It was Spring 2023 and I badly
needed to go on a vacation adventure, after the Covid enforced home-time and
several visits (as usual) to my sisters, Judy who lives in Baltimore and Sue
who lives in Los Angeles.
On the Road Scholar website I found the trip, “Wildlife, Walking & Hiking in the Green Mountain State," scheduled for October. Looking at the photo next to the trip description, I thought October in Vermont, trees changing colors, what a perfect 2023 adventure. Home base, where we adventurers would stay, was the Gray Ghost Inn in West Dover. Vermont. The best way to get there from Chicago (other than driving) was to fly into the Albany New York Airport (ALB), which was 90 miles from Gray Ghost. Road Scholar recommended the Dover Valley Cab company for transportation to and from ALB. When I called Valley Cab, Chris the driver/owner confirmed that he could pick me at ALB, drive me to West Dover, and take me back at the end of the trip on October 19.
On October 14, the
first day of my Green Mountain adventure, I texted Chris to confirm my arrival
time. He responded that he would be driving a black “gangster car,” and asked
that I text him after I got to ALB. That I did and Chris showed up about ten
minutes later, in a large black SUV with tinted windows and his company name
tastefully displayed on the passenger side. Off we went to the Gray Ghost Inn.
We chatted some and the two-hour travel time went by pleasantly. When we
crossed the boundary from New York State into Vermont, most trees had lost
their leaves! And the colors on the remaining trees were muted. I was mildly
disappointed, but Chris explained that the leaves had turned a few weeks
before, due to a very rainy summer and fall.
The Gray Ghost Inn
did not disappoint. The sprawling inn with a wide front porch was painted a bright yellow. Inside was a welcoming entrance area, with comfy chairs and a smiling innkeeper, who introduced herself as Cary and greeted me warmly. I looked forward to our 6:30pm Road Scholar get-to-know-you social
hour followed by dinner. But when I gave Cary my name and asked to register for the Road Scholar trip, she said
that it wasn’t scheduled to start until October 15, and she didn't have a spare room for me that evening . . . and I
wasn’t on the list of Road Scholar attendees for the program starting the next day.
Uh-Oh what was I
to do?
Cary found me a room
at the Big Bears Lodge, a half mile down the road and called Chris, who came
back quickly and drove me the short distance to the Lodge. After I got settled,
I looked at the Road Scholar itinerary that I had printed from the computer. It
listed activities for Day 1, Day 2, through Day 6, but I couldn’t find the
start and end dates listed anywhere. I signed into my Road Scholar online account
and under upcoming trips, there it was “Your departure to Vermont is in a
year” and as clear as could be the dates for my trip Oct 14 to Oct
19, 2024.
Oy. Not only did I arrive on the wrong day, I arrived in the wrong year!
After some panicky
thoughts, I called Cary and told her about my problem. She said she would
contact the Road Scholar Coordinator and see if they could get me into
the 2023 group starting the next day, Sunday October 15. I called my sisters,
each in turn, and wailed away. They listened and that helped a little bit. But
what helped even more was Cary's call back when she told me that I could be
added to the 2023 group and she would have a room at Gray Ghost for me on the
next day, Sunday.
What a relief! and I wrote in my
journal:
“A big mix-up on
my part – I signed up for 2024 and here I am in Vermont but mostly it’s fixed
and I won’t miss any hikes or walks. Just a half day walking around West Dover
on Thursday afternoon and a farewell dinner that night (the 19th) and
breakfast (the 20th).
Sunday around
noon, I got a ride to Gray Ghost from the Road Scholar Coordinator Carina. I registered
with Cary, and got settled in my room. I was tired from my previous day’s
excitement, took a nap and then went down to the common living room. The rest
of the group started trickling in and as we got to know each other, it seemed that
I was the only one there for the walking/hiking trip; the other folks I met had
come for a week of Bridge. I figured there were two groups and asked Carina how many were signed up for Walking/Hiking.
“Oh no,” she said,
“This week is for Bridge-players only. You can stay and join them and we’ll work out a way to have the money you paid for your 2024 trip cover the cost. I’m sorry to
tell you that you missed the Walking/Hiking group by a few weeks. They were
here earlier in October.”
No no no!. How
could this be? I’m not a bridge player and even if I was, I didn’t come to
beautiful Vermont to sit inside for six days.
“It’s not an
option for me,” I replied. In a kind gentle manner, Carina advised me to make
arrangements to fly home the next day. I got on it quickly and fortunately,
when I called United Airlines and pressed the number that the automated voice
told me to press for transfers and cancellations, I got a real person who
assured me that he would stay on the phone with me until my transaction was
completed. Twenty minutes later, for the cost of $377, I received an email
confirmation for my flight home on October 16 at 5pm. I called Chris and
he was available to take me back to ALB in the morning.
What a relief, but
not really, as
I wrote in my journal:
“I want to be
home. I don’t like all these complications but at least I get a little bit of
the Road Scholar experience. But what about dinner today and breakfast
tomorrow? And what will the Bridge people think of me?”
Cary, bless her
heart, invited me to join the Bridge players for dinner that evening and for breakfast
the next day. At dinner I sat with a very nice group, and explained my
situation. A few suggested I consider staying for the week. I politely
declined. After dinner, they went off for their first evening of Bridge and I went
off to bed. At breakfast the next morning, when I once again explained why I
was there and why I was leaving, Bruce, a Bridge-playing breakfast companion, said,
“Betsy you just made a goofy mistake.”
A goofy mistake.
Such a nice way of looking at this experience.
And on the plus side (and I always look for the positive in situations),
I fell in love with Vermont and the Gray Ghost Inn, and I still have my 2024
Wildlife, Walking /Hiking trip to look forward to. Another positive: though it was
too late to see the trees changing colors during my short stay in Vermont, the
trees in Chicago started changing colors just as I got back. This year, they
were glorious, as was the weather in the days after I got back, and I was able
to get in some walking and hiking in Autumn 2023 here at
home.
However, positive
spin or not, I’m sad and disappointed about my mistake, and there now is one
more thing my 79-year-old brain has to watch out for and double and triple
check -- dates of upcoming trips. That is of course, in addition to trying to
remember where I put my glasses and keys in my small one-bedroom condo, and
confirming several times over dates and times of zoom gatherings I sign up for
and these days, the many IRL (in real life) activities I am delighted to be
able to I enjoy.
