Brooklyn did indeed take me in when I
left Maryland, and was my home for three days. This was enough time to
enjoy Park Slope’s culinary offerings in the German and bagel
departments, and take in two Celebrate Brooklyn concerts in Prospect
Park by Wilco and two Lees (Fields and Ranaldo). I was also thrilled
to get some quality hangout time with Allison and her family, and of
course my gracious hosts Kristina and fam. As an extra special bonus,
each family includes one of the most adorable babies
of all time.
The concerts were everything I’d hoped
for. A rainstorm on Night One couldn’t dampen (har har) the crowd’s
enthusiasm, and my friends and I lucked out in our positioning: we were
just under the edge of the stage overhang. Night Two had
better weather, though it was still hot. Both shows sounded excellent, and
the crowd was in top form – as a sea of fans clapped along for the intro
to “Monday,” Jeff claimed this was what he dreamed about. “I’m going to
cry.” As si typical for a multi-night run of
shows in the same city, the first night’s setlist was more
familiar than the second, which contained more surprises. I’ll bet you
can guess which I prefer.
I should also mention that the
catering for the Celebrate Brooklyn shows was superb: affordable small dishes
from The Farm on Adderley. It’s not every day that you get to stand in
front of a big concert stage and scarf up grilled eggplant sliders,
truffle fries, a bowl of creamy polenta with slow-cooked beef, or a kale salad. The food prep area was close to the stage, leading to some distractingly tasty aromas during the show. Jeff announced
that it was the most like bacon things had ever
smelled during one of their shows.
After the second Brooklyn show, some
friends and I headed to the bar at the McKittrick Hotel for a late-night
Autumn Defense performance. The full Autumn Defense band was in the
house, which is always a plus. In such an intimate venue it’s
hard not to run into people and start chatting, but we eventually made
it out for a late late meal and back home.
I decided to forego the third Wilco show in
NYC – a late addition at Terminal 5. Though missing the last
show of any multi-night stand is kind of a cardinal sin (and I did feel a little
pain when I saw the setlist), the sacrifice was more than
worth it for four days in upstate NY and Vermont. Allison and I began our road trip driving from NYC to Malone – getting mistaken for college students
along the way! – with a brief pit stop at Lake George.
Why Malone, you ask? Well, that’s
easy. Malone is where Farmer Boy grew up! The childhood farm and
homestead of Almanzo Wilder (husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder) is in
Malone, and it offers tours to visitors. When Allison came across this information
earlier in the year, we knew it was only a matter of time before we made
a pilgrimage. Who knew the opportunity would arise so soon?
The Wilder Farm tour was great, led by
a local high school girl who grew up on a farm nearby. We were shown all of
Father’s innovations in the barns, admired Mother’s weaving loom, saw the
actual spot on the parlor wall – and photographic evidence
from the restoration – where Almanzo threw the blacking brush at Eliza
Jane (!!!) and were set free to wander the grounds and eat the Wilder
blueberries after the tour was finished.
Malone wasn’t just about the
Wilders, though – okay, it mostly was, but there
were a few other things to do. We went antiquing, toured the town Historical Society, went out to dinner with one of our fellow B&B guests, and explored
the B&B itself. The original owners of the home left their entire library – they were mystery fans. Our bedroom
upstairs was cozy and quaint, and I’d nearly forgotten what it was like
to have windows and shades open at night and not have
light flooding in. Ah, Adirondacks.
From Malone, Al and I drove and ferried to Vermont, where our first order of business was
Shelburne Museum. Ever since my first Shelburne visit five years ago,
I’ve looked forward to returning. We had a gorgeous day to wander
the museum, and made the best of our time: we managed to hit almost
every building on the grounds before closing. My one
disappointment was that the 1950 House – one of my favorite
exhibits – is no more. However, we still saw the Circus
Building, the train car, the steamboat, the apothecary and general
store, and the print shop! The guy manning the print shop gave us free letter press posters, featuring molds he carved himself, so SCORE. The changing exhibits were interesting,
and included a selection of super creepy dolls
(this wasn’t the actual theme of the exhibit, but they were), a bunch
of quilts made by men dating back as far as the Civil War, and a
collection of robots and steam punk art. They even provided steam punk
dress-up clothes.
We didn’t have lots of time in
Burlington, but made it to a fine farm-to-table restaurant on Friday
evening and strolled the ped mall by night. I didn’t stick around long enough
to find out if the guy juggling fire on the street would bust out a tightrope and unicycle. On Saturday
morning we hit the downtown farmer’s market and craft fair. The Madison
farmer’s market is about ten times the size of Burlington’s, but for all
that, Burlington had a far more eclectic selection
of food vendors. We sampled cider, mint and maple lemonade, and could
have chosen from all manner of ethnic culinary delights. I made a few craft purchases, and discovered that the woman who made my dress
pattern wallet – which I still love dearly – has
given up crafting for med school.
After a leisurely walk and lunch on
the shore of Lake Champlain, it was time to head out. By evening I was
in my hotel room in Hartford, and flew out Sunday morning. It was an
excellent trip, with wonderful friends, and I can’t wait for
the next one. The next one isn’t scheduled yet, but it’s only a matter
of time.
