Greetings from the Final Night in Vermont.

I drove up here after work to meet people from a local battered women's shelter tomorrow afternoon. They're coming to take the remaining furniture. I'm going to pack up a few things that are left here and bring them back home. I'll also make sure that the place is clean. The closing on the house is 10 days from now.

I realized a couple of days ago that this was the first time I've ever been to Vermont without A. I had never come to the state before meeting her, and over the course of the last 12 years or so I've fallen in love with the place. One reason why: I arrived here about 10:30 at night. The sky is completely clear tonight. One of the great things about the area the house is in is that the nearest thing even remotely resembling a city is Lebanon, NH, which is about 30 miles away. That means the sky is very dark, and on a clear night like tonight, it seems like you can see every star in the galaxy.

I did enjoy the ride, though. I've always liked solo road trips. Something about it being just me, some tunes and the open road that I find very relaxing and liberating. I had a stop for dinner, gas and some supplies in New Hampshire, but other than that the trip was pretty much straight though. It would have been even better if I had the Element instead of the minivan, but I needed the extra storage capacity to get all the stuff home.

This isn't goodbye to Vermont, though. We'll certainly be back, although we'll have to rent a house. We've determined that there are vacation rentals around here that are pretty reasonably priced, so it shouldn't be a problem.

We had a great experience Friday night - we went out to a Korean restaurant for dinner. The place is called Little Pusan in Maynard. The kids loved it, and they seemed very willing to try new things, which isn't always the case. They both want to go back, so we may make Little Pusan our new Friday night dinner tradition, replacing pizza night.

The Yankees are getting their butts kicked again tonight, this time by the lowly Royals. It was 17-3 Kansas City last time I checked. So, the Sox should enter their last 20 games only 3 behind the Empire. The first showdown happens over the weekend at Yankee Stadium. I can't wait!