Litchfield Castle

     Although I'm sure Wenonah was a beautiful place to stay, I can't begin to describe how lucky I was to be in van number two. I knew I was going to be spending the night at Litchfield castle, but what I didn't know, was what I was in for. Driving around the lake, on the five mile dirt road, was like driving on the moon. "Why would such a place have such a crummy road?" I thought to myself.  But as we approached the castle, and saw it from across the lake, I understood. This was an exclusive place, only the few and fortunate, the lucky ones like us, could have the opportunity to see it, let alone, sleep in it. I could never have expected something so incredibly magnificent as we pulled up. The stonework, the marble lions, everything about it was unreal. It was right out of a fairy-tale storybook. Inside, I can't begin to tell how impressed, how enamored I was with all of it. The taxidermy, the James-Bond-worthy library and amazing books, the grandness and built-to-last nature of the architecture and structure, the craftsmanship, the inordinate attention to detail, the pristine antiques, the massive scale of what it took to get everything to look just so, inside and out in a time without modern capabilities, the care with which everything has been kept, the history, and the shear amount of knowledge Pieter had on everything encompassed in his and his families world, business, castle, and family alike; past, present, and future. Truly... surreal. Walking outside onto the veranda early Sunday morning was icing on the cake. True silence was all that filled the air, until loons began calling to each other. Mist was rolling off of the water. A piece of history behind me, and what sheer awe,  the Litchfield empire in front of me. Those 14 hours that I spent there were truly some of the most memorable of my life. What a privilege it was to be there and spend time speaking with Pieter. When can we go back?