It would take many negatives to keep us and our friends from getting to Vermont for a long holiday weekend of skiing. So, join us at the Castle Inn in Ludlow, Vermont. Castle? Possibly a dump! Why else the last-minute availability??

Ben was tired from a long day in the office. Heavy snow falling on the windshield affected his visibility and required deep concentration. “Listen to me kids!! Listen!!. If you don’t stop fighting, if you don’t stop that racket, I’m going to throw the both of you out of the car.” It gets quiet for a moment.

Cantankerous Carl responds, “Yeah! Yeah! You always say that, but you never do it. See, we’re still here.” “Really, Ben shouted, “it so happens, you’re the only two left!!!” Silence filled the back seat. Carl age 10 and Emily age 7 remained pensively mute. The silence was almost oppressive. Even I could conjure up two children left behind on a snowbank. The threat worked. The long arduous trip was at least free of the back seat sibling rivalry racket. Silence prevailed. Soon the kids dozed off.

At some point, we will assure the children that daddy was joking, and no children had ever been thrown out to perish on the dark freezing highway.

Silence prevailed inside. The sound of the tires pushing the highway snow sweep, crunch, swoosh and scrape. We were driving in a blizzard. It was a world blanketed in white. There were fewer cars on the two-lane highway heading north. We stayed a distance from the car in front of us, hoping the car behind had the good sense to follow suit. Adding to the already dangerous driving conditions was the scene of a car’s headlights coming towards us, but thankfully in the adjacent lane. Seeing our car must have alerted the driver that he, she was driving in the wrong direction. The driver managed to turn the car onto the shoulder and fix the scene. WHEW!!!!!!

The windshield wipers were doing a heroic job affording us visibility. Every so often, Ben pulled on to the shoulder of the highway to use his gloves to clear the encrusting windshield and clean the wipers.

Silence prevailed and so did anxiety. Our gas gage showed we needed to find a gas station soon. Because of the late hour, we were passing closed gas stations. Fortunately, in the town of Ludlow, we were able to refuel. A few miles on the highway, we reached our destination The Castle Inn. No moat around this castle, no castle, but an exquisite stately mansion. We learned that the mansion had originally been the home of the governor of Vermont. Our late reservations were facilitated by the inn’s lack of a liquor license. The management was new and was waiting for a license to come through. Unlike most skiers, our group did not drink so this issue did not affect us. 

Like I rate my Uber driver with 5 stars, I rate our driver Ben, the Castle Inn accommodations and food, the great skiing conditions, the camaraderie, and the wonderful holiday weekend 5 stars.