we got to Grafton it was a blast. We went hiking and snowshoeing (a wine and cheese snowshoe tour up the "mountain" at Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center--you got to the top of the trails and there were multiple kinds of delicious Grafton cheddar, a case of wine, and paper cups waiting for you. Excellent idea...). We went to Manchester for the day and shopped outlets and went to an unusual wine store. We walked around an old cemetery and went to the Northshire Book Store, a wonderful independent book store that I could have spent an entire day in. We found two independent book stores--the other, Misty Valley Books, was a tiny gem in a tiny town and the selection was phenomenal. It was the "risk-taking" bookstore that a good literary friend of mine would probably love. Not one book club book was prominently displayed. I think I came home with more books than I left with.

Enjoying pre-dinner wine and the end
of a book in our private living area...
We played Room Roulette--I had gotten a really good deal on our 4-night stay because there was a wedding on Sunday and so there was only one room available Saturday night--not the nicest room and definitely the most seizure-inducing wallpaper. So, we were given a nice room on Friday for the same price as the not-so-nice room, and then an amazing suite for Sunday and Monday nights. That was the best because we had our own living room area--the only thing missing was a fireplace. We spent a lot of time in the room because it was just too nice not to! Maybe a little too much time. At some point early in the stay I said, "It's so nice that we have the tavern for dinner right across the road. We could have too much to drink at dinner and then just stumble back to bed, no problem!" On our third night, we had a nice bottle in the room and were planning to just have a glass at dinner. Unexpectedly, we received a free bottle with dinner compliments of the management due to a little cleaning snafu (busy with the wedding, cleaning staff did everything but clear the sinks of other peoples' whiskers...lovely), which was much appreciated but resulted in me making good on my promise and giggling my way back to the room on Bryce's supporting arm. What the heck, we were on vacation. Why not overindulge once? It was so much fun to just be a normal, somewhat freshly-married couple, out having a good time.

Bryce, exploring the covered bridge.
This long weekend away was just what we needed. It was was an opportunity to reconnect after all this awfulness; it was a way to get away from my closet full of needles and medication and the sharps containers that lurk around every corner. There was nothing to remind us of infertility, not really. The only thing was my gallon-plastic bag of supplements and vitamins (can't miss those prenatals I've been on for almost THREE YEARS, that would be terrible). That was the only reminder. There weren't even really a lot of small children or pregnant people--not that I don't like small children or pregnant people, but an ill-timed run-in can dissolve that vacation mindset. Nope, it was just us, the snow, our books, our wine, and delicious Grafton cheddar cheese. It was a reminder of how lucky we are to have each other--that all we need is some snow and a cozy place to sit together to be happy and relaxed. Now the countdown to our next cycle can truly start. We are ready to face our next challenge, refreshed and rejuvenated. Let the games begin.


1 comment:

  1. I'm hoping that the ghost of our childhood vacmation-fun-times had an unseen beneficial boost! (Moo! Boo! Baa!)

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