A week or so ago, Rubaduc and I made plans for her and Giz to visit us in our “winter home” in New York. At the time the weather forecast was sunny and warm. Well warm for the season, in the lower 50’s. Perfect letterboxing weather!
In their letterboxing enthusiasm they decided to extend their little vacation an extra day by spending the night before our rendezvous in the resort village of Pittsfield. I will let the Duc tell you her harrowing tale of her night in Pittsfield but lets just say I didn’t have much to live up too.
They arrived Tuesday morning, right on time, which is technically late for the Duc and Giz, during a snow/sleet/hail/ice storm with 60 mph wind gusts. I did try to warn them of the change of weather but they were sequestered in their charming hotel and without internet access. It seems they never received my multiple emails about the foul weather.
As it turns out the day wasn’t a total loss as the Duc got some cool postcards, a few new stamps to plant from her carving minions, and a decent meal from The Towne Tavern in Averill Park, NY. Check out this menu item…
The Clydesdale – A full pound of fresh ground beef topped with 8 slices of hickory smoked bacon, 3 slices each of cheddar and American cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato and Mayo $13.95Yes, one of our group ordered this and no, they did not finish it!
Wednesday morning arrives and I am the first one up. Has the world been sucked through a black hole into an alter universe while we slept? No, I just couldn’t figure out how to close the upstairs bathroom door in the dark so I had to find my way to the downstairs bathroom which woke me up enough that I couldn't fall back to sleep. Brutal, I know.
The three of us headed off to do some letterboxing. First stop was the Barberville Falls Nature Preserve. Owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, it is not a big area but it is nice. The rocks around the falls were extremely slippery, covered in wet snow and all. We did not go all the way down to the base of the falls, as that would have been a wet slippery slide to the bottom, but we did manage to accomplish our goal.
We skipped the second destination when we discovered there were over 30 letterboxes there and headed to the Grafton Peace Pagoda. I love this place and was excited to find that it is not far from the house I am staying in. My first visit to the Pagoda was with Penrapture who actually did some volunteer work there during its construction.
Last time we were greeted by a handsome hungry orange cat who followed us back to the car for some leftover sandwich meat. This time we were greeted with what we thought were bear tracks but probably were a damn big dog. The size threw us off but they were not bear. He was home sleeping.
The Peace Pagoda is awe inspiring, even in the dim overcast morning light. Unfortunately we did not find what we came for but it didn’t matter. I am looking forward to going back there again and again over the next few months. This is a must see for those traveling through the area. As none of us were prepared for winter conditions we decided to skip the rest of the letterboxes and get back to the wood stove. I think this day is in the running for the shortest Rubaduc Letterboxing Day EVER, but we did end up with four boxes and that is better than many other days have been.
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