The Perfect Knitting Spot?
Life has sure been crazy. Mostly it's all been mundane things, but the husband and I did take the girls on a family vacation, which was hot, busy, and mostly enjoyable. (Our enjoyment was occasionally tempered by the fact that we have a toddler who likes to throw food--and fits--in restaurants, and who also enjoys bolting from us the moment that she is set free from a stroller. So I didn't get much chance to sit still for a few days.)We started by spending two days near Burlington, Vermont, where DH and I met and where we were later married. We visited our favorite brewpub, explaining to our four year old that it was the site of our first date. (She wasn't impressed, perhaps because she didn't care much for the pint we ordered for her.) We walked to the local farmstand for fresh blueberries and corn. Although we didn't get a chance to visit the inn where we were married, we still wallowed in nostalgia and bemoaned the fact that we ever left Vermont. Once we recovered, we took a ferry across Lake Champlain en route to the Adirondacks. The weather on that day was just about as perfect as it gets in Vermont, and the kids loved the hour long ferry ride.
Due to the generousity of a friend who is actively involved in Adirondack preservation, every year we spend a weekend at a privately owned Adirondack Great Camp near Raquette Lake (general info about Great Camps can be found here). This year we were invited to spend a few days at White Pine Camp instead of at our usual spot. This camp was built in 1907 for financier Archibald White, and it later served as the Summer White House for Calvin Coolidge in 1926. It is, in a word, fabulous. Remote and private, with gorgeous scenery and beautifully restored buildings and landscaping. Here are a few pictures to give you the idea (you can click on any picture to enlarge it).
Here is the owner's cabin, where we stayed with our friends. This cabin is really two adjoining cabins, and I believe they were the ones used by Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge. When I took the picture I was actually standing on the spot where the "living room" cabin stood; although there are small living rooms in each cabin, the separate cabin had a huge gathering room with a large fireplace and a stage. Sadly, that building was destroyed by fire in the 1960's.
Some of the furnishings were amazing, like this gorgeous bed.
If I turned around after taking the photo of the owner's cabin, I would be looking at this sitting area, where I managed to spend an hour with my knitting (and without my children) one morning.
From the sitting area you can look down through the trees and get a glimpse of a bridge and a building....
...and if you walk down a path from the sitting area, you can walk across the long wooden bridge that leads--somewhat surprisingly--to a Japanese tea house
Here is a closer view of the tea house.
My four-year-old's favorite spot was the bowling alley, seen here from the outside....
and here from the inside.
And here is one of my favorite pictures, which I took from inside the bowling alley.
Needless to say, it was a lovely weekend, with good food and good friends on top of the spectacular locale. And there actually was some knitting, although not as much as I would have liked. Details to come soon.
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