Long Day... Happy Ending

Haddock SeaDog

Friday, July 7

Long day on the road, in part because both NH and Vermont are “you-can’t-get-there-from-here” states. What the crow can do in 15 minutes takes us 30. Ultimately we’ll land in Bennington, in the SW corner of Vermont. Along the way we stop in Lebanon (NH) to meet a notary, sign some legal papers and trek to UPS to ship them back to Seattle. Then we unhitch the M3 and detour about 20 miles north to visit Joseph Smith’s birthplace. (Lunch along the way.) I expected just to take a picture of the monument and leave, but there was quite a bit more to see, and even Greg found much of it interesting. Extensive, beautifully maintained grounds, with an adjacent primitive campground for youth conferences and such.

Footings of the elder Smith home.

(stone "bridge" to the right )

Old Turnpike Road

Birthplace Memorial

Back in Lebanon, we reattach our “toad” and head north ever so briefly to access I-91 South. We reach the Elks Lodge in Bennington at 5pm. Greg drops in to the bar for the obligatory beer, and I wander into town. (Main Street is a block from the Elks.) Visited with the couple who run The Owl’s Nest (upholstery & antiques). She gave me vintage (1970s) stickers for NH & VT, which Greg promptly affixed to the MH. We have tickets for Moonlight & Magnolias (community theater) at 7:30. Lunch was late (and filling!), but we each ingest some protein (a brat for Greg; Famous Amos cookies w/ MILK for me) before walking to the venue.

(Cuban flag at the bottom 😃)

Great show! It's a farce based on the true dilemma faced by producer David Selznick when the original screenplay for Gone with the Wind had to be rewritten in 5 days by a new writer who'd never read the book. Selznick and the director synopsized (??) the story by acting out key scenes...  and the rest is history. Cast of just 4 - the 3 gentlemen and Selznick's secretary, who is a master of rapid-fire dialogue.

BlogThoughts…  As I’ve mentioned before, I know next to nothing about my own family history, but genealogy certainly can be fascinating. If you go back far enough, it’s amazing what you find. At the Joseph Smith Birthplace visitor center, there was a condensed genealogy starting with John Howland, one of  JS’s two 5th-great grandfathers who came over on the Mayflower. Through various lines over 400 years, such notables as Winston Churchill, the presidential Bushes, and Lucille Ball are part of the extended Smith family. 
I'll close with pics of two buildings I saw today. Both old. Both intriguing.

We've seen lots of old bldgs, but these parallelogram windows were a real surprise.
(Fortunately, we passed it 3 times so I finally got a decent shot.)

At the other extreme...
Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church (1892)
(Passed it walking - beautiful!)