Off to Massachusetts

 [Friday 11 July] 

After checking out of our hotel we were back on Route 4 heading into Rutland. But before we had gone 15 minutes we pulled off in Mendon to have breakfast at our old haunt Sugar & Spice. Located right at the junction of Route 4 and Meadow Lake Drive, the restaurant was a short drive from our old house in Chittenden.

Susan had a waffle with blueberries, a scrambled egg and side of bacon and I had a stack of pancakes with sausage. We thought the food rather mediocre, and Susie remarked she thought the waffle had an artificial off taste. But things, times, people and apparently food change.

I ate the bottom quarter of this stack thank you very much

It was a quick drive around Rutland, skirting the town via the backroads to the hospital and then beyond, eventually making our way to Route 7 south of town. Our destination, indeed our goal for coming to Vermont in the first place, was to pay our respects to Lena D. and so we did.

Her monument is high up in St. Patrick's cemetery in a spot that overlooks the valley below and the hills to the west, to the sunset.

After her family, the monument clearly illustrates the four things most important to Lena: her church (with which she involved herself deeply on many levels), quilting and doll making, the Boston Red Sox and her life as a caring, loving health care professional.

looking west

One of the wonderful things about strolling through a cemetery is that you never know who you might find. Like the Timbers family:

We left the cemetery a little before a graveside service was about to begin and made our way out of town on Route 140 to 103 in East Wallingford. From there we cruised along through Ludlow and pulled in to one of our frequent stops in years gone by, the antique shops at the Stone House in Chester. It's always fun to browse and the fact they have bathrooms is a plus.

Back on the road as we neared I-91, we had to make a stop at the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham. A Vermont staple, the store has sold everything from soup to nuts over the years and it's always fun to browse yet another "general  merchandise" establishment.

 

But we still had miles to go today so we were soon back on the road. We hopped on I-91 south and got off at Ingleside in Massachusetts to check out another old stop of ours: the Barnes and Noble Store.  As you can tell by now, this trip has been one of what I will call relaxed driving, taking time and not hurrying along. Travel can often be stressful when one has a set destination and wants to get there NOW. That wasn't our approach on this trip to New England and certainly not today.

From I-91 we switched to the Mass Pike (I-90) briefly before getting off on to I-291 and soon right onto Route 20 east.

We remained on Route 20 all the way to I-395, then south to Webster, switching to Route 16 which took us to Douglas and Dick and Dorothy's home.

Route 20, fluctuating between 2- and 4-lane, was naturally slow going with the occasional stoplight. And the route was a bit depressing as we passed many abandoned buildings, businesses that had come and gone, their spaces sitting unused, untended and apparently unwanted.

As we were driving along Susan thought out loud, wondering if the Brimfield Flea Market was underway - sure enough! We crawled our way through, the road going directly between the maze of tents selling all manner of junk and stuff, past stands selling lemonade and Italian sausages and what not to eat. 

But we weren't held up too long and soon found ourselves zipping along through Sturbridge (lots of past stops at Yankee Spirits there) ending up at D & D's a little after 4:00 pm.

After settling in, the four of us sat outside on their patio listening to the bubbling of their fountain and enjoying the peace and quiet of this place they have called home for nearly 30 years.

That evening we were treated to a delicious home-cooked meal: flank steak on the grill, roasted potatoes, and a scrumptious salad made with lettuce from their garden. A lovely ending to a wonderful day spent recapturing the past.

that's a home-cooked meal!

Tomorrow it's off to lunch at Matunuck Oyster Bar in RI and then on to Glastonbury, CT with some exploring of eastern CT in the bargain.