tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

I left home a long, long time ago
in a tin can for the road with a suitcase and some songs
chasing miles through the nighttime making tracks
with no time for looking back to the place where I belong

how these days grow long
but I`m on my way back home
it’s been hard to be away

~Brandi Carlile

It felt like it was time to go home. And so we went.

That’s how Chicago still feels to me. Taking the Ogden Ave exit from 83 South is just….well, it’s exactly the same as it ever was.

Some things are completely unrecognizable now, but almost everything else is still…home.

This was our first stop.

September has always been sort of an intense month.

Anyway, then we went to Baker’s Square so I could have some French Silk Pie.  It made me a little sick, but it was a good sick, you know? I wish there were less cupcake shops and more pie shops around DC. I don’t know why pie gets the shaft.

After gorging on pie we drove around my old neighborhood, and stopped by Mrs Butler’s house since she was having a garage sale. Unfortunately we left just a little before Mr Mitchell popped over to say hi. I used to babysit for Mr Mitchell, and apparently he asked about me and wanted to make sure Aaron was taking good care of me. I love chivalry.

What else do you do on a Saturday in the suburbs than hit Oak Brook Mall and wander around for a bit? We even got some shopping in – Aaron had a personal shopper at The Gap who found him some snazzy jeans. They look great, except when he wears them I have to carry his phone in my purse. Fashion hurts.

We had drinks with my tennis buddy Karen and met her husband – I don’t think I’d seen Karen since high school, so it was great to catch up. We talked about wanting to open up B&B’s in various parts of the world.

Then we drove into Chicago, through construction traffic, and finally made it to the Dana Hotel and Spa – which is freaking amazing. We somehow landed a corner room, which (like all the rooms) has floor to ceiling windows for walls. It was awesome.

I’ll spare you the shot of the bathroom, but there was a glass wall separating the shower from the rest of the room, and if you didn’t pull the curtain closed just right (or left it wide open…) you could catch quite an eyeful.

We had just enough time to freshen up before meeting Steph and Scott for dinner at 1492.

Dinner was great, and after two pitchers of white sangria, we were definitely the loudest table, and the last ones to leave. We had such a blast.

My best friend from kindergarten:

We’ve come a long way from Gilbert Ave, Steph.

On the way back to the hotel, Scott pointed out the steps of the church where the St Valentine’s Day massacre took place. Chicago is kind of bad ass.

The next morning we were up early and headed off to meet up with Jenny at Lou Mitchell’s for brunch. Chicago is pretty empty on Sunday mornings.

It was really good to catch up with Jenny – the time just flew by.

Before we knew it we had to head back out to the suburbs, and we went to Katherine Legge Memorial Park for a picnic with Lisa and her family. It was a gorgeous day and we had so much fun – special thanks to Lisa’s dad for bringing over the grill!

I finally got to meet Lisa’s husband and son, and we had a great time catching up.

And Aaron and I finally got a picture of us together!

We ended the day with another trip to Baker’s Square since it used to be where Lisa and I would go all the time. This time I had my favorite – triple berry pie. It was every bit as good as I remembered it.

We said goodbye to Lisa and family and headed back to my old neighborhood park.

I couldn’t get a great shot, but here’s the view from our hill.

Yeah, home.

We checked into our hotel in Westmont – unsurprisingly, it was nowhere near as nice as the Dana, but it served its purpose I guess.

Monday morning we drove around and explored a bit more, then met up with Franny for lunch. Of course, I forgot my camera.

Hopefully we’ll meet up with her again when we are in France, since she lives in Switzerland these days.

It is amazing to be able to spend time with people you’ve known for over half your life. People who have known you from the beginning, through your trials and triumphs, and still love you and can make you laugh and can give you a reality check when you need it. I’m really lucky to still have friends like these.

After we left Franny, we freshened up in the hotel and headed over to Dee’s house for dinner. Again, no camera.

She showed off all the changes she had made to the house and yard, and everything looks amazing. It was good to be back.

We had a really nice seafood dinner and got all caught up. We had to get up super early for our flight home so we called it an early night.

And that was Chicago. A jam packed long weekend full of food, friends, and memories. And Aaron said he wouldn’t mind living somewhere around there.

I’ll have to bring him back in the middle of January and see if he changes his mind.

We just got home from a camping trip with the Bru’s. We had an awesome time, as usual. We were all a little concerned about what the weather would be like, since we’re in the midst of a heat wave right now. Not only has it been in the upper 90’s every day, but the humidity has turned all of outside into a sauna. Doesn’t sound much fun in a tent.

But when we hit Skyline Drive, we rolled down the windows and were positively chilly in the breeze up there. We became cautiously optimistic that we would be able to sleep in comfort, and I started to regret not bringing anything long-sleeved.

We put up the tent and settled in. The Bru’s arrived shortly after us and we decided to go on a short hike before we got too entrenched (and lazy, at least for me).

Aaron found a nice trail that looped around behind the campsite and ended up behind the ranger station. It was gorgeous.

It was also a little hilly in parts.

So we stopped to rest a lot.

After we got back to the site, we decided we didn’t want to deal with the bugs anymore so we sent the boys off with Lila on a shopping trip for a screened in shelter.

They found one, and Aaron also found himself a nice little cot to lounge on.

It was really comfortable. Too bad he didn’t get to spend a lot of time on it.

Everyone enjoyed it. Pat even slept on it.

I think Illy wants us to set it up in the living room.

Lila looked like she had a great time. She wandered around, played with Illy, and was a perfect little camper.

Illy didn’t even mind getting in and out of the tent this trip.

Eventually we started the fire and had some dinner.

Kelly and Lila hit the sack early, but Pat, Aaron and I stayed up late chatting and making s’mores.

We didn’t actually sleep very well – my back does not like air mattresses, it has decided. I think we might pick up a second cot and see if they can squeeze both of them in our tent for next time.

And now that we’re back in the heat and humidity, I miss the mountains even more. I think it’s time to start planning the next trip!

This weekend was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival – hard to believe it’s been a year since the last one!

We booked the same hotel as last year, the Hampton Inn, and I headed up Friday night after traffic. Kim, her mom, and Heather had arrived earlier and were just coming back from dinner when I showed up. We went to bed early so we could get up early enough to beat traffic. And beat traffic we did! We left by 8am, took back roads, and didn’t get stuck in one bit of traffic. It was perfect.

It was really nice to be there so early, before the crowds (and heat!) really hit. The vendors aren’t supposed to start selling until 9, but no one paid any attention to that. I made a beeline for the Australian hat guy, and picked up my new best friend:

Kim had her heart set on a Carol Leigh Adjustable 7′ Triangle Loom. Now, Carol Leigh is a wee bit of a celebrity – at least in the loom world. Either that, or we are just a little bit crazy. But Carol Leigh was awesome and took some pictures with us, and Kim got her loom! And yes, Carol Leigh is wearing a poncho she loomed herself. She made sure to point that out to us.

I really hope she calls me to update her website. I’m not even linking it here because it makes me want to claw my eyes out. The woman makes a fantastic loom, but Oy! that website.

We wandered around after that, stopped for some BBQ lamb, and did some more shopping.

And then the heat started to kick in. It wasn’t so bad in the shade, but out in the sun, or in the barns that really didn’t have much ventilation was almost unbearable.

The Juniper Moon Farm group had a meetup at noon. Here’s Maggie:

It was nice to see everyone, but it was far too hot to just be sitting in the sun, so we all wandered off pretty quickly.

In the early afternoon we surrendered to the heat and decided to call it a day. On the way home we stopped at a liquor store and Heather and I spent some quality time in the walk in freezer, cooling off. That was awesome.

After some much needed showers, we headed out to La Palapa Grill for some delicious margaritas. Oh, and dinner.

We went to the Ravelry After Party, but it wasn’t quite a party, so to speak, so we left early (and won’t go again next year).

I had a decent haul this year – I even managed to pick up the print I had longed for last year:

And I leave you with a baby alpaca:

We headed back down to Juniper Moon Farm this weekend to participate in the Spring Shearing celebration. We arrived Friday evening in time for the wine and cheese party. Kim and her mom had arrived on Thursday, so we met up with them before we headed over. It was great getting to meet so many of the shareholders and enjoy being on the farm with them.

It was crazy seeing how small Tiny (real name: Rushworth) is in person. He was a preemie lamb, whose health was very touch and go for awhile, but he seems to be hanging in there. I was able to hold him and he is teddy bear small!

Luckily it didn’t rain, as forecast, and the cloud cover kept us nice and cool all weekend. The shearing took place on Saturday. Ernie was the star of the show, being the biggest sheep. Emily the shearer wrangled him like he was Tiny-sized.

It was fascinating seeing the fleeces come off, and feeling how greasy they were from the lanolin. I’m not an expert in these matters, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to be getting some excellent yarn next year!

The potluck lunch was incredibly well stocked (notably Amy’s blueberry cobbler) and it was so nice to just eat and relax in the countryside.

Aaron snapped quite a few adorable pictures over the weekend.

Feenat:

Lambs:

Cini takes a break:

Thanks to Susie and Maggie at JMF for throwing this wonderful party for us!

It doesn’t feel like it’s been ten years since I graduated from the University of Richmond. I never had plans to go to the reunion, but when I heard one of my friends was going, and managed to convince another to go, I decided it sounded pretty fun after all. I even dragged Aaron with me.

We headed down Friday, stopping by Juniper Moon Farm on the way to say hi to Susan and the animals and show Aaron around. We finally arrived in Richmond and checked in at the Westin on West Broad, which is a brand new hotel and beautiful. I would definitely stay there again – heavenly bed indeed! Anyway we got changed since we had reservations at The Tobacco Company, and headed to the lobby to meet up with our friends. I hadn’t seen either of them since our wedding, so it was a long overdue get together!

Here we are waiting for the elevator.

It was so good to see Kristin and Andrew again, and meet Kristin’s man, John. They are such an adorable couple!

We headed out to The Tobacco Company and had a fabulous dinner. And of course, we finished the night with a drink at Sin-e.

Where of course, we had a blast. Some things just don’t change, even in ten years.

The adorable couple:

We finally called it a night and headed back to our heavenly beds.

Saturday we headed over to campus and checked in at the Jepson Alumni Center.

They were giving away old yearbooks they had lying around, so I grabbed one from 2000. Note to students: Don’t waste money on a yearbook, you can pick one up for free in a few years!

They had a free picnic for all the alumni and it was really great – good food, a free drink ticket each (Note to self: Buy ring of red raffle tickets for future such occasions).

I only said hi to one other girl from our class, but I saw a few more I recognized. The class of ‘00 didn’t really have a huge showing. Now the class of ‘85, they were partying pretty hard by the end of the night. I guess we’ll have to wait and see who shows up in ten more years.

It was really great being back on campus – UR is a gorgeous place.

I think Aaron enjoyed taking the tour. There were a few new buildings, a few redone buildings, but the biggest shocks were the new fitness center, which is nicer than any gym I’ve ever been in, and the new Dining Hall, which has so many more (and nicer) food stations. I was just a little bitter about missing out on the gym and D Hall.

I ended up donating to the university in the form of a shopping spree at the bookstore. Then it was time for a nap.

Andrew joined us for dinner at Bandito Burrito’s. We headed back to campus for a quick drink at the Cellar, for old time’s sake.

We stopped in to the final party of the night at D Hall, but no one from our class showed so we called it an early night.

We had one last meal together Sunday morning – breakfast at the hotel. It was so great seeing Kristin and Andrew again, and reliving our memories of UR.

I hope we don’t let as many years pass before our next visit. Good friends are hard to come by.

Last November Kim and I arranged to do a Farm Stay weekend at Juniper Moon Farm. Kim heard about the farm a while ago from a friend and became a shareholder in their yarn CSA. Knowing I love yarn and sheep, she told me about their blog so I could follow the lives of the animals on the farm. So in November we saw a post go up talking about farm stay weekends. In a matter of minutes after the blog post, we simultaneously emailed each other and agreed that we needed to book a weekend, stat. We fell over ourselves trying to make sure that we could get a deposit in fast enough to secure a weekend before they booked up. Shepherd Susie (or just Susan, if you’re not tweeting or earburning her) wrote us back and set us up for April 1-4, and we could not have been more excited.

Sheep! Sheep dogs! Goats! BABY GOATS! April took freaking forever to get here.

But get here it did, and we hauled ass down to Charlottesville(ish) on Thursday afternoon and arrived in just less than 2 hours. Not too shabby. It turned out to be the first absolutely perfect weather weekend of the year, which I think was the Shepherd Gods way of ensuring two more additions into the fold.

We pulled up the driveway and I don’t think we stopped squealing the entire time. Sabine greeted us with some very deep and threatening barks, the sheep were grazing lazily in the field, and UPS man pulled up right behind us. That worked out great because we weren’t sure whether to go to the front door or what, but Susan came out to the garage to get the package (which happened to be boots from Zappos for a future farm stay guest – a brilliant idea) and greeted us with a tiny, fearsome chihuahua barking his head off in her arms. This was our first introduction to the Crown Prince of Yarn. Gulliver is a little sweetheart once he gets used to you, which took all of about five minutes:

First order of business, of course, was snorgling the baby goats, so we headed over to the barn, home of the lamb cam.

Look at those ears! These little guys were so warm and snuggly.

They were so cute when they would call to their Mama and leap around trying to find her.

The Mamas were mostly focused on when they were going to get their grain.

We spent some time wandering around the farm, shooing the chickens out of the barn, and getting to know the sheep. Big Ernie was Kim’s favorite.

And of course, loving on the dogs.

Juniper Moon Farm is an incredibly peaceful place. I could sit on one of the rocking chairs on the porch and watch the sheep graze for hours.

Susan was an incredible host, explaining how life on the farm works and answering our endless stream of questions with patience and humor. I don’t think we stopped laughing the entire visit.

Our days were structured so that we’d wake up around 8am or so, go feed and water the animals (and collect eggs) at 8.30, and then come back in for breakfast. Susan makes this incredible granola which is delicious with yogurt. And I bet it would be great over ice cream, too. Then chores and errands during the day. When it starts to get dark, feed and water the animals again, get them back into the pens (and coops) for the night. Finally, time for the humans to eat.

Susan made us the most divine meals. Salmon with rice and asparagus, pistachio cream pasta, risotto with a fried egg – everything was simply delicious.

On Saturday we paid a visit to Amy, who had a pregnant goat who needed an injection. I was tasked with holding the goat while Susan showed Amy where to stick the needle.

Amy has a beautiful llama, but sadly he didn’t like to be touched. He did, however, like to sneak up behind you in stealth mode so that you would suddenly feel warm breath fluttering over the back of your neck. But as soon as you turned around, he would be stepping away.

Nothing to see here, folks. Keep movin’.

Amy baked Susan a strawberry rhubarb pie which was soooo good. What’s a farm stay without a fresh baked pie?

Susan was gracious enough to drive us around a bit, since it was such a beautiful day. We ended up trying to find the Kluge Winery, which is just gorgeous. However the main road was closed so we were directed by a very stern man to take the detour. The detour turned out to be ridiculously long, so by the time we got there we decided to stay for a glass.

I think this was also the day Erin stopped by to pick up a sheep and a goat, so it was really nice to meet her. We also met Maggie, who is delightful.

After a bit of relaxing and drinking in the beauty of the farm, it was time for evening chores and dinner. Susan whipped up a delicious pistachio cream pasta dish which I can’t wait to make again.

Saturday morning found us headed to the local diner for breakfast, where we were to discover to our horror that they were out of biscuits!!! There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but we managed to survive when they gave us a basket of slider buns to keep the peace.

After breakfast, Susan took us over to Chicken World.

Chicken World is everything you think it’s going to be. They have a Chicken Nursery, Chicken Daycare, and a Chicken Academy. I chicken shit you not. A fantastic woman runs it – if you ever need chickens, this is the place to go. A certain very important family in our country has even bought chickens from her.

After Chicken World, we hit up a little antique store, where everyone but me picked up a few treasures. One of the owners told Kim the story of how he courted his wife. It involved tomato sauce and a loaf of Wonder bread. Ask him about it, if you’re ever in town.

On the way home we did a drive by of a house that was for sale, since I suddenly decided I was in the market for a 10 acre farm. We passed a family out for a walk who appeared to wave us down, so Susan stopped and asked them if they needed help. But apparently they were just saying hi and we hightailed it out of there. We then passed what looked like a junkyard but was apparently someone’s house. A man was tossing down great quantities of a white powder, and it reminded me of the funeral scene in Amadeus. We eventually found the house that was for sale, and while it was ok, there was no way I was going to live on that street with those families. Who knows WHAT decomposing bodies that guy was sprinkling powder on. We didn’t stop to say hi (again) to the walking family on our way out, but they did stare us down as we passed.

After that exhausting day we relaxed for a bit at the farm. Dinner was a delicious egg topped risotto and a salad. Simply lovely.

Sunday came way too soon. Kim’s mom had surreptitiously packed us each an Easter basket, which was so sweet, and so thoughtful, so we even had Easter baskets! We made the rounds to say goodbye to everyone and took a long last look at the farm before we headed home.

As soon as we got home we booked hotel rooms for the shearing weekend on April 24th. I can’t wait to go back.

Some of my favorite photos:

Big Ernie:

Heading out to graze:

I’ve been daydreaming about vacations I want to take. The impossible sort of vacations that I’ll probably never be able to take. Sort of once in a lifetime trips.

Bora Bora, you say? Fiji, perhaps?

No. Not even close.

I mean, if someone wanted to pay for me to go to one of those places, I sure as hell wouldn’t turn it down. But on my own dime? No way.

What I really want to do, really really want to do, is go visit the polar bears at the Hudson Bay. (And I wanted to do this even before the Olympics did a feature on it). The problem is, the package I want to do costs $10,000.

Per person.

That’s the 5 day ‘enthusiast’ package. The other options are $5k and $3k. Per person. So yeah….that’s probably not going to happen. But boy, do I love polar bears.Sigh.

The other vacation I really want to take is go to a dude ranch in Montana, or Wyoming. Just you and the cowboys, in the wild west, some horses, some cattle. Very City Slickers.

I found a really cool package at a ranch for…..$4,000 for two people, 6 nights. You get to ride horses every day and herd the cattle, and there is a spa, I think. As Aaron says, ‘We have to pay them to go do their work for them??’

I found a cowgirl camp that is women only for about $1500 per person. But what are the odds I’m going to find a few friends who want to do it with me and can take the time off work all at the same time?

Oh well. A girl can dream…

We headed out for our annual January trip to Snowshoe on Saturday morning. We really should have really paid more attention to the weather reports and left Friday, but we didn’t want to pay for another night, and Saturday is kind of a waste anyway since the slopes are so busy during the day. So we left around 10am, after it had already started snowing. 66 wasn’t too bad, but by the time we hit 55, things had gone rapidly downhill.

The roads hadn’t been plowed or treated at all, and we were heading into the mountains. Oy.

The 4 Runner handles pretty well in the snow, but Aaron was still taking it easy. I think we hit a high of 25mph twice. And what was scariest about it was the idiots flying past us – I’m really shocked we didn’t see any of them flipped over later on.

It was a tense ride, but Aaron had it all pretty much under control. Then we came to what I like to call The Death Slide. We were going downhill, on a completely snow covered road with barely any traction, coming up on a turn, and while there was a guardrail, the other side of the guardrail was a steep drop into trees and I think a creek. Aaron was crawling along in Low, and we started to slide. The steering wheel was turning, but we were headed straight for the guardrail. And the cliff. I jokingly told him he was making me nervous, but when he came back with, “I’m making myself nervous!” I knew we were in trouble.** I was knitting at the time (a lace pattern, no less) and I started shaking so badly my needles started banging together (I still haven’t gone back to look at that row and see how many mistakes I made).  I noticed my fingers had turned white and I wasn’t ‘breathing’ so much as ‘panting in terror’. I could only picture us careening over the edge of the guardrail, tumbling down the hill, and coming to a rest at the bottom of the mountain. The empty, deserted mountain where we would probably not be found for days.

Suddenly the tires started to grip and we started turning away from the guardrail and back on to the road. A little too much back on to the road and into the other lane, but luckily no cars were coming the other way.

Needless to say, Aaron got us safely through The Death Slide, and then another one, this time a right hand turn with no guard rail. Finally we made it down the mountain (passing quite a few cars struggling and skidding to get up) and we stopped for much needed pit stop.

**Aaron claims we were never in any real danger, and I completely overreacted by almost going into a panic induced cardiac arrest, but what can I say. I suddenly realized how much I liked being alive and I wasn’t sure how long that was going to last!

The roads were slightly better when we crossed over into West Virginia, but we still had to go pretty slowly. Our 3.5 hour trip took almost 6.5 hours. But, we made it! We checked into our Rimfire Junior Studio (241 for future reference) and headed over to Silver Creek for some night boarding.

The conditions were really great, and it wasn’t really crowded at all. It was a good way to unwind after that drive. We had a few good hours and then called it a night.

We didn’t get out until about 11 on Sunday, which was nice because everyone else was heading in for lunch. There was lenty of snow, cold enough to be fast but not so cold we were miserable.

Aaron rode the Arbor park board and Flows I got him for Christmas last year, and now that he had his bindings set up better, he really loved the board. It definitely has more pop than his all mountain Never Summer. He had a good time playing around with his ollies and seeing what jumps he could hit along the way.

We ended up on the blacks by Soaring Eagle since that lift is always empty. I just wish people who insist upon snowplowing down blacks they really shouldn’t be on would do it on the side of the hill, not right smack in the middle of it. It’s just a recipe for disaster.

After a few hours we went in for some lunch at FireFox Grille, and learned they no longer sell bottles of their sauces. Horrors! That Bucket Hill sauce is freaking awesome!

We decided to hit Silver Creek again before people started coming over from the main mountain. We started getting tired after a few hours so we decided to call it a night. We hit up Red Rover for dinner and watched the end of the X-Games.

We were pretty sore so we decided to come straight home on Monday and not board. At least we saved some money on lift tickets. We made it home in 3.5 hours, a much nicer trip.

All in all it was another awesome weekend of boarding!

We found our B&B which was in the Latin Quarter, on a quiet street. We met our host, Jacqueline Pons, and she showed us around her room. We had a private bedroom and bathroom, and could get into her part of the apartment for breakfast or just to chat. She is a fascinating, wonderful woman…but I’ll get into that later. We refreshed a little bit and then headed out into Paris. Our B&B was only about ten minutes from Notre Dame, so we headed there first.

It was somewhere around 5pm, and there was a service going on. We quietly went inside to have a look around. I lit some candles for my dad and Aaron’s grandfather.

We hung out a bit, people watching and enjoying the view of the Seine.

We hopped on the metro…well, the RER C to be precise…and headed over to the Eiffel Tower.

Aaron wanted to take a bunch of pictures so we crossed the street to get a better view.

We wandered around a bit, and then headed back to the Latin Quarter for dinner. I had a delicious fondue. Other than that, the meal wasn’t much to talk about, but then we found….Gelato.

And it was really good Italian gelato. Oh, the amaretto. The dark chocolate. The hazelnut! It was incredible.

Anyway, by then we were exhausted so we hit the sack.

Wednesday was our last day in Paris, and last real day in France.

We took the train up to L’Arc de Triomphe.

Aaron could have spent all day watching the traffic go around the roundabout. It was fascinating. At one point they stopped the traffic so a woman in a wheelchair could cross from our street over to the center, where the Arch is. Finally we decided to see the rest of Paris. Well, more of it.

We wandered down the Champs Elysee, found some sandwhiches and coffee, and did a little shopping. By that I mean we stopped in Nike and Adidas so Aaron could look at their shoes.

We saw the Obelisk, and stopped for a rest at le Jardin des Tuileries.

Finally we landed at the Louvre.

We people watched for a bit, but we didn’t go in. Twice now I’ve been to Paris and not gone in the Louvre. I’m just not a museum person.

We headed back over to Notre Dame and found the Puma shop for Aaron to browse in. Then we crossed the Seine and hit the Latin Quarter for a drink at a cafe.

We finally had enough people watching and went back to the B&B so I could check in for our flight. Jacqueline invited us over for some wine and cheeses, and she let me use her computer to check in.  Those cheeses were beyond amazing. The wine wasn’t bad either. We listened to a lot of her stories – she has led a fascinating life, but I think I’ll save her for another post. Finally we headed out for our last night.

First stop: a cafe, for un pichet du vin rouge pour moi, and un cidre for Aaron.

We were still full from all the cheese, so we skipped dinner and went straight out to the boat tour of the Seine, for which Jacqueline had given us tickets.

The boat tour was great – we got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and saw the smallest house in Paris, and the oldest.

On the boat:

Afterwards we were a bit peckish, so we grabbed a gyro from a vendor in the Latin Quarter. According to Aaron it was The Best Gyro Ever.

And of course, we had more gelato! Oh, strawberry, you were delicious!

We sat and ate it outside the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, which is an English bookstore we had stopped in earlier.

And then back to the B&B. Jacqueline had asked us to pop in when we came home for a nightcap.

She told us more stories and showed us a television program that had been made about her husband (and her) in Argentina about 25 years ago. Then she broke out the Papas Fritas, which is apparently some sort of moonshine. She made it with I think potatoes. It was delicious, but I am not a straight liquor drinker and it was strong.

Then she said she had something stronger. I passed, but took a sip before handing it over to Aaron. Good Lord that stuff was strong. It was homemade cherry hooch – I’m pretty sure it would make a good accelerant. Smelling it got me a little drunk.

Finally we convinced her we actually needed to get some sleep before getting up early the next morning, so we said our good nights.

She takes a picture of everyone who stays with her, for her guestbook. Here’s ours:

We passed out, heads swimming from the booze. I knew we wouldn’t be able to miss our alarm, since every morning at 8am the church next door rings its bells. All of its bells. For ten minutes, non stop. No one in the Latin Quarter can sleep past 8, I’m pretty sure.

So we had a quick breakfast with Jacqueline and headed out. We picked up the RER B at Luxembourg and headed for CDG. We got there without incident, although I was a little motion sick from the train, and I’m sure, the moonshine.

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful.

And that was France!

Monday morning we checked out of La Lanterne after having some coffee. We picked up some sandwiches and pastries at the boulangerie before hitting the road. We took the autoroute since we wanted to stop by La Rochelle, along the coast, before continuing on to our Chateau.

The toll roads are certainly not cheap in France, but they do get you where you want to go.

We arrived at La Rochelle and figured we had about an hour to wander around.

We found a parking spot and headed down to the water to check out the town, which I had heard was beautiful. I suppose it is more attractive when the water level is higher. It was incredibly low, showing off all the muck instead of the pretty sea.

The old port:

We wandered around the shops and picked up some more sandwiches and pastries. I think I prefer the countryside to the seaside.

We found some decent gelato:

And that was it for our visit to La Rochelle!

We were very excited to head to our next destination: Chateau de Tennessus.

Chateau Tennessus is a 14th century chateau that was purchased by an English couple who have spent 15 years renovating it and turning it into a B&B. It was phenomenal, in every sense.

It was incredibly surreal to have just been traipsing around ruined castles, trying to imagine what it would have been like to live in them way back when…walking up tiny winding staircases and wondering, ‘How on earth were they able to go up and down these narrow steps all the time?!‘ and then actually having to do it to get up the three stories to our room!

Speaking of which, our room, The Sentinel. This is a view from the door:

And a view from the bathroom door. There is a little kitchenette behind the table in the back corner which stored our breakfast supplies and coffee pot (they brought up fresh bread and croissants in the morning) so we could enjoy breakfast in bed.

Since the next morning would be Aaron’s birthday, Philippa, the owner, comped us a petite bottle of champagne, which was very sweet. (The gesture, not the champagne…)

Our room was on the top floor of the keep (which is the oldest part of the chateau) and we could also get up to the roof.

Which is where we had a picnic with the wine and food we bought at the Hypermarche in Parthenay before reaching the chateau.

The chateau is surrounded by a working farm, and it was so serene and peaceful. All you could hear were the occasional cow’s mooing. I loved all the sheep (but didn’t see any border collies!)

We didn’t do too much but explore the grounds and the chateau and go to sleep.

The next morning was Aaron’s birthday. It was so amazing to wake up in the morning and remember we were in a castle. We took our coffee on the roof as well.

We spent more time relaxing on the grounds and playing with their two labs. They have a younger lab who loved to chase the frisbee (and chase the ducks in the moat…) and an older lab who liked to retrieve huge giant stones from the moat and drag them around, expecting us to…toss them for him? It was a bit bizarre. Anywhere, here are more pictures of the chateau.

The King in his bed.

The great room – which is where the other rooms get served their breakfasts in the morning.

View from the courtyard.

I loved all the roses.

In the courtyard.

We never pulled the drawbridge up, but I think they let you if you want.

The King in his throne.

I just kept walking around our room saying, “I can’t believe we are sleeping in a castle tonight!”

The weather was perfect, as well.

The birthday boy.

I still can’t get over how wild it was to have been wandering through ruined castles, and the next night sleeping in a restored castle. It was such an amazing experience (if you like castles) and I’m so glad we were able to do it. I wouldn’t mind going back and renting it out with a bunch of family and friends and just relaxing for a week. Maybe when it’s warm enough to swim in the pool….

There are many more pictures of the rest of the grounds, the pool, and the garden (as well as the rest of our trip) in our Flickr set.

Around 11 we needed to push off and head to Paris. We planned to drop Pepe le Peugot at the Sixt office at Orly airport and then take the train into Paris to finish off the last two nights of our trip. We took the autoroute again (and at great expense again) and stopped at the Autogrille for some lunch. I love that they serve mini bottles of wine, plates of cheese and plates of prosciutto in their buffet. I could eat that every day and be happy.

We found Orly without incident and dropped the keys in the return box. It was a bit of a hike to get to the Orlyval train which connected us with the RER B to get us into Paris, but we managed to get seats on the RER. We got off at Luxembourg and walked to our B&B…