I flew up to Boston on Thursday, gave a presentation on Thursday evening, then drove to Amherst, MA to spend the night in her home, arriving at 12:30 AM. Up at 6:30 AM to see her and the kids off before school, and then I spent a wonderful, lazy morning reading, visiting a coffeeshop, visiting my sister at her school where we laughed at everyone's doubletakes when they saw the two of us together, shopping, and then off to Deerfield Academy for a college fair. Once that was over, the Twin Retreat could officially begin. We packed up the car and headed off to Bennington, NH to spend the weekend in her new vacation home.
We took the scenic route up here, and stopped first at the New England Fabric store where I made some fun purchases.
(I see a cute little something for my niece being made with these pink owls - aren't they adorable!)
We also took the time to walk around downtown Keene to shop for trinkets for the kiddos (just because they weren't invited on this trip, we don't want them to think we don't think of them!) and to pick up some Thai food to bring back to the house for dinner. We arrived around 9:45 PM only to discover that we hadn't brought keys. Oops!
We found some flashlights and went around checking all the windows and doors to see if any had been unlocked, but no luck. We called her contractor to see if he was around to let us use his key, but no answer. We called her husband to see if he had hidden a key here somewhere. Nope. So, we arranged blankets in the back of the car and settled in for a Thai picnic, prepared to spend the night in the car.
A little after 10 PM, just as we were hooking my laptop up to the outlet in her car to watch a movie (gotta love modern technology) a truck pulled up. Apparently the contractor had received our message and had come to rescue us. Ericka hopped out of the car and rushed over to greet him, only to stop short when she discovered it was the cops. Apparently, a neighbor had seen us nosing around with flashlights and thought we were trying to break in (which we were). Luckily, this was a very good-natured cop with some time on his hands, so he hung around to see if he could help us find a way in. We found an enormous ladder, and he helped us move it around to get onto the porch roof to see if the upstairs windows were locked. I just had to take a photo of that!
But no luck. Then he found something in his car to help us jimmy open a window, and right after 11 PM, we finally made it inside. Here he is, our hero, whose name we forgot to learn. Gotta love the guys in blue!
So, it's late, and we've got a big day planned tomorrow, but can't go to sleep yet! Don't see her often enough to waste time sleeping. Stay tuned for more adventures with the Bobsey Twins!
