Woke up to cool weather, grey skies, and thunderstorm warnings. After breakfast at the inn, drove down to Salisbury to hike the Silver Lake trail. Walked at a brisk pace (Pres called it a “workout pace”) up a long, fairly steep dirt road to the lake. Beautiful — a mountain lake with water warm enough for swimming, and we had it all to ourselves for at least five minutes.

Skedaddled down the trail — with a very quick detour to see Lower Lana Falls — so we could get back to Middlebury in time for lunch with Murph. We had sandwiches at Noonie’s deli (great homemade bread). Our attempt to eat outside by the river was rained out about three minutes after we sat down, but this lunch was more about the company than the views, so it didn’t much matter.

It had begun raining in on-and-off earnest by the time lunch was over. Pres returned to the inn to nap; I went shopping at the cute boutiques in Middlebury (bought some cute clothes, maple fudge, and a not-so-good maple chai latte). We both spent some time on the inn’s cozy porch blogging and chatting with a friendly couple from Northampton.

Walked three soggy blocks to dinner (why didn’t I bring any nice closed-toed shoes?) at Fire & Ice. Met Murph and her kids, Jack, Charlie, and Meg; the latter two spent a good deal of time at the restaurant’s “Children’s VCR Theater.” The food was ok — we mostly grazed at the giant salad bar — but the conversation was lots of fun. Silliness abounded.