Tag Archives: vacation

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That’s harsh.

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We love visiting the National Parks and always appreciate the helpful Ranger Service that provides excellent directions and local history.

When we were taking in the natural splendor of the Great Smokey Mountains Park in Tennessee and viewing a herd of elk?

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A Park Service employee was right there to answer our questions….

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And make sure I didn’t get a close up photo.

We saw bear in the park as well…

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Though no one was around at the time to give us this helpful advice.

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I can’t say that would ever have crossed my mind, but then again I’ve never been chased by a bear after my girlfriend broke my favorite martini glass…

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Oh, alright.

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Lake Wow-aby continued…

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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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Lake Willoughby.

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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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Heading home through the Kingdom.

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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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A restaurant post.

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Just down the road from the snowflake museum…

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We discovered a gem.

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Housed in an old inn, the restaurant/bar was warm and inviting.

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Most of the dining sections were full so we grabbed a high top near the empty bar.

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Seeing the empty bar made me wonder about the quality of libations….

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But a stellar blood orange cranberry gin fizz allayed my fears.

Of course this was Vermont, so some of the menu items put me off.

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A skillet full of kale? There wasn’t enough gin in the state to make me order that.

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Ditto the falafel, though the maple chicken didn’t sound bad.

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But the clam chowder was homemade, rich, creamy and full of fresh herbs so I started with that.. accompanied by the most amazing peach cornbread with orange whipped butter you’ve ever tasted. Ooh la la! I raved over them so much the waitress brought me extra of both to take home.

The beer? I thought you might notice that.

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I tried both of these.

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Because a girl gets thirsty when she eats salad.

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We enjoyed this place so much we stayed long enough to order dessert. (Mainly because the husband found a fellow veteran to talk to… and you know how long that can take.)

Pumpkin cheesecake for him, Key lime pie for yours truly.

If you’re ever in the Jericho area of Vermont drop in. You won’t be sorry.

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Because I always find weird and quirky places to visit.

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The other half of the Old Red Mill building in Jericho, Vermont was what I’d really come to see.

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No, that’s not a commentary on ultra left liberals.

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Named after Wilson Bentley, the museum celebrates the life of the first man to ever photograph snowflakes.

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We take photographs of everything for granted now, but trust me this was a big deal at the turn of the century.

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They even had his original camera.

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Imagine dragging that around in the snow.

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The museum was understandably small, basically just one room.

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And judging by the fact his favorite quilt, sewn by his mother, took up a whole wall…

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Exhibits were hard to come by.

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I tried to take a selfie with Bentley, but the lighting was wrong and left me with nothing but a giant glare.

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Antiquing and the Old Red Mill

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You knew there had to be some antique shopping on our trip.

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The husband refused to let me purchase this pair of chicken rocking chairs… even though I knew they’d be great on the barn porch. The $2,000 price tag might have had something to do with that.

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This old advertisement made us cringe. Clearly 666 didn’t have the same connotation back in the day.

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But look, it cured everything from headache to constipation . What’s not to love?

We hit a few stores and were about to call it quits but then, from the corner of my eye….

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A beer crate! At an extremely affordable $25 price. I was thrilled and I think the store owner was so happy to sell something he gave me these two vintage wooden darts (with real feathers) for free.

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Score!

Later in the day we arrived at our destination.

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The Old Red Mill in Jericho.

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A picturesque, well preserved piece of the past.

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One half the building houses a lovely gift store filled with crafts from local artists.

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And I liked the way they left the original mill works in place.

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In hindsight I really should have bought this book.

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Probably some decent blog fodder there.

But it was the other half of the building that I’d actually come to see.

To be continued…

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Random Vermont

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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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He likes big barns, I cannot lie.

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No matter where you are in Vermont, there are barns.

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And if you’re traveling with my husband, there is envy.

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Because no matter how much he improves his own Barn Mahal/ man cave, somewhere someone has done more.

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This barn had an apartment.

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This barn was haunted. It’s hard to top that.

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The white barn didn’t really look like a barn, but it was.

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Barns with cows…

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And barns without cows. He loves them all.

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The awesome Ausable finale.

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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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