Return to Woods Hole Hostel - Thurs 5/17

Unloading the Magic School Bus at Woods Hole

Daystar with hostess/owner Neville

Pants, Gribley, Tater Tot, Daystar, and Cole

One of many gardens

Fabulous assortment of lettuce

Breakfast on the porch

Breakfast around the fire ring

The bunk house - second floor loft lined with matresses

Daystar on the front porch

Oven for bread and pizza

A truly fab kitchen

Neville's kitchen

Yukon from Maine, one of 40 hikers that night

Posted in Woods Hole outhouse (worth reading)

Landscaping around Woods Hole

While the pictures speak volumes, I want to add my thoughts and observations...

Cole and I picked up Daystar and her fellow hikers in Catawba late Thursday afternoon.  We arrived at Woods Hole Hostel, truly 5 star, in time for dinner, along with nearly 40 other hikers – the biggest night of the season so far.  The simplicity and organization were amazing.  We first “circled up” (holding hands) around the fire ring out front and introduced ourselves and said where we’re from (all over the US and abroad).  Then, we added that for which we were thankful – the hostel, rain, sun, strangers becoming friends, reuniting with friends from the trail, a mattress to sleep on, Daystar and Cole -- for being together.  For dinner, we lined up for our first course: homemade bread, butter from the local Amish farm, and salad from an assortment of lettuces (see pic) with dressing so good you wanted to drink it from the bottle.  Next course, pizza made not in a hut but the dome oven (see pic) and old school macaroni and cheese.  For dessert, ice cream from the nearby Amish farm and “Kiki’s cookies” from home (Ty’d made a double batch of oversized-chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies; our love offering).  When dinner was nearly over, Neville (see pic), the owner/hostess, rang the bell with an urgent announcement.  A pig was lost.  Daystar and Gribley had seen it earlier when they'd set up their tents near the pig pen.  They assumed it was a “free range” pig like the “free range” chickens out front.  Thankfully, early the next morning, Gribley spotted it again, and the pig was returned to its pen.  He was a hostel hero!

Each meal has “sign-up sheets” for meal prep and clean up.  Daystar and Gribley helped wash dinner dishes then began the prep for breakfast.  Leftover bread was crumbled and mixed with butter and brown sugar for a crisp to go with berries and fresh yogurt in the morning.  I stepped in and ground coffee beans, and Cole helped fill giant jars from knee-high barrels of flour. 

Before the heavens broke, hikers headed to their camping area (by the pigs) or to the bunk house.  Thankfully, Cole and I headed upstairs to a simple, comfy, quaint room.  A hard rain began to fall on the tin roof and quickly lulled us to sleep.

Instead of staying for breakfast, we headed to The Waffle House, Tater Tot’s first visit ever, then to 81 South, and on to Damascus.  When the priest asked Ty where I was this past Sunday, he said, “The road to Damascus.”  More to come.