Day 1 of our summer road trip up north, 7/9/25, Rockville, MD to New Paltz, NY

We left our home in The Village At Rockville around 10:30a after our last-minute packing and loading the car. I’d made us melted Brie and ham sandwiches for the road. We stopped to gas up our 2014 Accord close to home on Darnestown Rd. before taking I-270 north to Frederick, continuing on to Rt. 15 through the rest of MD and on to the outskirts of Harrisburg, PA. I drove the first stretch feeling mostly relaxed and happy to be on our way. Andrea then got us to Hazelton, PA via I-81 and I-81, stopping for lunch at a McDonald’s there. A Mona Lisa reproduction there gave us a good laugh!2

I took the third leg up through Wilkes Barre and Scranton to I-84 and on to Port Jervis, NY. And Andrea got us from there to New Paltz, NY, taking backroads — Rt. 209 through Ellenville and then 55 and 299, along and then across the Shawangunk Mountains with some beautiful vistas.

It was about 300 miles in total — plenty far enough for one day for these two septuagenarians. After resting some at our well-appointed room in the New Paltz Hampton Inn, we drove down Main Street to a nice little Vietnamese restaurant bustling with mostly young people. There we ate vermicelli, veggies, tofu and chicken. We each had a cold beer, which went down nicely with the delicious food. Afterwards, we went for a pleasant stroll on Main Street, appreciating the small, college-town flavor of the place.

The only downer was realizing that I’d forgotten to bring my swimming bag. I’d been looking forward to fresh water swims in both Lake Champlain and Lake Vanare. I didn’t allow myself to get too crestfallen, though. The positive church experience I had the previous Sunday had stayed with me since then, bringing a kind of grounded calm and sense of perspective. I texted my trusted brothers-in-law, Gene Goundrey and Bob Stein, to see if either had an extra swimsuit to bring to our family vacation site at Lake Vanare, NY. (They both did!)

Day 2, July 10, New Paltz, NY to Shelburnen, VT

We arrived in Shelburne around 2:30p after a comfortable 200 mile drive north from New Paltz. We had a good breakfast at our Hampton Inn there, which sustained us into the afternoon. Andrea drove us up I-87 to just south of Saratoga, NY where we stopped for coffee and gas. She was able to reach our old friend Mary Janet in Ireland via a WhatsApp phone connection while we were driving. It was good for both of us to connect with her and hear of her ongoing adventures living on the Emerald Isle.

I drove from Saratoga north on I-87 to exit 20 through Queensbury and on to Rt. 149 to Ft. Anne, NY. We drove behind a big truck for most of that way and were glad we were in no hurry. From there we headed north on Rt. 4 to Whitehall, NY and then east to Fairhaven VT where we stopped at the Vermont Welcome Center for restrooms and lunch. It was in the mid 80’s by noon but we found a shaded spot out front to eat our Vietnamese leftovers from last night.

Andrea drove us the last leg north on Rt. 22A through western VT. The pastoral rural scenery was a delight and we stopped briefly to take it in.

Paul Morrow, our host, was mowing the lawn when we arrived on Pine Haven Shore Lane, right on Shelburne Bay, around 2:30p He helped carry our luggage into his modest family home, where we greeted his wife Emily, Andrea’s longtime friend and former roommate at Oberline College in the 1970’s. We got settled into our comfortable bedroom before joining Paul and Emily for conversation outside on their lawn, overlooking the bay. It was good reconnecting with them. We shared our feelings about the current political reality and lamented Kamala Harris’ defeat after the four of us had watched the upbeat Democratic Convention together here last August.

Andrea and I had a nice nap before supper and reengaging in conversation with Emily and Paul. We’re both looking forward to spending time with them over the next few days before leaving for Lake George on Sunday morning.

Days 3, July11 — Adventures in Shelburne and Burlington

Our first full day in Shelburne started with Andrea and I exploring nearby Shelburne Bay Park, a peninsula in Lake Champlain with large tracts of accessible shoreline. We enjoyed the cooler morning temperatures under the shady forest that abuts the shore there, following a well-marked hiking trail.

Andrea and I made a music video using a recorded hymn while panning an iPhone camera to capture the dramatic sunlight coming through the high limbs of the surrounding trees. The slow, melodic choral singing was a perfect accompaniment to the reverential images of the shady forest. Making the music video together was fun, and we sent it out to our church community. It inspired us to make a second one of moored sailboats offshore to music from a Boccherini cello concerto.

Another more challenging adventure involved going out rowing with Paul in his elegant skiff that afternoon. Paul’s love for rowing almost daily in Shelburne Bay resonated with my own love for daily bike rides. Paul had lent me a swimsuit and patiently demonstrated how to launch the boat from the rocky shore in front of their lakeside home. I hadn’t realizd that his boat had oars for two rowers. It was a learning curve for me to learn how to sit and row in tandem with Paul’s oarstrokes in front of me.

The boat’s relative narrowness required holding the oars one hand above the other. This added complication made it challenging for me to stay in synch with Paul at first. But I quickly got the hang of it. It was satisfying to be part of a two person crew, propelling our craft through calm waters out to the center of the mile-wide bay.

Paul said that his boat was a “St. Lawrence Rowing Skiff”, developed for use in the Thousand Islands. He usually goes out solo but seemed happy enough to have some company. We rowed for less than an hour, but I got exhausted before then and Paul rowed solo to get us back to shore. We had some good conversation as he shared some of his experiences as a forensic pathologist in Vermont, and more recently in Australia and New Zealand.

A third adventure was dining with our hosts at a fabulous Chinese fusion restaurant that evening in nearby Burlington. It was an upscale place that Paul and Emily knew well. I don’t have the gastronomic vocabulary to describe the new tastes and textures I experienced, but they were universally delightful, and included scallion pancakes, mushroom eel, Buddha’s Beef (seitan), and a refreshing iced tea with hybiscus syrup. Andrea and I were happy to pick up the tab for this memorable feast.

Day 4, July 12: a Generous Invitation, and a Visit with Another Old Friend

The highlight of our last full day with Paul and Emily in Shelburne was a conversation our hosts initiated. This was our third summertime visit at their lovely Shelburne Bay summer home. The Morrows were decades-long expatriates, having made a substantial professional and personal life for themselves first in Australia but currently in New Zealand. Their Shelburne home was where Paul was born and raised by his Quaker parents, both medical doctors. Paul had become s chief medical officer in both Australia and New Zealand before retiring last year. Emily had a thriving law practice in New Zealand, though both of them were now initiating new part-time careers in counseling (Emily) and chaplaincy (Paul). They returned to Vermont for a few weeks every summer. Andrea and I both admired Emily and Paul for their strong life force and very active “retirement”.

Andrea and Emily had remained close friends since college. They spoke by phone regularly during all the Morrows’ decades in Australia and New Zealand.

Emily and Paul sat us down that morning after breakfast to make us a very generous offer. They were inviting Andrea and me to visit them in Auckland, NZ within the coming year. They had issued a similar invitation the summer before, but this time it was much more specific and elaborate. Emily and Paul had an alternative residence that they owned in Auckland where we could stay, and they would act as active hosts throughout our time there. Emily even offered to help financially if we needed it. Andrea and I were deeply touched, and excited, and we have now made specific plans to visit Emily and Paul in New Zealand next February!

That Saturday was mostly a quiet day. The only excursion that Andrea and I made was a short drive to visit an old friend, Betty McDevitt, who had moved to a retirement community in Shelburne so as to be close to her son and his family there.

We had visited Betty at the Wake Robin community last summer as well. Betty is now in her 90’s and has self-admittedly lost some of her intellectual acuity, yet gladly affirms that she has never been happier. She greeted us warmly and took us to lunch with her in the community dining room. During lunch, she shared about her recent birthday party, and reveled in the love of her son’s family, especially her grandchildren. She took us back to her apartment, still festooned with flowers and other birthday decorations. Andrea in particular felt gratified to stay connected with her old friend from her hometown, New Castle, PA, and a sister alumna of Oberlin as well.

TO BE CONTINUED…

John Bayerl, 7/26/2025