You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod

[catherine]

Very cute, but I really feel it's been HGTV white-washed. And I agree with you about the barn doors. I know it's hard to modernize something while still staying true to its architectural heritage, but I give this house a C in that regard. Too many gimmicks.

I like the pine/tile entryway the best, frankly. When I saw all the white ,I wondered what the wood was like underneath. Not that I'm a fan of 70s dark wood, but I do like an element of natural warmth.

I wonder what George Walker thinks.

ETA: The back yard is really cool

[early morning]

Timely post, lol. We just got back from 3 days on the Cape, and a quick three days in Vermont, NH, Maine. I love Cape Cod, at least when we go, which is March/April or late Oct/November. Hotels are cheap, nothing is crowded, it's lovely. Ditto with Ogunquit, which is the only Maine place I really have spent any time in. If I had any money, I'd live in New England!! I am really envious of those of you who do live there!

[rosarugosa]

I hope you enjoyed your vacation, Early! Where did you stay on the Cape? I don't know Ogunquit too well, other than passing through route 1 on the way to Portland.

[early morning]

We stayed in West Yarmouth this time. We have some extended family in Yarmouth Port, and love that whole area of the Cape. Ok, we like ALL the Cape, but the further from the canal, the better, IMHO. We always try to have breakfast at Chatham airport at least once per trip (go early, the waits can be crazy all year!)- they have amazing food, and - airport!! Drove out to P-town, diverting off to the shore when possible. Were able to score some Eastham turnips at a farm stand. I think we'll make a turnip pie with part of them for Thanksgiving dinner, since we're in charge of desserts.

[catherine]

We stayed in West Yarmouth this time. We have some extended family in Yarmouth Port, and love that whole area of the Cape. Ok, we like ALL the Cape, but the further from the canal, the better, IMHO. We always try to have breakfast at Chatham airport at least once per trip (go early, the waits can be crazy all year!)- they have amazing food, and - airport!! Drove out to P-town, diverting off to the shore when possible. Were able to score some Eastham turnips at a farm stand. I think we'll make a turnip pie with part of them for Thanksgiving dinner, since we're in charge of desserts.

And where did you go in VT?

[early morning]

LOVE Vermont! Started our "official" trip (what we do after we actually arrive in a place, lol) in the Berkshires in Lenox, Mass, then drove up thru Vermont, around/up/down/around mountains looking at covered bridges. My dsis is a aficionado, lol. We were lucky in that it stayed dry and the skinny back roads were quite passable in a van w/o 4wheel drive. I would not have attempted them in any sort of foul weather! But I think we managed to see 18 - 20 in lower and mid-state. Beautiful country. Spent the night in Quechee at The Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm. I really like historic properties and stay in them when we can afford it, which is like almost never, lol. I was amazed at the price, which included a wonderful breakfast buffet the next morning. I think we hit the perfect off-season time - leaves gone, but too warm for skiing, and before trout season if you don't catch-release. Dsis wanted to visit The Vermont Country Store. It was fine, but not my cuppa... not much to distinguish it from any other store of that ilk. They no longer have my favorite candy (moth balls), which was sad. We ended up buying cheese, which was really good. What I really enjoyed in Vermont and NH was the lack of Dollar Generals, fast food chains, big box stores. BUT - I have to wonder how the lack of such impacts those who live there. For two days, driving through small towns, we saw no groceries, and no pharmacies, though quite a few general stores. Now, I get that it's a little state and larger towns are close by definition, but in the winter, how long does it take to stock up on groceries and other necessities? I did see some stressed-looking amazon drivers trying to make 8 point turns on a couple back roads - is that the answer? Amazon Fresh? Just curious.....

[catherine]

Quechee/Woodstock area is beautiful! And yes, just meandering through the state is fun. We don't really miss the lack of chains and retail, even though there are none on our island, but there are certainly some in the Burlington area. You also see them in places like Rutland and White River Junction, but they are few and far between for sure.

We shop off-island maybe once every couple of weeks. We have found we have 80% of what we need in the local mom and pop stores.

[early morning]

Well, lack of visual commercial clutter adds to the charm of visiting Vermont. It's great you still have small mom & pop stores. Wish we did. We don't shop at large chains unless there is no choice (and there's always a choice, lol). Still chains, but Aldi and Trader Joe's get about 95% of our food dollars, with the rest to independent producers (farm shops, local people under the radar of the Grocery Police...)

I could happily live "up East"! Well, except for the expense. Ohio is pretty cheap to live in!

[rosarugosa]

Woodstock and Burlington are both places I would like to visit someday. DH and I have spent a little bit of time in Bennington while staying in the Berkshires, and it is a really nice area. I only had one childhood family vacation that included a night or two in VT, so I don't really know the state very well. We stayed in a really crummy motel cabin, and I think that colored my view. I was an avid rock collector, so we visited a quarry and gravestone factory, and I took all these pictures of gravestones, lol. They weren't even anything special, it wasn't like taking pictures at the Hope Cemetery or Mt Auburn. The appeal of the headstones was the GRANITE! I came home with a bunch of granite fragments for souvenirs. I was a strange little girl.

[early morning]

Sounds like a great childhood, rr! I would have probably loved the crummy cabin, as we almost always stayed in the back of our pickup truck that had a camper shell - not a real camper- over it. Sleeping bags and all that. And seldom in camp grounds - who needs a shower or a *ahem* bathroom? All our family vacations when I was a kid were either fishing - which we all enjoyed- or scoping out good sites for bear hunting in Canada. You know where bears like to hang out? Garbage dumps. My vacations were visits to garbage dumps in Canada, lol. Made for some interesting "what I did on vacation" essays! And we saw lots of eagles and seagulls, and I got pretty good at looking for bear signs. Of course the country between dump sites was pretty! Cool about your early rock collecting, rosa. I'm not a rock "collector" and know very little about rocks, but I am a "picker-upper" of things that talk to me, and I generally have several small rocks, shells, seed pods, pretty leaves, or whatever, in my pocket. I have to be very careful in protected areas to NOT just pick up the pretties! I think the Berkshires are lovely. We stay at the Black Swan hotel -not swanky but nice (IMHO), reasonably priced, and you can request a room with a tiny lakeside balcony - and we have breakfast/brunch at the Chocolate Springs Café. We always try to make that a stop on our up-East trips - sometimes we manage to stop both coming and going.