Vacation

Hello there, back from vacation …
It would be a serious understatement to say my husband and I don’t get the chance to take a vacation together often, so when we saw a tiny space in both our schedules, we quickly made plans to go to western Pennsylvania. The landscape is stunning, and there’s a million things to do clustered in a rather compact area.
While I compose my thoughts about the piéce de resistance, I needed to share a little about the place we stayed. Summit Inn is perched on this great mountain so that you can see deep down into the valley of Uniontown. While I thought (shrug), “I’m from Vermont, I’ve seen vistas before,” the scenery blew me away.





The inn was built in 1907. If you squint a little, it’s very easy to imagine what a visit was like then; men in their straw hats and spectators, women in muslin gowns, playing croquet and lawn tennis. Such places were built, not as a place to park your luggage while you attend a wedding or business meeting; they were the destinations themselves. And like other such places, this one comes with a history. Imagine guests like Warren Harding and Henry Ford sitting in the Stickley chairs (still there) in the grand lobby by the fire discussing politics and smoking pipes.

We did things that people apparently do on vacation. We slept in a little, lingered over our breakfast, sipped wine on the terrace while the night closed around us and another guest played at the piano. We met a delightful Italian family, and talked the night away. We woke surrounded by luscious fog. We saw what we imagined were ‘regulars’ reading and sipping appletinis in their wicker chairs on the porch. We just might have to become regulars ourselves. Magical, isn't it?

More on the rest later …