Friday, October 15, 2010

New England in the Fall?????

I am on a tour called "New England In the Fall". The tour starts with a guided city tour of New York after which we head up the NY State Thruway until we get to Albany where we take a right turn and head into Vermont where our hotel is situated in the beautiful Green Mountains. On the NY State Thruway we got a taste of what was to come as far as beautiful and colorful fall foliage. So much for expectations. At about 3/4 of the way to Albany the heater on the bus malfunctioned which wouldn't have been so bad except that along with the heat, went the windshield defroster. The rain was pretty intense so I spent the last 2 hours of the trip to Stratton Mountain Inn standing in the front of the bus wiping the windshield with paper towels so our driver, Randy could see where he was going in the dark and the wind and the rain. We made it to the hotel and everyone was happy about that and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Bentley's restaurant at the hotel. We thought we had gone thru the worst of the storm.
This morning our plan was to leave right after breakfast to head to the Vermont Country Store, then continue on to Woodstock, Quechee Gorge, Hogback Mountain and return to the hotel tonight. So breakfast went well. And we got to the Vermont Country Store with little trouble, although the wind and the rain was gradually turning to wind and sleet and eventually wind and snow. At the Vermont Country Store we bought a squeegee on a telescoping handle so that I could keep the windshield clear from my seat by reaching over Randy's head and swiping the
condensation off the windshield. So as we continued in the snow/sleet/rain/wind toward
Woodstock a few cars traveling in the opposite direction were beeping and flashing their
lights at us. Finally, a car signaled Randy to stop and told us that there was at least six
inches of snow accumulated on the mountain ahead of us and in fact another tour bus was stuck
in the mess. We decided the smart thing to do was to turn around and head back for the hotel,
and everyone on the bus was in agreement with the decision. So Randy made a 25 point turn
around in a 45 foot bus to head back down the mountain. Him driving, me squeegeeing and 46
passengers assuring us that they were not nervous and not freezing.
When we got back to the hotel, I quickly discovered that the restaurant would not open until dinner time, so how to provide lunch for 46 people became my next issue. There is a small sandwich restaurant in the town about 15 minute's walk from the hotel but by now the wind/ rain/sleet/snow was at it's most intense so I diplomatically convinced the hotel desk person
that he needed to shuttle my group to town or have a complete mutiny if 46 hungry, cold people
in his lobby. So shuttle he did, 15 at a time to the sandwich shop and back. The whole
process took about 2-3 hours. So everyone got fed and warm and settled in to enjoy the
windy/rainy/sleety/snowy view through the huge wall of windows of the hotel's restaurant. Later in the afternoon, Randy left on a hundred mile ride to Amsterdam, NY to get the heat and the defroster fixed and we found out that the bus that was stuck in the snow was there for two hours until a snowplow came and released them from their windy/rainy/ sleety/snowy hell.
So I am officially renaming this tour "New England in the Winter"

2 comments:

kathy said...

All I can say is.... well, there's NOTHING I can say.. what a trip !!! Such memories !!!

kathy and honour said...

WOW!
Is the snow pretty?
Are there any leaves left?!?!
Hope is gets easier!