2 Backpacks, 2 Bikes, a Van and a plan..: Retracing Old Steps in MA, VT, ME & NH

Hello Friends! As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Warwick, Rhode Island. It is our last night here in New England. We we will head out early tomorrow for the Mid-Atlantic for our last (and most notable) stop before heading out to Yellowstone. This Friday, our oldest son Dylan will receive his PhD in Biology from the University of Delaware. This will be our third Fighting Blue Hen commencement ceremony in 10 years, as both of our boys graduated with undergraduate degrees from U.D. and Dylan stayed on for graduate studies as well.

Although each graduation is special, and a time for parents to be proud, this one is especially poignant for us. Ten years ago, we moved Dylan into a dorm at the University of Delaware as an 18 year old boy, This week he will graduate for the second time, as an accomplished 28 year old man. We are very proud of his perseverance and dedication in reaching this challenging milestone and are very much look forward to his "hooding" ceremony on Friday morning, followed by his departmental graduation in the afternoon.

This past week has been filled with retracing old steps in New England. The weather here has been beautiful Spring weather. Cool at night and warm during the day with plenty of sunshine. As the miles passed, driving many of our old familiar rural routes through the northern New England states, there were still plenty of signs of the harsh winter just passed here.

Rough, ripped up roads made it a bumpy rides at times, with potholes galore. On some of the less traveled rural routes, particularly in NH and Vermont, you could still see the beating trees had taken from snow and ice. Branches hung where they'd snapped months ago. Stones, brush and other debris pushed aside by snowplows for months on end, still littered the roadsides in areas not yet cleaned up by Spring road crews. But amongst the debris were wildflowers and new green grass. The hope and promise that soft warms days are to come.

Over the course of this past week, we visited some of our old favorite breweries, including McNeill's in Brattleboro, Vermont, Smuttynose in Hampton, NH, Portsmouth Brewing in Portsmouth, NH, as well as 7 Barrels in West Lebanon, NH, Moat Mountain Smokehouse in North Conway, NH and Zero Gravity in Burlington, VT to name a few.

We had a lovely lunch in Williamstown, Massachusetts with our Niece Lillian to celebrate her upcoming graduation from Williams College and spent time visiting with my brother Scott and family in Grafton, NH as well.

But most of our time was spent just driving, enjoying the mountains, rivers and trees, reminiscing about the many wonderful family hiking trips and long weekends spent in the area. Here are some photos from the week.