My sister and her husband were here for the weekend. They came in on Friday and tooled around Burlington while the b.h. and I were at work, and then we all went for dinner at the Local Restaurant. It was a fabulous meal, made more fabulous by my recently quitting working there. They say familiarity breeds contempt, and not having been in that building for a week and a half, I will agree. It felt a lot more comfortable knowing I didn't have to come back again until I wanted to. We stuffed ourselves silly and went home to bed.
Saturday we both went to work again while my sister and her husband went to yoga, the bookstore, and the farmer's market. I envied them from behind the counter at the Local Grocery, but my day was fairly easy and ended early.
We went to dinner that night at a nearby barbecue restaurant, then came home and took the dogs for a hike in the woods. After that we watched the hockey game, which the Blackhawks won, and then turned in. On Sunday the b.h. went off with some friends from the CS, while me sister and her husband and I took the dogs and went hiking. We went up to Owl's Head, from which I took this picture:



The view was lovely, but the hiking rather sucked. We made a couple different stops only to find nearly impassable trails and lots of mud. Ah well, the quarter mile up to the lookout point was plenty of exercise for all of us- especially Wyatt.

The b.h. made dinner on Sunday night, while the rest of us sat around reading and napping. A lovely time all around.

My sister and her husband left on Monday morning, and the b.h. and I took the dogs to yet another lovely Green Mountain State Park. I took quite some time cleaning out the car and packing water and snacks and long sleeves, etc. We had no real plan, but went off on a highway where we thought we had remembered there being a park. The sky was very hazy due to some wildfires up in Quebec, and we hoped that driving further South would make for clearer views. No such luck, it turned out, and also we were wrong about the park. After it became clear that we were mistaken, the b.h. pulled out our atlas and found a way to get to a different park nearby. The road was long and winding and bumpy, and the dogs were starting to get antsy by the time we finally got there. We were thrilled to see that there were no other cars or people anywhere as we drove in. (Even the park staff had been given the day off for the holiday, apparently.)
The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze as I leapt from the car and opened the back door to let the dogs out. And then, reaching into the back seat I realized, with great horror, that we had forgotten their leashes.
We let them out anyway, since there were no other people or cars, and eventually fashioned a leash for Kilgore from some bungee cords in our emergency roadside kit. Wyatt is no worry to us, but Kilgore is both quick and agile, and neither of us had any desire to lose him on a trail that marked a Bear's Den as one of the points of interest.
You might be surprised at how long three quarters of a mile can be. Having lived here for just over a year, I am only surprised that I continue to be surprised. Anyway, we all made it in one piece, and the drive home was quiet.