Mountain vs Island

So after the Iowa Parent Palooza, Joann, Rick, and Gloria stayed with Chandra and the grandkids while we hit the road with Nathan's folks. We have wanted to take a trip with Kaye and Ed for a long time, so I had been planning for weeks how to squeeze in every bit of fun into this 4-day trip as possible while still being able to relax, as these days we are accustomed to our laid back island lifestyle. We were going to tour towns and hike on trails by the salt marsh, go to a nice restaurant, tour the Thimble Islands, and retreat back to the island for 3 days of paradise. Or so I thought. At the last minute before leaving Nick and Chandra's house, we had decided to throw out the plans and do something wild. In Nick's words "You can't go wrong with Vermont!" so that's where we headed. We drove and drove till reaching our destination at Mt. Ascutney State Park. We were to hike 2.2 miles up the mountain while enjoying some great scenery. Little did we know, "Future Trail" went practically straight up the side of the mountain. About a mile up, we did enjoy this amazing view in the photo. If we were smart, we would have stopped there and gone back down. Guess what, we're not that smart. While finally reaching our destination of "Out of Service" Restrooms. We decided to take an easier way down by taking the road back. Again, not realizing that the plummeting concrete would be worse than the trail. After hiking over 4 miles of rocks and road, we were sore, blistered, and pooped and so decided to call it a night by finding a campground. That didn't happen either, but we did find a bunch of hill folk. Hours later around 11pm we found a hotel and treated ourselves to a hot shower, a warm bed, and a continental breakfast. Thank God!! Then drove and drove till reaching the sanctuary of Outer Island for the remainder of their trip. We celebrated with bonfire, fishing, food and drink. We really enjoyed their company, but wouldn't be surprised if we never returned to see the beauty of Vermont.