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As you know, I do not camp. While I love spending time in the great outdoors… my idea of roughing it is a condo with one bathroom. That being said, I can’t honestly say I’ve given much thought to the logistics of answering the call of nature in the wild.
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But clearly someone has.
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Aren’t you glad I share these treasures?
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The Crap Strap.
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Can’t say this fellow looked too enthused, but then I wouldn’t want to be photographed in that position either.
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I’m sure I’m not the only who’ll be complaining today as it seems the entire United States was slammed by what they called a bomb cyclone event yesterday.
The wind? Insane. It gusted almost 70mph at our house.
The rain? A deluge that flooded roads, businesses, and homes.
Our nightmare started yesterday at 8:00am just as I was about to step into the shower. Bam! No power. Which meant no shower, sandwiches for lunch and dinner and an epic 13 hour gin rummy tournament by flashlight. Temperatures during the day were mild with a high of 52 degrees, but by nightfall it was frigid.
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Thankfully we have a fireplace…. and while it won’t heat the whole house, it did manage to keep the living room at 58 degrees when the outside temperature dropped to 7. Of course my husband the Marine runs the operation.
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Which means throwing giant logs on the top to get it truly blazing.
This does not always end well.
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Because sometimes the logs revolt and pop back out. Giant cloud of smoke, sparks that burned the carpet? You betcha!
But as we sat in the dark enjoying the smell of smoke and scorched Berber, the fun was just beginning. Yes, just as we were about to call it a day and go to bed… shingles started lifting and literally flying off the roof. We watched them sail into the backyard, the neighbor’s driveway and the road. Good times!
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Or not as it turns out.
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Five new leaks as of this morning.
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Did I mention Lord Dudley Mountcatten is utterly terrified of the fire? Positively and absolutely. He fled to the furthest reaches of our bedroom and cried nonstop. Which meant instead of sleeping on the relative warmth of the living room couch, I had to snuggle his highness in the frigid bedroom all night and got no sleep whatsoever because to top it all off? Our neighbor’s wood stove caught fire at midnight.
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Thankfully no one was hurt.
It’s 1:00pm now and we’ve been without power for 29 hours. I haven’t slept nor showered and just discovered it’s not easy to make tea and toast in a fireplace. I have to say …. I’m more than ready to fill the house with electric current. This pioneer woman thing is getting old.
🥺
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Here are a few pics I grabbed from friends.
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Our little downtown park.
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Not sure if you can tell, but the water is right under the bridge.
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Yikes!
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You’re looking at a pier and a parking lot. Or rather, you should be.
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We may be cold, dirty and hungry… but I’m still glad we don’t live there.
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For a place we never knew existed and just happily stumbled upon, it was more than a pleasant surprise.
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Lake Willoughby, 5 miles long with a max depth of 325 feet. A glacial lake parked between two fjord like mountains in Westmore Vermont.
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The path around the south end was easy walking and well marked.
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With some seriously beautiful views.
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The little beach was tiny, but I imagine it’s packed with swimmers in the summer.
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The boardwalk was a nice addition as the ground was a bit soggy.
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Shame it was so cold and windy, I could easily have pulled up a stump and relaxed here for hours.
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Even the stairs were kind.
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If you’re ever in the area check it out.
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And don’t forget your camera.
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The undiscovered country is always the best.. and when we travel, we love nothing more than stumbling upon a place we never knew existed.
Enter Lake Willoughby in Vermont.
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Imagine randomly picking a road to travel home and finding this.
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Not being in any hurry, we stopped.
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And groaned at the bad grammar.
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But bad spelling aside…. wow.
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There was a path that ran alongside part of the lake and though I wasn’t dressed for hiking, I happily headed out.
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This is a glacial lake and every part of it was glorious.
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My pictures don’t really do it justice, but in spots the colors were positively surreal.
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The wind was ripping and I couldn’t feel my nose, but we pressed on.
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Being careful not to trample any seedlings.
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Mountains, rocks and a glacial lake.
Yes please.
To be continued…
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All good things must end and after a wonderful 5 days in Vermont our mini vacation did.
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Vermont. The state where even private driveways have covered bridges.
As we left the resort and headed for the Northern Kingdom, I found proof it does exist.
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If only I could have found the garden.
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A lonely cemetery.
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The Kingdom is another world. Rugged, mountainous and sparsely populated.
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With some rather odd inhabitants.
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And as we were heading home, we discovered a hidden, and heretofore unknown to us, gem.
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Lake Willoughby.
To be continued…
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On one of our random scenic drives around Vermont we stopped at a diner for lunch. Wondering if there were any points of interest nearby, we asked the locals who promptly sent us to Huntington Gorge.
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At first glance it didn’t look promising.
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And to be honest, the second and third glances weren’t any better.
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Everywhere we looked there were warnings.
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And while I’m not normally obtuse, I was beginning to get the feeling we weren’t wanted.
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So of course… after all the Danger Will Robinson! signs?
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My mountain goat husband had to investigate.
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Right at the very edge they warned us about.
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Please note yours truly listened to robot and was well out of danger range.
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Yeah. That limb will hold you honey, no problem.
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Needless to say he survived. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.
😉
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Vermont really is a beautiful state and even after most of the leaves had fallen in late autumn we enjoyed our scenic drives.
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Since we live on the Maine coast, we always love to see the mountains.
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Lake Champlain has a bit of both.
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This is the Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont.
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Built in 1812, it’s a rare, well-preserved sixteen-sided meeting house. Sadly it’s never open when we’re in the area, but maybe someday.
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Oh… the horror! As if the government isn’t squirrelly enough.
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I love barren, scraggly trees against a clear blue sky.
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This colorful moose was on a restaurant we tried called Piecasso. It was always packed when we drove by so I figured it would be great.
I was wrong. It wasn’t. Just an overpriced pizza joint.
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And while I’ve tipped kitchen staff in the past, I didn’t hear any cowbell this time around.
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Something tells me it’s time for a few repairs here.
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Cow!
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Creative wood stacking. You have to love that…
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The sky was too perfect here, I had to snap a picture.
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Yes.
Of course we took that road!
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Because there’s an infinite supply of ridiculous headlines and I like to share the wealth.
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No good can come from arming squirrels. Trust me on this.
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Apparently your bladder is just like your cell phone battery. Drain it all the way down before you recharge… and don’t tinkle until you’re full.
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Gee, that sounds like fun.
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Unexplored avenues. Guess that’s one way to shrink the population.
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Yes, they really had to warn idiots to stop looking ( or licking, as the case may be) for a free high.
Hey there! Here is the “ribbiting” late night content no one asked for. Yet here we are. The Sonoran desert toad (Bufo alvarius), also known as the Colorado river toad, is one of the largest toads found in North America, measuring nearly 7 inches (18 cm).
These toads have prominent parotoid glands that secrete a potent toxin. It can make you sick if you handle the frog or get the poison in your mouth. As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking. Thank you.
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My sympathies are with the toad on this one.
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Yes, there really was an end to our visit. Much as I didn’t want to, we had to leave eventually.
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And leaving meant walking the rim trail.
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Which follows the edge of the chasm but from a much higher level.
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The grand flume.
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Most of the trail was through the woods with a few peaks of the water like this.
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When a tree falls in the forest? Doesn’t matter if you hear it or not… let it be. The critters will thank you.
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One more scenic vista..
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One more cross walk…
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And you’re back on the main road bridge.
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Which affords one last beautiful view.
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If you’re ever in Keeseville, New York visit the Grand Canyon of the East at Ausable Chasm.
It really was awesome!
👍
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You thought you were done looking at rocks?
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Not quite.
I forgot one of the best parts of the Inner Sanctum trail at Ausable Chasm….
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The wall of moss.
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The husband went in for a close up… so you know it had to be good.
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A solid wall of perpetually wet moss. It was amazing.
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I loved it.
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Me.
Loving it.
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Thankfully it was a warm late October day and the bridge wasn’t iced.
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And though I didn’t want to leave, we’d reached the end of the trail and it’s giant knee pain inducing stairs.
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A final look at the trail from above.
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River's world..... 