Sunday, March 3, 2024

We're home!

We arrived back in Barre a little before 3 pm yesterday (Saturday) after a rainy ride from Wilkes-Barre, PA, where we often stay on trips south.  It feels good to be home although there's a mountain of laundry, a bunch of obligations, and some grocery shopping to be done.  On the way home, we stopped at a Panera in Glens Falls, NY, for lunch and also bought a loaf of their Rustic Bread.  Our Panera closed during the pandemic, and I miss that bread.  We had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner - yum!  Lunch lady meals can be very comforting now and then.

We wish we could move our house to Fairhope, Alabama, right by Mobile Bay although we know it would be extremely hot in summer.  Our bungalow there was small and a little funky, but it was right across the street from the Bay where we could watch the sunset almost every night.  We enjoyed nine straight days of sun, and only the last day was cloudy and humid.  Not bad!   On our last day, we returned to the library for a book review program, followed by lunch at our favorite Lebanese restaurant and a little shopping downtown.

Fairhope feels like the Cadillac of towns with helpful amenities everywhere.  Some of the drinking fountains offer bowls for people and for the many dogs that are walked along the Bay.  We enjoyed meeting the dog lovers and offering pets to many of their companions.  Vicarious living for us, now long dog-less. 

The park by the Bay held a nice monthly Saturday market with crafters, food vendors, and more.  There was a musical event Friday afternoon which also attracted a crowd.   A favorite restaurant on the pier is still under construction after last year's hurricane.  I missed their fried green tomatoes this time.

The library has a great auditorium for programs with a pass-through kitchen for refreshments.    The Friends have a wonderful, bright used bookstore, and they also have carts full of free books outside the store which is open a few days a week.    The library also offers a charging station for visitors' devices with various plugs visible.


We don't know if we'll ever return to Fairhope, alas, as the four day drive, especially around busy cities, is very tiring.  We were on the road 34 hours and covered close to 2,000 miles!  Next year we are thinking of flying somewhere as we did years ago when we visited Charleston.  On that trip, we flew in, took a taxi downtown, and walked everywhere for a week.  

Meanwhile, it's back to reality today with lots of loose ends to pick up as well as check ins with family and friends.  Have a great Sunday!



1 comment:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

the driving is very tiring isn't it especially if it is 36 hours - yes you can see things along the way but I don't like to be in the car for more than 10 hours at the most without stopping for the night. Flying seems to be the way to do it - but if you don't want to rent a car you need to have public transportation available to uber's I guess.