Exploring NH, VT, and MA with the Star Valley crew!

Salut, mes amis!

Guesting on The Jessica McConnell Show wasn't the only fun thing I've gotten to do while visiting New Hampshire's own Star Valley.

My visit began with a trip to Weston, VT to see a musical called Marvelous Wonderettes at the Weston Playhouse. My new friends Molly (of Water St.), Sarah, and Peggy accompanied me, which was great fun since we all love theatre!

On August 16th, Gwen and Alison took me to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. Isn't the basketball-shaped building pretty cool looking?

We all thought this large basketball shoe was pretty neat, too:

Speaking of large basketball shoes, here I am as compared to one of Shaq's. Haha, either I am small or Shaq's feet are ginormous (or maybe it's a little bit of both)!

On August 29th, the town of Star Valley hosted their first annual block party. I was so excited that my visit had coincided nicely with the event that I convinced Sarah to dress in coordinating outfits with me. Here we are perusing crafts made by Molly M., Emily, Susan, and Linda at camp:

The block party consisted of a talent show, live entertainment by Peggy on her guitar, delicious baked goods, and - the best part - friends galore! Following the party, a dance was held because we were just having too much fun to quit. ;)

On August 30th, Sarah and Linda took me on another sightseeing trip. Our first stop: Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, MA! It was here that I got to missing Laura a bit because she's actually been to Deerfield - even if that was about eight or nine years ago now.

Barnard Tavern wasn't open, though, so no drinks for us, haha! So, we just walked around a bit, admiring the gorgeous historical buildings - even passing the Wilson Printing Office that was featured in the Pleasant Company AG Club handbook (Felicity's section).

I was particularly amazed by the many signs of autumn that I saw on my walk around Deerfield. The leaves were already beginning to turn orange, yellow, and red, and quite a few had already fallen to the ground. I guess I'm too used to the onset of autumn in late October/November, but I could easily get used to this, too. Oh please, Laura, can we move to New England? S'il vous plaît?

Feeling as bold as Felicity, Linda, Sarah, and I walked atop a fence a bit before walking through a real working farm and then looking at some old gravestones in the burial ground. Spooky, no?

Next stop: the Deerfield Yankee Candle Flagship store! It's sort of become a tradition for traveling guests to visit this store, and I didn't want to break tradition. ;)

We checked out some of the ornately dressed nutcrackers, met a bear searching for a frontier girl named Kirsten (haha), listened to some carolers, and took in a wonderful concert put on by the Rolling Bones. I even tried to befriend a knight, but unfortunately, he wasn't at all interested in me or what I had to say. Oh well!

On September 5th, I borrowed a pioneer dress and visited The Fort at No. 4 in Charlestown, NH, a living history museum teaching what it was like to live in an English colony in 1740.

Here is a bird's eye view of the Fort:

Sam and Liz accompanied me on this sightseeing trip.

We played with some Colonial toys - ring toss, a pretty doll that Sam is holding, Jacob's Ladder - and then checked out the rest of the Fort. Liz and I tried to do some weaving, but quickly gave up on that, LOL! We watched some re-enactors firing off a cannon, wishing that we had ear plugs all the while. We checked out an Algonquin wigwam and saw some birchbark canoes. We also went to the Colonial schoolroom where I wrote, "Sophie was here!" on a slate. :)

Just a pretty photo of me as a frontier girl! (Don't get any ideas, Laura, this is just a one-day thing! I'm too modern to become a permanent time-traveler!)

To see the entire album, click HERE.

Ton amie,

Sophie