Sorry the delay…lots of non-fun schtuff going on chez digga lately (including coming home to a leaking dishwasher/damage to our wooden kitchen floor).
Nevertheless, here’s the rest of my report.
A sunny Sunday, we headed up to Stowe resort to watch the festive sugar slalom end-of-the-season event. Crowded but with our Mini Cooper, we managed to find a Mini-sized spot and took the over-easy gondola over to the ski slope. Spring Onion was most excited to have some maple sugar snow candy (and a funny tradition, they also serve sliced up pickles at the bottom of the run). The guy in charge of the maple sugar was loving life - swigging his beer, he was big enough to block out the sun, and he was clearly the most popular guy at the event. Time for lunch, so we decided to head into town, thinking we would go to Ranch Camp but instead, we stopped for pizza at Piecasso. B and I had a veggie one with broccoli. It was adequate but importantly, SO ate 5 kid-sized cheese slices, which is a lot for him. It was nice sitting out on the patio and we could access the Stowe recreation path from the parking lot. I left the guys who were skipping rocks and decided to walk towards town…and then I spied…traffic. I told the guys once they came to fetch me around the vicinity of Ranch Camp, we decided to stop for a drink and a dessert (a too-decadent brownie sundae). Once the traffic subsided, we went into the town center and walked around a bit. I can never resist a general store so we popped in, bought some magic card tricks, and chatted with the owner (?) Good for business, but it had been rather hectic for them. Headed home and ate leftovers.
Monday - the big event! Cloud cover was forecast, so we decided to head 1 hour NE, towards Glover VT. We stumbled onto a charming town, Irasburg, where people were gathering on the town green, and their even more charming 1-room public library, Leach. They opened up early on that Monday for the eclipse and the librarian immediately welcomed us in, offered us eclipse and moon rock cookies (how did she know that B and SO are both cookie monsters), eclipse glasses, a craft for SO. We spent a good amount of time in there, SO and I reading, B catching up on work. As we left, SO said, “she’s a very nice librarian.” I LOVE libraries and I left with my heart feeling very full (and with a hardcover copy of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” from their pay-as-you-wish book sale; as a former cancer cell biologist, it’s criminal that I’ve yet to read this). SO pointed out “Odder,” a story about a baby otter told in poems, to me. 
We debated whether or not to stay in Irasburg, but decided to stick with our original plan and head to Glover, where we motivated to hang out at Parker Pie Company. Well, so did everyone and their uncle (it was probably 100 people, scattered around at the restaurant and at the surrounding spaces?), but they managed to squeeze everyone in. This is place is smack-dab in the middle of not-much-else; this improbable group of lovable folks (cool staff with green hair and tattoos), and a very nice beer (and wine, too) menu made us feel content with our decision. We snagged a spot on their porch. I must say, the pizza (chicken/broccoli/bacon for B and cheese for me and SO) was just ok - based on the underside of the crust, I think they resorted to store-bought crusts for the occasion (I don’t think that’s their norm) but are there times when the experience transcends the food? This was us. We and the throngs of our new best friends happily watched as totality happened. And it was awesome. B got great photos with his SLR/tripod setup. And we would gladly go back to Parker Pie under “normal” conditions.
We were in no hurry home. All told it took us about 5 hours (with a stop) to reach Arlington and we wouldn’t change it one bit. To complete the circle from my silly April Fools Day McDonald’s post, SO got hunger pangs around 7 pm so we stopped in Plymouth VT at a McDonald’s somewhat removed from RT89 and even there, there was a back-up. But we didn’t care and SO gobbled his Happy Meal. Got home around 10 pm, tired and happy. They say there will be a total eclipse in Iceland in 2026 and in Egypt in 2027… 
PS @grumpyspatient we love Shelburne Museum, but it’s presently closed for the season. Last time B and I went, it was for a Wilco concert (Oy… in 2007! I had to look it up). If nothing else, we are consistent in what we like!
