We parted ways with Maricela’s brother in New York City and headed to New England where we spent a week exploring around the area – Connecticut, Massachusetts, upstate New York, Vermont. We’ve run into snow flurries nearly every day, and it’s very cold (at least by my California standards). After all, we are halfway through April.

We found many places still “closed for the season”, and those that are open have shortened hours. We stopped by two state parks in Vermont to see if we could go for a little hike. One was completely closed. The other had a sign on the road at the entrance: “Snowmobiles only”. From what we’ve seen, most things don’t open for the season until May 31.

The trees are not budding yet, daffodils haven’t bloomed… It’s definitely still winter here.

Yesterday, today (April 16), and tomorrow we’re getting a mix of snow and freezing rain. Here’s the view outside our window this morning:

From what I hear, the next season we have to look forward to is “mud season”!