49 and Holding

It’s official. We didn’t drive to Rhode Island, which means that I’ve been to every state in the Union except the smallest one. Linda’s in much the same boat, having missed only Michigan, Connecticut, and Alaska besides Rhode Island.

Camp closed nicely, with a record 81% of our New Hampshire students pre-registering to attend Worldview Academy next year. That certainly made us feel wanted in New England!

After loading all our gear on Friday, we drove to Liv Booth’s family home in Massachusetts for a fantastic dinner of “chowdah” and sausage and corn and raspberries picked from their garden. The staff said their goodbye’s that night, and then Linda and I drove to Maine in the morning. As you can see, Linda actually picked up a live lobster in Camden, Maine—and her body language tells you everything you need to know about the experience. She is usually incredibly brave, but she chickens out with things like bugs and the “cockroach of the sea.” We then ate fresh lobster right by the bay, which was one of those things you have to do that didn’t turn out to be all that tasty. We both like crab better.

After camping at Acadia National Park, we turned around and flew home. Could we have bagged Rhode Island? We had time—but I never could totally justify the move. I had no other reason to go there—no national park, no rumors of a great restaurant or used bookstore, no baseball stadium—nothing that demanded a visit. We could say the same about Vermont, of course, but we really had time to snoop around in Vermont—and it turns out that Brattleboro is very much worth seeing.

Maybe the same can be said for Providence, and maybe we’ll get to find that out someday. For now, we’re trying to be purists. Driving to the top of a 14,000-foot mountain doesn’t count for a summit, and driving to a state line doesn’t count for a state (but maybe I’ll change my tune when I’m 70 years old and still holding on state number 49).