April Vacation: Day 1

Saturday began our first official day of April vacation. We had been throwing around all sorts of ideas about where to go, what to do, and how to best use our time. We talked about Vegas, Florida, Arizona, Mexico, Hawaii, and Foxwoods, but couldn't really decide and neither of us seemed too psyched about flying somewhere (tickets are so expensive!) So, for once, we didn't really plan anything (well, we had a loose plan.)

Friday night we headed out to Bennington Vermont, as Aaron had a race in Salem, NY on Saturday. Bennington is a strange little town, like most Vermont towns, (sorry Charlie) but beautiful. We stayed at the Knights Inn (formerly the Fife & Drum.) The hotel was, to say the least, very inexpensive. We usually insist on staying at a locally owned hotel, but this one, boy was it... interesting.

We had a hard time finding the hotel the night before because they didn't change the name on the sign, yet, to Knights Inn.

Yep, that's a coffee maker, in the bathroom!

Next to the (empty) toilet paper roll, near the toilet, can you see it? A bottle opener :)

You didn't get courtesy bars of soap. Instead, this was attached to the wall. You had to get a handful and run to the shower to lather up.

Our room- it did come with a fridge. Who knew such luxuries existed?

We kid, but love staying in odd places. It really makes us laugh, we leave with a ton of memories, and give small local business' support. Our visit would have been completely different had we stayed at the Hampton Inn. What would we laugh about?

We woke Saturday morning, had an evil but tasty breakfast at Friendly's, and drove the rest of the way to Salem (about 45 min.) The weather was extraordinary, 85 degrees in April!! The race, called Tour of Batten-Kill, is about an 80 mile race for the guys, and it was sweltering outside. My job for the day was to be in the "feedzones." What this means is when the guys (MetLife) come careening by me on their bicycle, I hold out a bottle of water for them to grab because they can only carry so many bottles, but need to consume lots of water on an 80 mile, 85 degree ride. They throw their empty water bottles on the ground, we went to collect them, refill them, and jump in the car to hit the next feedzone. I actually really enjoyed it. During the downtime, Claire and I talked and enjoyed the sun.

Claire and I, at the feedzone, waiting for all the boys of MetLife to come by.

I must state, MetLife is one of their sponsors. It would not be appropriate to disclude the fact they are sponsored in many other faculties. If you want to learn more about their team, click here. For the sake of time, I will refer to them as MetLife.

On the way home, we stopped to capture some pictures of the State lines and other tidbits that NY and Vt had to offer.

New York

Vermont

On top of Hogsback Mountain, Vermont

My covered bridge. I love covered bridges!!

Once we got home, we pretty much crashed!! What an exhausting day, but beautiful weather, exciting race, lovely scenery/ride and a great way to start our vacation!!