Another 700 miles

Yet another work trip is complete - I filed the travel reimbursement yesterday and am working on typing up my to do list today. And as all work trips go I got as much as I could out of my weekend before the meeting started. This time I visited Stacy in Woods Hole, MA and Lauren in New Hampshire before heading down to Providence, RI for the conference.

I flew into Boston where I was welcomed by the remnant tropical storm that had just passed us by in South Carolina. I was a bit concerned sitting in the Atlanta airport during my layover tha I may not get there, but the flight went out on time and the pilot did a good job navigating the weather. We landed with barely any turbulence and I was off and running (well driving) to the Cape. The drive down to Stacy's house was not as intense as it could have been - a bit windy and rainy but all in all not that bad.

on the road in Massachusetts

When I arrived Stacy and Brian were hanging out in the house and happy that I got there while there was still electricity (they were figuring they would lose it sometime soon). We hung out for a while chatting (as the storm carried on) and then decided we should go check out the water and see if there were any big waves. We navigated the puddles and downed trees, rerouted due to a closed road, and eventually ended up looking out on the storm. The waves were not as intense as we thought they may be but the wind was doing it's thing for sure!

me, Stacy and the chicken in the wind of Tropical Storm Noel

We decided that since the restaurant right down the road still had electricity we should hedge our bets and eat there rather than find ourselves back home without anything to eat. It turned out to be a good decision because back at the house it was dark and cold. We sipped some tea (complements of the gas stove!) and snuggled under blankets, which before long put us all to sleep and we called it a night. The next morning we got up to a clear, beautiful day with the sun shining and the idea of a storm crazy to imagine. We made ourselves a very impressive non-electric breakfast of eggs, chai tea and toast (toasted on a frying pan) and then headed out for a walk on the beach to see what washed up in the storm.

we didn't find too much but there sure was a LOT of seaweed!

I then headed out to get to Lauren before it was too late in the day to take a hike in the mountains (we jumped back an hour that night, plus it gets darker up there than in SC). We took the pup and headed to the White Mountains which are beautiful! I always forget how much I miss mountains :) One thing I noticed just in the drive from southern MA to mid-NH was the fact that the colorful trees turned to trees without leaves in just the 2 and a half hours of driving! Irregardless it was beautiful!

our hike in the White Mountains

The next morning my non-work days were over and I headed down to Rhode Island for the remainder of the trip (except for my quick trip up to Boston to talk to Stacy's class). I stayed at Jen's parent's house in southern RI (granted RI is about 45 minutes across so southern is a relative term) where the leaves were again in full color. Each morning we headed out to Providence and by the time we got home it was near dark, but the day of my presentation I headed home a bit early to rest and got to take a picture by the little lake next to their house!

At the end of the week, back up to Boston I traveled to fly home. Another 700 miles of traveling down. No plans for work trips in the near future, but we'll see what the next trip holds! :)