What I Did On My Summer Vacation

After an (absolutely) (delightful) drive though Canada we arrived in Vermont for a week at the Tyler Place.

When I was growing up our family vacations consisted of a two-week car trip; sometimes north, sometimes south. My father would plan an itinerary to include as many historical house tours and national forests as could be packed into fourteen days; my mother would stock the car with books and granola bars and off we'd go. We camped a lot or stayed in motels, preferably the old 50s kind with a pool in the parking lot. They were very good trips (in retrospect - family tradition has it that I bitched my way through most of it) although now my only clear memories are of the food because I am the sort of person who has forgotten everything about my first mother-in-law apart from her pickled red cabbage.

[Montreal could be one of my favorite cities for any number of reasons but the truth is that I developed a passion for the place when I was six years old on the strength of two superb lunches there: a chicken pot pie that thirty-plus years later I can describe down to the last leaf of tarragon and a bowl of Potage St.Germain that was as life altering as pea soup can be. From other trips I remember fried shrimp and sweet tea and okra and green tomatoes. Chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches in Maine. Maryland crab cakes of course. A dining hall in the Smoky Mountains that had a really nice beef vegetable soup. Fudge on Mackinac Island. Even as an adult (or maybe especially as an adult?) I tend to perseverate about food, like the tomato and onion and blue cheese salad that I ordered three days in a row on Maui and when my boss asked whether we enjoyed our honeymoon the very first thing I said was, "I had the best salad." He looked at me funny.]

Anyway, my point is that this is how we would travel when I was a child and that - plus a week in a rental house at Rehoboth every summer - was the extent of my personal experience with family vacations. So when Julie went to the Tyler Place resort three years ago and sent me an urgent telegram immediately upon her return saying "SELL ALL AVAILABLE KIDNEYS stop COME HERE NEXT YEAR stop WEATHER FINE AND OH MY GOD THE STAFF MEMBERS WHO ARE NOT BUSY REMOVING YOUR CHILDREN TO EXHAUST THEM WITH CAMP SONGS AND NATURE HIKES ARE ASKING IF THEY CAN BRING YOU SOMETHING FROM THE BAR OR TELLING YOU THAT TODAY'S HOMEMADE ICE CREAM IS CARAMEL TURTLE FUDGE" I was interested but I didn't totally get the concept.

It goes like this:

You pay $x per person per day (rates vary depending upon how old the kids are and where you stay) in exchange for which the nice people at Tyler Place make everything about your life completely perfect for an entire week. You reserve one of the dozens of different cabins (some little, some really big; some new, some nicely patina'd) which ring an incredibly beautiful bay on the Vermont/Canadian border. Kids are divided into groups like summer camp and the big ones spend mornings (8:30 to 1:30) and evenings (5:30 to 8:30) with their counselors doing things like swimming and boat rides and pirate treasure hunts and campfires and arts and crafts. Little kids have similar hours (less naps and bedtime as needed) at their own playhouse and they go for walks and hay rides and make play dough with their parents' helper. And they feed them. Did I mention they feed the kids? Breakfast lunch snacks and dinner are handled by the counselors, which... words fail me. I think that alone would have made it all worthwhile but if you have been doing the math with me you will notice that in addition to not having to hassle with meals the schedule leaves eight hours a day for the parents to do anything they want. So that's the deal and it sounded pretty good to me so we went last year and it was awesome. Seriously. Amazing.

I think, somehow, this year was even better. Kind of like Harry Potter's room of requirements, they provide whatever it is you need most at the moment. Last year I slept a lot. Caroline and Edward were eighteen months old and had yet to sleep through the night - EVER - and I was so tired I was growing transparent. So as soon as their parents' helper wheeled them away I would collapse into a boneless heap and just... sleep. 

But this year I was feeling much more zesty so I signed us up (singularly jointly and collectively - they have activities for every taste and familial combination) for a bunch of things, starting with the guided canoe trip for Steve and me. We had a great time. Well, great until the bracing Scotch mist turned into a driving rain and the bay we had to cross turned all Deadliest Catch on us. I swear that I could have made it the rest of the way but admit I was grateful when the entire group was rescued by pontoon boat. I also admit that I spent the next three days unable to lift my arms above my shoulders. Paddling is hard.

After that the weather cleared and Steve took a sailing lesson   

 

which was apparently comprehensive enough that it took a mere thirty minutes of instruction before he decided that he was competent to take me for a spin around the bay. I fully expected to need another pontoon rescue but I guess the Hobie cat is amateur proof and I only had to paddle a little to get us back into the dock.

After I indulged his Aubrey-Maturin Steve agreed to play basketball with me. You can tell how seriously he took our game by the fact that he is wearing flip-flops and he didn't stop laughing (at me) the entire time.

For the official and extremely public record: I beat him at Horse. I happen to have a killer lay-up, which Steve very rudely referred to as a weird short person under-basket toss but against which he was nonetheless helpless.

The rest of the week we played mini golf and found ourselves alone in the cabin at ten in the morning and rode around on bikes and went swimming and drank too much one night and went to Montreal for lunch without the children (you have to be a Formula One fan to appreciate this photo but look where we drove - Steve DIED.)

Meanwhile Caroline and Edward:

they bounced

and they swam

and Edward got to try out a tractor.

One day they went to a toddler yoga class. Caroline wanted nothing to do with it, so their parents' helper (wonderful Emma) got down a dollhouse for her. As Emma was helping Edward get into his half spinal twist everyone started shouting Eeek! and Emma discovered that Caroline had climbed into the dollhouse and gotten well and truly stuck, head out the window a la Alice and everything. Three people tried to see if the roof came off and Caroline said, "I'm upset!" and Emma eventually told her that she had gotten herself in there so she needed to find a way to get herself back out again. So Caroline twisted her head and slid out like an oyster and there was much rejoicing. Emma told me that sometimes you need to be a little firm with Caroline. I consider this the understatement of the century; also I loved the fact that I was not the person who had to figure out how to get Caroline out of a dollhouse.

Patrick bloomed. He made friends (and introduced them! to me! with relevant details about them like their names and where they were staying!) He ate more than just bread. When questioned in the evening he admitted that he enjoyed everything including the lake, which was arguably pretty damned cold. One afternoon he even had a play date. At the end of the week the counselors gave awards to all of the kids. Patrick was named King of the Sandcastle. When we got home last night he put his certificate on his bedroom wall and said, "You know, it's surprising but this is the first international recognition I have gotten for my work."

So that was Vermont.

And then we drove home as fast as we could under the Great Lakes (stopping to visit family in Vermont and Ohio) and the children did not come completely unglued until Eau Claire. 

A very very nice trip except for the last two hours and who can ever say more than that?

PS On an administrative note my computer died so I have been incommunicado since last week and will continue to be so until my hard drive is replaced this week. If you have emailed me I'll get back to you.

PPS I would add my usual defensive caveat about the fact that Tyler Place is pricey but after spending seven days on the road I have concluded that all travel with children is expensive and for what you get (everything) Tyler is actually a pretty good deal. We went to Niagara Falls on the way home (pictures to follow) and they charged us ten freaking dollars just to park for thirty minutes. Scandalous.  

PPPS Steve thinks it is strange that I remember with such passionate clarity decades later things I have eaten. Do you remember meals?

Comments

[klcrab]

absolutely,

San Jose: swordfish for dinner when I was 12.
Never had anything even close.

Mrs. Tarvin's home made french onion soup...still looking for one as good.

glad you had a great vacation- I would think in her own way Carolyn had her own yoga session :)

[unexplained]

Me too! It was an aspect of our anniversary cruise to Alaska that caught me completely by surprise - everyone talks about the omnipresent buffet but I'd never really heard about the formal dining room. Holland America just blew me away. The most memorable items were escargot, duck, and carpaccio. Mmmmmmm.....

[kelly]

I absolutely remember meals and can readily describe vacation meals from 15 years ago. Ooooohhh yes indeed. In other words, I do not think that's strange at all, because I do the same thing.

I want to go to Tyler Place. It sounds perfect.

[bethany actually]

This was one of those posts I was laughing out loud as I read it, and had to stop and read bits to my husband. I love Patrick's modesty. And yes, I remember meals too, mostly the times I tried something for the first time and liked it. The first time I ever ate biscuits and gravy was at summer camp and it was a revelation. A rainy day when I was in college was when I discovered I loved cream of tomato soup. Like that.

[Laura]

Of course I remember meals. That is why I go on vacation. I was in Chicago this past weekend visiting a friend who was so brilliant that she TOOK PICTURES of our meal as it arrived, course by course. We went to Mercat a la Planxa, which is owned by IRON CHEF Jose Garces, and it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my life. SHERRY-BACON CARAMEL on the cheese plate.
I want to hear more about this salad, it sounds lovely.

[kris (lower case)]

thinking about it i remember mostly meals my mom cooked that i will never have again.. and where in ohio were you? i live just west of cleveland...

[Mariah]

Ok, I'm a long-time reader who has never commented, but the picture of/on the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve got me all excited. My husband and I went to a race! There! 4 years ago on our honeymoon! It was FABULOUS and your photo brought it all back. Us F1 fans are too few and far between, so I just had to write. Oh, and one of the best meals I ever had was in Montreal, on that same honeymoon, at Toque. Beyond description. Vacations should always be about food.

Since you seem to be somewhat of a foodie, I'll share with you the somewhat dorky way we combine F1 and food: Each race weekend we try to prepare a meal that would be eaten in the county where the race is located. Sometimes this is a challenge, and sometimes a disaster (think pork roasted on a bed of sauerkraut for 6 hours. The neighborhood smelled like burning sauerkraut for days), but always fun, and it's a way to make the race sort of an occasion, if you will.

Love your blog, your writing, and your sense of humor. Thanks for sharing.

[Elizabeth]

To start at the end - oh yes! I remember food quite vividly! I would travel to Santorini just to eat the spagetti at Katikies. (but that's not a great example as I would travel to Santorini just cause if I could).

Caroline got stuck in a doll house and of course! she could get herself back out!!

I tried for a year to talk my husband into TP...but he states there most be something similar closer to CA. From your description, I beg to differ.

[Lisa B in Seattle]

Patrick, as usual, cracks me up. And so glad that my constant refreshing finally rewarded me with a new post - best part of the day! Thank you Julia. :)

[MFA Mama]

Caroline slays me dead.

I am insanely jealous of your vacation!

As for meals, oh yes, absolutely. Good ones AND bad.

[Nicole]

My grandfather, before he passed away, made tapes of his life story. The best part is that every time period in his life, and every experience, is somehow linked to food. It's a riot.

[ADream Sarah]

I developed a deep and abiding hatred for the entire French population at nine years old based on a hamburger experience. After a whirlwind two-week tour of the continent featuring vast amounts of unusual cuisine accompanied by warm coca-cola, my parents agreed to use their final francs to buy me a hamburger at a bistro before going to the airport.

I was looking forward to that hamburger the way a man in the desert dreams of a good strawberry lemonade.

When it came to my table, it had a runny fried egg on it. They refused to make me another one. I will absolutely admit that I wept bitterly and cursed all of Paris, the French Countryside, and all related rediculousness.

And thus, my war with the French was begun. 23 years later, I believe my initial assessment was spot-on. Oui, my ass.

[Laur]

Whenever my husband asks me if I remember a location from our travels, I almost always draw a blank. Until he reminds what I ate or where we ate it. Beautiful spot in the hills near Puerto Vallarta? Kinda. Sauteed shrimp dish? totally! Ferry ride and drive up to Powell River BC? Vaguely. Fresh grilled oysters at a pub on the way? You bet! Apparently I was the same as a kid. We call them stomach memories.

[Megan]

My brother (he has six kids ranging in age from nine years to six months) says that on long drives his kids, almost unfailingly, freak out whenever they get within one to two hours of their final destination (we have found the same thing to be true). He calls it the proximity alarm.

[Veronica]

Food is my thing too, I remember places by the food. Like the first decent meal we had on my grade 6 camp (roast chicken) as opposed to bad BBQ's the rest of the time.

Not weird at all.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

Oh, yes, special meals ... I remember one place in San Sebastian, Spain that had an artichoke/ham soup that was eye-crossingly good. And an amazing buttercrunch lettuce salad at a place in Reno. Unfortunately, my husband is a vegetarian and I'm a carnivore, and he also hates spending money on something as ephemeral as good food, so those memories are often entangled with memories of me practically turning my husband's arm into a pretzel to get him into the freakin' restaurant. Jeesh.

I looooooove Patrick's comment. Come to think of it, I don't know why he hasn't received international recognition before this, either!

And ... is there anyplace at all like Tyler Place on the West coast? 'Cause I would totally turn my husband's arm into a pretzel again to get there if there is! :)

[jen]

I keep telling my husband that Emergency Fleece-you-for-all-your-money Budget or not (I live in the UK - our finances are worse than Canada's were), we WILL spend a week at Tyler Place before our kids graduate school.

Plus - when I was 11, a lunch in Honfleur, Normandy (France). Langoustine bisque, lemon sole with dauphinoise potatoes, and Grand Marnier souffle. Best meal I ever ate, though some since have come close (lamb fillet rolled with pesto and baked, anyone?!)

[RachelH]

Do you watch the Big Bang Theory? (If not, you have to see a few episodes before it grows on you, but then it inexplicably becomes hilarious). I ask because Patrick is totally going to be Sheldon when he grows up. (But nicer, I'm sure).

[Anna]

A quick first mother-in-law reference! A sign that the rest of that story might be nearby? Your vacation sounds wonderful, glad you all had such a great time!

[claire]

Totally remember meals...

But i think I'll be remembering this quote "first international recognition" for awhile too. That coupled with the photo of Patrick is hilarious and endearing!

Glad you had a great vacation :)

[Leandra]

I am the person who plans my vacation around where I will eat, so yes, I definitely remember my meals. The best one so far? At at restaurant in Chicago called One Sixty Blue. It had the perfect wine, and rabbit. Delicious. It also cost me over $70 which, to date, also makes it the most expensive meal I've ever eaten.

[Denise]

Ha! I'm reading this out loud to my husband in the car. We did the exact same canoe trip last year.

I definitely remember good meals and glasses of wine and cognac.

Glad you enjoyed your vacation this year!

[Liz]

Two meals, one in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Taiwan and the other in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Spain, both involving fantastic fresh seafood and no shared language. The clams at the first location and the grilled sardines at the second were almost literally to die for. But I can't remember the name of either town.

[Jen]

Tyler Place looks fantastic! I hope one day my family can get out there.

I not only have food associations with places where I've visited; these days, a large part of my travel planning involves actively seeking out certain restaurants and dishes when I'm traveling somewhere new (I am an especially big fan of foreign grocery stores). In the travel journals I've written on long trips, food plays a surprisingly important role. Thankfully, my family shares my obsession.

[Christiana]

Yes, i remember meals (and snacks) at places we visit on vacation. I can still practically taste the most amazing crab au gratin from my first trip to New Orleans in 2001, the fresh bread from the trip to Old Salem Village in Winston-Salem as a kid, the food at the pubs in the village at Williamsburg in 1993... so I'm totally there with you. I don't know that I've ever gotten excited by a salad though. (though I had my first heavenly experience w/ Eggs Benedict and also Oysters Rockafeller on our honeymoon and I like to talk about those pretty happily...)

My only regret in this post is that you don't have a picture of Caroline stuck in the dollhouse. But! I am so glad you had a good time!

[T.]

This post made me laugh and grin. It's creepy probably to say this, but I love your family. Patrick's line about international recognition especially cracked me up (at work, where I should be getting stuff done and not browsing the internet... but I digress...).

I'm so so so glad you all had such a wonderful time.

[sarah]

my life is a travelogue of food. i feel ya sister!

[Jana]

My husband is like that about food. I'm not, but then again I was a super-freaky picky eater until my mid-20s when after having my jaw wired shut for many weeks I was finally allowed to eat again.

[Shawna]

My family remembers events and trips based on what we ate where, so I don't think you're strange at all.

Glad you had a great vacation!

[Angsty Jen]

I definitely remember food from ages ago. Like Bethany, I fondly recall my first biscuits and gravy, at a motel restaurant on a high school track trip. And the steak we had on our first wedding anniversary. And the salmon and purple potatoes we were eating when the power went out at our apartment when we were newlyweds. Yeah, I'm a huge dork.

Anyway, Tyler Place sounds magnificent and I'm glad you had fun! And Patrick cracks me up!

[Candy]

Well, first, Patrick has become your doppelganger. I suppose he always looked like you, but wow...the resemblance is striking now (from the very very few pictures of you I've seen anyway).

Second, YES! to the food. In fact, I usually get the same thing at every restaurant I go to, so if I want steak, we go here and if I want pasta, we go there and if I want crab, we go to Maryland.

I am thinking a food tour of the US could be awesome. Philly for cheesesteak, and then on to Maryland for crab, and then Florida for key lime pie, and so on and so forth. Yummm.

[June]

Oh yes! We are planning our trip to Portland based on the places my husband ate the last time he was there :)

[SarahB]

Of course I remember meals.

In fact, when my husband and I were long-distance (which time included 11 weeks in Italy), I kept a tally of meals so good that they made me feel like I was cheating on him with food.

No, you are not weird. Just appreciative.

[Erika]

Awesome. Every bit of it.

[Kizz]

Once my mother sent me a letter in a package of things she was mailing to me. It included the fact that she had gone to a party and everything that was served at said party. One of the other things in the package was a card she'd been sent by my Great Aunt Rena. Rena had written largely about a party she had attended, specifically everything that was served and how it tasted.

Some people just think about food that way. You're not alone!

[Eva]

Wow. I would type more but the drool on my keyboard is making the keys too slippery. Glad you had such an amazing time.

[Sara]

Donuts on Cape Cod when I was about 6. Every gain of sugar, every ridge...my mouth is watering.

[Mara]

Glad you had such a great trip! It sounds amazing. I love the picture of Patrick-- he looks so rosy and healthy!

I, too, remember food from all vacations, including the Mackinac fudge.

[Joy]

Huge sigh of relief. I too remember food, and often it is the only thing I remember. So glad I'm not the only one.

[victoria]

"You know, it's surprising but this is the first international recognition I have gotten for my work."

YAY! Go Patrick!

[elsimom]

My family traveled like your family did - the last three weeks of every summer after my father finished teaching summer school. I remember scrutinizing the AAA guide book for hotels with pools that met whatever that year's price range was as we drove toward our next stop. Our trips were always big on the National Parks and historic sites and museums (cheap or free, and the LEARNING of course)-so much so, in fact, that my family has highly developed opinions about museum design and quality based upon the ratio of reading to stuff (aka information to artifacts). A museum full of stuff with no info is not optimal, nor is a museum with lots to read but little to look at (although the significance of the items can weigh in that balance as well . .. . ).
As for the food - we are still teasing my mother about the fact that she recites the contents of the continental breakfast to us, every time she stays in a hotel. I can remember Indian Fry bread with stew in a shack in New Mexico, ice cream on Mackinac Island (with fudge, of course), pasties in Michigan, fried clams on Cape Cod, etc. I think part of it stemmed from the fact that restaurant meals were such treats for us then (lots of cooking on the camp stove in between those memorable meals) and the fact that my mom made an effort to expose us to whatever the local specialty was (sometimes for good, sometimes for "not that impressive.")
Now, we do the same thing with our kids, and because my husband is also food-focused, it's a whole family thing.

Welcome back to MN!

[nrbp]

Oh that sounds fantastic!

I find Patrick very charming. Myself, I lament every year when I do not, yet again, win a Nobel prize (though, to be sure, I am no longer a practicing physicist, but still!).

As for food, like Calvin Trillin, I keep a "Register of Frustration and Deprivation". Mmmmm...

[Emily]

I remember more about the food on our honeymoon than probably anything else. Except maybe the diarrhea.

[HereWeGoAJen]

Oh, yes, I can still taste a steak dinner (vegetables and pasta on the side) that I had when I was seventeen and it was the first thing I had eaten in a week of throwing up. And the soup at my wedding. Food is delicious.

[Beth]

You should see if you can place an ad for the place on your blog in exchange for a discount for next year. Your blog entry is a glowing recommendation for them. I for one plan to check out their website.

Oh, I remember meals very vividly. I also have the strange habit of saying restaurant names when we pass them as my husband drives in a different city than our own.

[Christa]

We plan family trips around restaurants we remember or want to try. Our honeymoon side-stepped to Bakersfield just so we could eat lunch at a Basque restaurant. Its a family trait. My parents are visiting my sister in Reno (from Phoenix) and planning their road trip around visiting places that have been on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Seriously.

Now, I got an extra kidney I'm not currently doing anything with and I'd really like to check out Tyler Place. Any takers?

[Kate]

My father still talks about the cake he had at his uncle's wedding in 1963. When visiting my parents, we discuss what we'll be having for dinner while lingering over breakfast. I like to think I come by my food vacation affliction honestly.

[Steph]

As a kid we drove from Michigan to Colorado every other year. I couldn't wait to get to My Grandma Kunzie's and eat sugar cookies . . she made the BEST.
One year my brother and sister ordered chili at every restaurant between Michigan and Colorado.

Food + Vacation = good memories.

[Kirsten]

My mother remembers everything by what she ate. Sometimes she calls me up and narrates her whole week by what she ate, where and with whom.

[winecat]

"You know this is the first international recognition I've received for my work" Patrick slays me.

Caroline, doll house of course.

It sounds as if the entire family had a blast.

I don't remember everything I ate but there are some spectacular dishes I remember. Tortilla soup with pot sticker, Inn of the Anazai, Santa Fe, New Mexico immediately comes to mind after 10 years.