Tag Archives: Vermont

Random Vermont

December 14, 2022 Rivergirl 13 Comments

Vermont really is a beautiful state and even after most of the leaves had fallen in late autumn we enjoyed our scenic drives.

Since we live on the Maine coast, we always love to see the mountains.

Lake Champlain has a bit of both.

This is the Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont.

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.

Oh… the horror! As if the government isn’t squirrelly enough.

I love barren, scraggly trees against a clear blue sky.

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.

And while I’ve tipped kitchen staff in the past, I didn’t hear any cowbell this time around.

Something tells me it’s time for a few repairs here.

Cow!

Creative wood stacking. You have to love that…

The sky was too perfect here, I had to snap a picture.

Yes.

Of course we took that road!

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He likes big barns, I cannot lie.

December 13, 2022 Rivergirl 17 Comments

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

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

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

This barn had an apartment.

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

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

Barns with cows…

And barns without cows. He loves them all.

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Day two: Truck envy, The Champlain Islands and cows.

December 4, 2022 Rivergirl 27 Comments

On our second day in Vermont we headed for New York. Seems crazy, but stick with me … it was worth it.

Of course we didn’t make it very far before my husband had to turn around and check out an old Ford truck.

It looked just like his… same year, same color except this was a 250 instead of a 150. Price tag, for a truck made in 1994? $22,000. That is beyond insane (and made me want to list his for sale as soon as we got home).

Back on the road, we pointed the car towards the Champlain Islands.

If you’re unfamiliar with this area, Lake Champlain is large. 107 miles long, 64 foot deep. There’s often talk about adding it to the Great Lakes but nothing ever comes of it.

There are a few ferries that cross it from the Vermont side, but the ride is pretty and we weren’t in any rush.

South Hero, North Hero….

And Grand Isle.

Miles and miles of nothing but farms, mountains and lake. (spellcheck changed lake to kale. No one wants miles of that!)

Peaceful doesn’t begin to describe it.

And hey, look….

COWS!!

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The resort pros and cons. And this time I’m blaming the husband for the cons.

December 2, 2022 Rivergirl 14 Comments

Because our first trip to Vermont was a quickie, the husband wanted to go back and spend a bit more time in the same area… so that meant booking another condo at Smugglers Notch Resort.

Pro:

We’ve been there numerous times and enjoy the quiet, nestled in the mountains setting. When checking in this time around, we were going to luck out and occupy one of the newly remodeled units… which after our previous stay in the 1980’s horror sounded perfect.

Con:

My husband saw they booked us on the first floor. And since nothing upsets my husband more than people stomping above us, he immediately requested a top floor unit. Naturally there were no third floor remodeled condos available, so we were stuck in the Willows.

Tired. Outdated….

And very …. woody.

Pro:

It was clean, quiet and had a comfortable king size bed.

Con:

Would it kill them to add a bed skirt and a pretty spread?

Pro:

There were 4 beds in the unit. A king, a queen and two twins… in case you like a variety of sleeping areas.

And the master bath’s whirlpool bath was in the bathroom.

It even had its own television if that’s your thing.

Con:

There were two random cows overhead.

And Holy guacamole Batman! The wallpaper. How bad was it?

Really, really bad.

I mean, WTH? This is Vermont… not the southwest.

The decor mattered not one iota to my spouse. It was clean, comfortable, and had working appliances with no one stomping above him, he was happy. But no matter how many times he told me to enjoy the sunrise off the balcony….

I wasn’t forgiving him for turning down the remodeled unit.

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Because the blog series are longer than the vacations.

December 1, 2022 Rivergirl 25 Comments

I know I just got through blogging about our trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but guess what? In the time it took me to do that… we took another trip to Vermont. And knowing the kind of detail I like to post about our trips, this series will probably last until Christmas.

So here we go, back to Northwestern Vermont…. where I found this helpful information shortly after crossing the border.

COW!

I’ve never swum with a cow, but now I kind of want to.

Back in Jeffersonville, these wonderful silos greeted us.

In Stowe? It was a truckload full of cuteness.

Heading through Smugglers Notch in late October after all the foliage had fallen wasn’t as pretty…

But following this truck and trailer around the tight bends was interesting.

Vermont, where red barns….

Windmills…

And corn are plentiful.

But mummified Halloween bears are a little harder to find.

🤣

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The journey home.

October 23, 2022 Rivergirl 19 Comments

Since we weren’t in a huge hurry to get home, we took the longer scenic route back and that meant driving through the Northeast Kingdom.

It’s a rural and mountainous region of Vermont, similar to areas in northern Maine with its low population density and differing political views.

Unspoiled and undisturbed.

Beautiful? You betcha!

This region takes their designation seriously so you’ll find “Kingdom” gas stations and “Kingdom” diners scattered throughout the area.

There’s even a covered bridge staircase.

While the majority of Vermont is an environmentally friendly, liberal, churn your own butter, Birkenstock type of place… the Kingdom is a bit wilder and leans much farther right. It’s often said there are two Maines, southern and northern.. I find that’s true of Vermont as well.

And if you’re wondering how far north we were?

I could see Canada from my window.

And though we didn’t cross the border, Verizon let us know we might as well have.

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Goodbye Vermont, we’ll miss you.

October 22, 2022 Rivergirl 22 Comments

And so after a spur of the moment, last minute mini getaway… we headed home. Wishing we could stay longer and see Vermont’s foliage at its peak.

Leaving the little town of Jeffersonville we passed what’s become a landmark.

An artfully painted silo celebrating the area’s agricultural roots.

We said goodbye to cows. (Alright, that was me. The husband grew up milking them and couldn’t care less)

Did I mention there are a lot of cows in Vermont?

There’s also a lot of corn.

So much corn.

Seriously, the stuff is everywhere.

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The last Notch drive and a little shopping.

October 21, 2022 Rivergirl 28 Comments

Heading back to the resort for the last time it looked like there was a hole in the sky…

And before long we were approaching the Notch.

These signs are on both entrance sides to the road and it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were talking about.

TT’s won’t fit?

How odd.

As we entered the Notch, rain. I swear the mountains make their own weather.

Godzilla barfing?

No, just falling rocks.

Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but the road is positively pink. Vermont has the oddest color tar in places. Perhaps it’s mixed with Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake…?

Since our neighbor was caring for Lord Dudley Mountcatten… as well as feeding the fox and deer.. a thank you gift was required. This meant dragging my husband shopping and you know if it isn’t antiques he isn’t happy.

A bottle of local Vermont wine…

And some Vermont chocolates were perfect, but then I lost the husband in the store.

You knew he’d find something vintage, right?

He actually collects these old gas station oil bottles and was thrilled to find a complete set with the holder. He was less than thrilled to find they were being used as decoration and not for sale.

He was so grumpy about that he wouldn’t let me go back and purchase this special maple syrup.

Which in hindsight was probably a good thing…

Because as soon as I saw they had various Dog liquor I wanted one of each.

But at nearly $200 for the pair it’s a good thing they were under lock and key.

😬

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Another scenic drive.

October 20, 2022 Rivergirl 21 Comments

Fortified with a wonderful meal, we continued our aimless wandering through Vermont.

It’s hard to take a bad photo there, especially in the fall. Mountains, trees, and cows.

Mountains, cows, and farms.

Every once in a while you’ll pass through a town.

Then it’s back to mountains, trees, and cows.

And a very serious porch lover.

Also, there were fish.

I have no explanation for random fish, but they were delightful all the same.

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One of our favorites.

October 19, 2022 Rivergirl 23 Comments

As we were randomly driving around Vermont we hit Montpelier, the capitol, and remembered there was a fabulous high end restaurant we’d enjoyed on previous trips.

Welcome to J. Morgan’s Steakhouse.

A fabulous place that’s actually part of a hotel. It has a very retro, 1920’s, prohibition era type feel….

And we hit it at the perfect time since you can rarely get in without reservations.

Apple cider mule?

Don’t mind if I do.

It was 3:00pm… but since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, we decided to be tacky (really) early birds and go straight to dinner. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Which kind of sucked because this place can be pricey.