Thanksgiving in VT

Every year Cathy and I make the trip to my parents home in VT for Thanksgiving. This year we were in ME for the entire Thanksgiving week taking care of some chores so we drove over to VT for the day from there. My brothers both still live in the area so they attend as well with their families and my aunt and her husband also join and we all visit and have a traditional dinner of turkey, ham, stuffing and all of the other staples as well as an abundant variety of desert pies. As I've mentioned before, I don't actually see my family very often, recently just a couple of times a year at the holidays. Everyone is busy and the distance seems to make it tough.

My parent's camp

The view of the Presidential range from the camp

My dad and I took a ride up to my parents camp that they build a few years ago. They bought 10 acres of land up on a mountain and have been improving the land as well as building the camp and shed. The camp also has a perfect view of the Presidential range and Mount Washington. The road in to the camp is only seasonal and is actually a snowmobile trail in the winter, so there is no access by car. In fact, you would be really hard pressed to be able to get a car vs. a truck or something with enough ground clearance up in there even in the middle of the summer. The camp looks good though and the land is much nicer now than when they bought it.

Back at my parent's house my father was also anxious to show me the progress that he has made on his latest Rat Rod, based on an S10 truck frame with a GM 350, auto tranny, front and rear end with a '34 Ford pickup cab that he sliced 3" out of and home-made bed with fenders made for a boat trailer. This is the third rig he has built and each incarnation keeps getting better. The radiator is a high end aluminum model that he got slightly used. He is leaning toward an electric fan on it which will address a couple of issues for him. At present the steering column has just enough room to clean the static header. He will need to create some more clearance though to account for the rock of the motor firing up.

The latest Rat Rod as it sits

My parent's home and barn made from salvaged pallets

As usual, we ate a ton of food, and spend the day visiting. My brother's two boys and daughter and my other brother's boy all combined to add color and sound effects for the day. As usual Cathy and I both ended up catching a cold shortly after and are sick as dogs at the moment. Coincidence?

Cathy's parents also came to visit us from Ontario, first in ME and then came back to MA with us. It was a full weekend of family. For sure.