Piecing together one of our long coddiwomples is akin to putting together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Everyone has a technique, but most of us figure out the corners and fill in the rest as we go.
Travel remains a novelty, and I cannot imagine staying in one place for four months. Why choose a single spot when we can explore oceans, deserts, mountain ranges, plains, and a myriad of National Parks? There’s still so much of this great nation to experience and see. Thankfully, we’re still healthy enough to be this active in our travel and hiking. But it’s not lost on me that Samwise will turn nine on this upcoming odyssey, while Emily will be eight next month.
What’s that passage from Jack Kornfield’s Buddha’s Little Instruction Book? “There is one simple thing wrong with you—you think you have plenty of time.”
So, it’s off we go, adventuring while all three of us still can. These lusty trips take energy, endurance, and strength. In the first 19 days this December, we’ll hit 14 stops and hike in many of them.
Of course, we have our favorite landing spots where we’ve had good luck. These are places where I know Samwise and Emily can roam freely. Sometimes, it also has to do with the landscape and hiking options, and in some cases, we have grown fond of a town because of the people we’ve met—some we’ve kept in touch with.
Tonight, I’m revealing our first of several anchors. This does not mean the order in which we’ll get to a place, but the priority set making sure we can find affordable lodging.
Over the next two and a half months, other starred locations will be trotted out, but not all of them. I like leaving some surprises for you.
It’s kind of like opening Christmas presents slowly throughout the day.
Our first stop is special to us in many ways. We’ve visited on each of our western road trips, but the time we’ve stayed has altered from short to long and back to short again.
We stayed for only four nights last winter, but it was a memorable visit. However, we did not bump into any of the residents we’ve come to enjoy over the years.
Before announcing this two-week visit, let me tell you something about the people who live there. A brief grocery store encounter one early Sunday morning last February says much about this town.
I was one of the first customers. I picked up a bunch of bananas and a carton of strawberries and headed for the lone open checkout line.
A man in a cowboy hat was also approaching the same register but in the opposite direction. He was just ahead of me and had four items.
Now, where we live, especially post-pandemic, with so many from southern New England now calling the Mount Washington Valley home, there could often be an unspoken race to be the first to put down our groceries.
So here I was, closing in on the checkout line, but the other fellow was clearly going to get there first.
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