Garden Song (Phoebe Bridgers)

Hi Ron and Deb!  

We’re home from our first east coast adventure, a trip to the Pocono “mountains“ and it was great!  

Andi found a very quiet AirBnB, the part time home of a female author (who once lived in Michigan), so there were all sorts of good books and a fully stocked kitchen. We passed a roadside farm stand on the way up Friday night and got some sweet corn which we grilled alongside “fratwurst.” There were at least 5 deer in the wooded lot next to us as we ate, and Bruno just stared, knowing from experience he’d never catch them anyhow.  

Andi made a big breakfast the next morning and we made plans to meet at a trail head about 30 miles away.  I took off on my bike and made a few wrong turns, so it ended up being more like 40 miles.  And while the Poconos aren’t really mountains (think the bigger hills just south of Traverse City), the ride was a challenge, but beautiful.  There were small dams holding back small lakes, low, old stone bridges, and wooden buildings so close to the road they must have been put there before cars arrived.  Many of them had been boarded up though, once-bustling places like the Sterling Inn that closed before COVID, though I’m sure the pandemic will shutter many more places before it’s over. 

We met at a hiking trail and did about a 4 mile loop that took us by a waterfall. It’s been a dry summer out here, so there wasn’t much water, but it was super relaxing and cool just the same. We got an outdoor drink on the way home at a near-empty place called The Indian Lake Inn, where the locals in the bar had given up on masks and a round of wine and beer cost $7.50.

Our dinner last night was pasta with a pesto Andi made with basil from our own garden and a wine we learned about on our trip to the Loire River Valley in France. We talked about life and our place in it, and in the quiet of crickets and cicadas, gave thanks for everything we get to enjoy. We think the puppy enjoyed it too; he refused to get in the jeep when we were leaving this morning.

It kind of sucked we couldn’t be together on our anniversary this year, but this trip made up for it.  And as with every anniversary, we thanked you both for hosting what remains to this day the best party we’ve ever attended.