A little piece of Heaven...

I have just had the most amazing weekend EVER! It was a perfect and extended period of time where everything in the universe was in alignment - everything worked out just the way you think it should. Let me explain.

I have been wanting to see the leaves change color ever since I moved out east. Timing, distance, and just pure circumstance kept me from making the trip from Philly to Vermont to experience this annual event. Until now. I made a promise to myself when I moved to Boston - no matter what, I was going to see the leaves change color this year. Alone. With a friend. No matter what. How perfect was it, then, when I met "J" and mentioned this was a dream of mine, he said it was one of his, too. Right then and there, we promised each other we wouldn't have to fulfill this dream alone. No, we would live this dream together.

We started planning late, as "J's" schedule is constantly changing. It's like an amoeba - it has a life of its own, morphs when it needs to fit inside any environment, and can change at any given second. It's kind of exciting, though because it gives him a level of intrigue that he otherwise would lack as the totally open, honest, wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve-brit that he is.

We check every bed and breakfast in the state of Vermont. No rooms. Anywhere. Committed to sleeping in the car to make this trip happen, we finally come across what appears to be the last vacant hotel room in the entire state. It's in a town called Killington, which is 30 minutes away from our destination of Woodstock. I book it immediately, and we start getting excited.

We left Friday night after work and headed up. Several hours and wicked traffic jams later, we made it to the hotel - a ski lodge up in the mountains. Starving and exhausted, we found the only local place still serving food. We ordered some drinks, fried cheese and onions, played some air hockey, pool, and arcade games. We even met some friends with whom we shared shots and games of pool (we won each game, no thanks to "J" - I had to clear the table myself).

Saturday we slept in, woke up to some fantastic Zeppelin tunes, got ready and headed out for a day in Woodstock. We grabbed a late breakfast at a cute little cafe in town (I got quiche!!!!), made some Canadian friends, and headed to pick up our bikes. We mapped out our 20 mile trip and, with lots of ill-placed confidence, started peddling. And peddling some more. For about 4 hours we went up a lot of hills, and down a few. We saw covered bridges. Beautiful leaves. Empty fields. Cows. Horses. The gorge. It was incredible. We stopped to take pictures. And to fix my bike. And shop for glass. It could not have been more perfect. I take that back. If I was able to at all feel my legs at the end, it would have been more perfect. Because I seriously thought "J" was going to have to do the whole ride-on-the-handlebars maneuver with me. It's nice knowing that he would have, but that he didn't have to in the end. Although it was a close call.

Afterwards, we bought some wine, cheese, crackers, maple syrup candy and headed back to our hotel. We rested, got our energy back, and celebrated a relationship milestone. High on life but low on energy, we headed to dinner at an adorable New England-style inn. We had the best butternut squash soup ever. We had a wonderful dinner of salmon and conversation, followed by a glass of port and the Red Sox game. The night was amazing - a perfect ending to a perfect day.

We woke up this morning to the sun shining brightly through the window of our hotel room. We were hesitant to leave this wonderful place, but excited to drive to our next stop, Brattleboro. We stopped and had breakfast - pumpkin pancakes with pure Vermont maple syrup - at a cute little diner nearby. Our waiter was straight (and I don't mean sexual orientation) out of The Sopranos. We had a totally appropriate conversation that to an outsider would sound like anything but, and cracked ourselves up thinking about the poor conservative couple sitting next to us, trying to enjoy their eggs.

Brattleboro was awesome. Total granola town with hippies, no bras, unshaven armpits, liberals, and artists. We loved it! We enjoyed lots of coffee, reading, tree climbing, and movie-making (make sure to check out "J's" facebook page for my debut role as the granola secret agent).

All-in-all, it was an amazing weekend. The drive back was all about sharing personal experiences (some of which were very uncomfortable (i.e. mine)). I will always be grateful that I was able to share this dream with "J" - the feeling of peace and happiness is one that I will not easily forget. I hope that I will have many more just like it. Yeah, the universe is a pretty awesome thing...