wahoo!

the view from our deck on saturday morning

this past saturday was one of those absolutely perfect autumn days - the kind where you're warm in the sun, cool in the shade, and a delicious breeze punctuates the air so you never get too hot.

saturday was also the first full day since we arrived that route 9, which connects bennington to brattleboro (and us to both) was open.  we took full advantage of this and hopped in our Brand New 1998 Subaru and were brattleboro-bound by late morning.

we were hunting for bookshelves for the house, mainly so we have somewhere to house all of the books, notebooks, and garret's millions-of-dvds in our home offices.

and after many old treasures seen, we were getting hungry.

on our way back into wilmington, we stopped at wahoo's eatery - one of the only wilmington spots that's open and operating right now.  i had read that wahoo's was helping with the relief effort, and i was excited to find out how.

wahoo's is donating 50% of everything they make to local flood victims.  which, let me tell you, is a big undertaking.  their food is amazing as is the quality, and their prices are hardly marked up.  i'd eat here any day, but i was especially happy to eat my bacon and pineapple cheddar cheeseburger (yes! yum!) knowing what wahoo's was up to.

we happily ordered, and even more happily ate:

our food.  mine: a bacon-cheddar-grilled pineapple burger.
garret's: a barbeque chicken sandwich.  garret, a huge bbq sauce
enthusiast, said this was some of the best sauce he's had.

after we finished eating, i said to garret "so, we probably shouldn't have ice cream on top of those huge sandwiches, eh?" but then again... it was for a good cause...

as we sat eating our ice cream (which might i add was wonderful), on awesome flat rocks that suffice as seating when all of the tables are taken, a parade of national guard vehicles drove by.  tanks, pickups pulling farm equipment, little humvees.  all camouflage, all driven by men in uniform.  as the trucks drove by, everyone eating at wahoo's started clapping, waving, and cheering.  the soldiers waved back, yelled out "hello!".  everyone was celebrating each other.  and i have to say, it was one of the more moving things i have ever experienced.  here we were on a gorgeous day, in the company of new neighbors, in a town that was just destroyed - and spirits couldn't have been higher.  everyone seems happy to be here, happy to help, and happy to keep on going.

wahoo's eatery in wilmington, vt.

the front of wahoo's eatery in wilmington, vt.