Getting through Pennsylvania

The first step on our way back was to get out of New York and make our way through the state of Pennsylvania. Stops along the way in the small town of Wellsboro and the tiny town of LA Porte allowed us to take in a couple of things that we didn't really know about until we got here.

Ricketts Glen State Park near La Porte is an absolute gem of a park. While we really didn't have the time to take it all it, we were able to get the best part. Colonel R. Bruce Ricketts purchased this land in 1868 for the purpose of timber. Upon exploring his land, he discovered that two different branches of Kitchen Creek had carved deep gorges through his land over the centuries. The two branches of Kitchen Creek met in the center of his land forming a huge “Y”. Being a member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, he recognized the importance of his discovery and was careful to preserve it.

The Park contains the most dramatic of Ricketts’ discovery. A 3 plus mile loop trail takes you down one branch of Kitchen Creek to where the two branches merge, and then back up the other branch. The centuries of carving have created dramatic waterfalls along both branches prior to where they merge, and the loop trail takes you past all of them.

According to park literature, there are 22 waterfalls within this area. But the Woman and I think that is very misleading. There may be only 22 immense falls that Ricketts had personally named (all with native American themed names), there are easily 80-100 some odd waterfalls, with many of the unnamed falls being as beautiful as some of the named ones. This one is now named Robin Falls, although we weren’t able to put a name plaque on it for lack of tools and materials.

The rain we had been getting improved our viewing considerably. And we got really lucky when we went – we assumed since it was a dreary day during the middle of the week that we would have no problem getting in. Well, even though we got pretty wet during the one heavy rainfall period in our hike, when we arrived at the trail-head, the ample parking lot nearly full already. By the time we left, the lot was full, closed by Park Rangers, and people coming at that time had to park another mile away!

Near Wellsboro are Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks. Named for local civic leaders who were in part responsible for preserving this area for public use, the parks are on the bluffs on either side of the Pine Creek Gorge. The gorge formed by Pine Creek has earned the name Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. We visited Harrison State Park in the afternoon and strolled the short paths along the bluffs overlooking the Canyon. The views were spectacular – not the rocky jagged look of the Arizona version. But while these fuzzy densely forested hillsides looked different than their namesake, the Canyon is over 800 feet deep and only a bit over a quarter mile across, so the nickname does seem to fit.

Near the edge of the Park is a ranger tower that dates back to the times of George Washington Sears. Sears was an early conservationist in the late 1800’s, and a writer for Field and Stream Magazine. The Tower, as it is known locally, allows elevated views of the Canyon, as well as views for hundreds of miles in all direction. Under private ownership now, we found the owner’s technology to be very interesting – they actually had a live credit card scanner linked both to a satellite dish and to a full body turnstile. You swipe your card, the satellite obtains instant approval of the charge, and the turnstile clicks – only one person can squeeze through at a time!

In the morning, even though it was raining and only 37 degrees, before we hit the road again we biked 6 miles into the Grand Canyon. An early logging railroad had been built in the base of Pine Valley Gorge. That rail spur has been converted to a multipurpose path. Hikers, bikers and horses are all allowed to use some portion of the path – its maybe over 20 feet wide. Local tour companies run huge horse drawn wagons up and down the path for the enjoyment of visitors to the area.

We biked donning our heavy gloves and coats, we biked until we were well past the overlooks we had been at the night before. And not only did we get an up close and friendly look at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, but we ended up with it being a wildlife excursion. Since it was spitting a bit and 37 degrees, nobody was out and about. So we spotted 3 deer down by the creek getting a morning drink – they quickly scattered when they heard the crunching of our bike tires on the gravel. We also spotted at least 3 Bald Eagles – since they were flying down the gorge as we biked, we don’t know for sure if we saw just 3, or if maybe some that we thought were the same were actually different birds – maybe we saw as many as 6.

Chilled to the bone, it was still a wonderful 12 odd miles. We mounted the bikes and got on our way.

Talk to you soon!

Dodged a bullet!

I mentioned that somehow Murphy messed up and we got the replacement refrigerator with just days and tens of miles left on our service contract. I considered buying a new contract, but at her age, a contract on Colectiva would be about $2,000 per year with a $1,000 deductible – so we decided that we would just take our chances running naked. After all, we would have to have a $4,000 repair just to break even – what are the chances of that?

Well, at around 71,500 miles (contract expired at 70,000 and a couple months ago), we began having engine issues – first we noticed that after stopping at Wally World to refill the cupboards that we would fire Colectiva up, set out and all of a sudden there would be zero acceleration, like no fuel getting to the engine at all, then shuddering and the engine would quit. On short stops for fuel or parking overnight at a campground there was no problem on the restart, just when it sat for maybe an hour.

Next we noticed no power – we were in the Catskills and other very hilly country, and hills that I should have been able to do at 50 MPH in 5^th gear were requiring me to hop down into 3^rd or 2^nd gear, and the speed would drop to 25 or 30 MPH. And then on the downhill side, when I used the engine break, the Check Engine light would come on – I would pull over, check the oil and coolant (most prevalent reason for Check Engine light) and when I fired it back up, all was good again. Last time I had a loss of power, I had to have the head gaskets replaced, a many thousands of dollars repair due to the high labor costs – and that is only if it isn't something more severe!

So, we set out to find a Cummins facility (we have a Cummins diesel engine in Colectiva) that might be reasonably close and on our way. We lucked out and found such a facility out in the little town of Elmira New York – apparently Cummins built this facility out here in anticipation of the oil and gas fracking that seemed to be coming full steam, but apparently the public outcry put an end to the future of fracking in the region, at least for the time being. But the facility was done, so now draws business from over the road trucking and other industries – lucky for us. And they could look at Colectiva the day we brought her in.

Great news and bad news – great news is that they checked the engine codes and believe it is only dirty fuel filters and a dirty crankcase filter, so well under the deductible we would have had with a contract. Bad news is that not getting much RV work here, they need to order the filter, so we are stranded in Elmira for a bit – things could be way worse however.

Corning New York is not very far from Elmira, so we took this chance to visit the world famous Corning Museum of Glass. We had heard about it from several friends, but were never able to get there on our other visits to the area. So in some respect, the filter needing to be shipped was a small bonus.

The museum is extremely interesting. One exhibit of the museum is dedicated to glass as an art form. The pieces in the museum ranged from small decorative insect pins to enormous sculptures the size of a truck. Some appeared so delicate that it is hard to imagine that they were actually made of brittle, rigid glass that was super-heated and formed to look this way. As we came around the corner of one display, both the Woman and I commented on the Chihuly pieces – living in Vegas and frequenting the Steve Wynn built properties, we have become very familiar with Chihuly glass art, to the point where we can pick it out anywhere. Now as a result of this adventure, we are also pretty able to pick out pieces created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Other exhibits had examples of different uses for glass – a lot of the displays had to do with vessels of various size and type. But the most interesting exhibit for me was the history of glass making. Not only did the exhibit explore history of glass making in different parts of the world – the section on Venetian Glass was really interesting – but also the history of glass making over time. Apparently either these were the first uses of glass or their size and shape allowed them to survive while other vessels did not, but there glass perfume bottles in the collection that had been dated back as far as the 6^th to 8^th century before Christ! Their collection of glass objects between that time and say the 6^th century AD was extensive, and impressive.

Due to some matters at home, we are going to have to curtail our planned destinations from this point forward and head back to the desert, so once our filters arrive and are installed, we will be off.

Talk to you soon!

Back to New York

As we came up from North Carolina to New England, we had to briefly pass through New York. Now to get from New England back to the desert Southwest, we have to pass through again, but this time we get some bonuses.

We took a little bit of a detour as it fit in our driving day. You may not recall the town of Bethany New York, but you do know what happened there August 15-17, 1969. When the city of Woodstock New York revoked its concert license due to the overwhelming complaints of its citizens, but long after all the promotional material had been developed and distributed, the Woodstock Rock Festival was actually held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethany Woods. And the rest is history.

Max no longer owns the farm – the land was bought long ago by a foundation that has developed a performing arts center, surrounding a museum on the Rock Festival as well as the original ground on which the Festival was held. We visited the museum and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits and documentary films, all of which were new to us. Reliving some of that great music and seeing those famous artists (now my age and older or dead of drug overdoses) in their late teens was great fun. Also, learning how the military actually ran what we would now call a humanitarian operation, delivering food, water and medical aid to the crowd that ended up being 10 times the number of people than the organized had planned and prepared for. How it is the more didn't die is a wonder.

We walked the hillside of the natural amphitheater where the concert was held. Mowed into the grass on the hillside where hundreds of thousands sat is a massive peace symbol, no doubt symbolic in the minds of those in charge of the Foundation. At the epicenter where the stage actually held all those performers in 1969 is a monument to the memory of the Festival. We imagined what it might have been like to be on this site back then with the sea of humanity in front of you – had to be awesome!

After reaching Ithaca, we parked Colectiva at Robert Treman State Park. While there were no hookups, the Park is on the edge of Ithaca, making it easy for our planned visits with my nephew Devin and his wife Liz. One unique feature of this park in addition to the great hiking trails that we took advantage of is that you actually have to drive across a waterfall – yes, in your motorhome! – to get to your camp spot. What an interesting experience!

While in the area, we drove up to Seneca Falls New York. Seneca Falls is believed by the locals to have been the inspiration for Frank Capra’s Bedford Falls featured in the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Capra had visited Seneca Falls during the time he wrote the screenplay for the movie. Seneca Falls has a bridge over a river where man drowned trying to save a woman who fell in, a theme that appeared in the film. Also, at the time, Seneca Falls had a low income housing development sponsored by the town’s savings and loan, another theme prevalent in Capra’s movie. Well, whether Seneca Falls was the inspiration or not, they have a small museum dedicated to the film.

Seneca Falls is also the site of the earliest documented women’s rights gathering in the nation. In 1848, women from around the country gathered to discuss the need for female equality – including the right to vote and hold political office – as well as to draft a document – the Declaration of Sentiments - to serve as the basis for continuing the discussion. The assembly was held in the Wesleyan Chapel – while the Chapel no longer stands completely, over the years its walls and ceiling had been incorporated into other buildings. The Park Service has done a good job of removing the later changes and restoring what remains of the original Wesleyan Chapel, which of course we toured.

Nearby was the early 1800’s era home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the driving forces behind the assembly. Stanton lived in Seneca Falls from 1847 to 1862. Often referred to as the Center of the Rebellion, she held gatherings at her home to encourage her female friends and neighbors to become involved in the movement. She was ultimately pivotal in getting the First Women’s Rights Convention organized.

The exhibits surrounding this 1848 assembly as well as what followed was very interesting. While less than 10 years after this assembly, the country would go to war with itself to grant equality to slaves, including the right to volt and hold political office. But it would be nearly 80 years after this assembly that women gained equality and were granted the rights that slaves had been granted in the 1860’s. Interesting isn't it?

On the way back from Seneca Falls we took scenic Highway 89 along Cayuga Lake, one of the infamous Finger Lakes. While each of the lakes has their own, scenic Highway 89 constitutes much of the Cayuga Wine Trail – many dozens of vineyards lining the hills along the lakeside. We grabbed lunch at Kapp Winery, and paid a brief visit to Toro Winery as well. Toro claims to have the best view of Cayuga along the trail – and we can’t argue with that claim.

Because of the rains we are having nearly daily, the many waterfalls that distinguish Ithaca were full and flowing. We hiked to two different falls in Tremont State Park. Venturing out, we must have visited more than a dozen, including Buttermilk Falls, Taughannok Falls, Ithaca Falls, Horseshoe Falls, and a half dozen other spectacular falls – Ithaca is a great location for waterfall hunting – especially during a rainy spell!

We got to spend a few wonderful evenings with Devin and Liz, and their new baby Maia. We had not met Maia before so this was an extra special treat – last time we saw Devin and Liz at the Bougie Ballyhoo she was still incubating, but she just now fits into her Bougie Ballyhoo shirt we had made up for her. 

We caught up with all the family talk, and saw their new house that they were just in the process of completing some remodeling before moving in – hopefully by the end of the year. And we were honored with a special bonus – little Maia was just at the point where she was taking her first steps walking – what a nice surprise for us!

It’s always so nice to visit, but never long enough. After three nice evenings it was time to say goodbye again for a while.

Talk to you soon!

Some more Vermont

Now that it is getting a lot colder, it is time to be moseying back south again. First stop is Manchester, a very colonial town with a strong British feel. We hit the Equinox Resort, an 1860’s era resort on 1,300 acres that appealed to Presidents from Taft to Eisenhower. The resort has hiking trails all over Mount  Equinox, so we set out on a hike – it was the Woman’s 60^th birthday and she wanted to do a nice hike – well it must have been planned this way because the trail we hiked was called Robin’s Roost. It was a nice trail with some exercise involved, and ended up at a spectacular overlook complete with a bench. Nice birthday bonus for the 60 year old!

After the hike, we retired to the pub inside the Equinox to have some hors d’oeuvres, a glass of wine, and some Peyton Manning. We split a nice burger plate, which they completely fixed up on two separate plates with all the fixings and sides and all. It was really nicely done, especially with the football kicker.

We visited the home offices and flagship store for Orvis. Turns out it was customer appreciation day at the Orvis offices, so they catered in pulled pork sandwiches, which we were happy to lift a couple off their hands. Orvis in some respects is a lot like Bass Pro Shops – they had a huge bass and trout pond where you could try out any of their fishing equipment. Everything was really top notch, and it was a pleasure to walk around and see all the innovative stuff.

Charles Orvis lived in Manchester when he founded the company in 1856. His home is now an exclusive high end inn – it is actually now part of the Equinox resort just a couple buildings down the street from their main resort facility. We would have loved to snoop around in it, but it was open to guests only, and I wasn’t willing to cough up the nightly rate just to get a peek.

Another famous nearby resident was Norman Rockwell. Where we parked Colectiva was actually in Arlington Vermont, which is where he lived. It turns out that all the pictures he illustrated he had locals pose for so that he could truly embody the rural American spirit. An Rockwell exhibit was just walking distance from our campground, and many of the folk who had posed when they were young were there to tell you about which Saturday Evening Post cover they were captured in, and what they’re experience was like posing for Norman Rockwell.

We got to see a really nice video on his life and work, and an amazing display of his work. We also scooted out to the edge of Arlington to catch a look at Rockwell’s home while he lived here. As a private residence, it is not open for tour, but it was fun to see nonetheless. It helped me remember that I had a copy of a Rockwell cover – the cover image from my Boy Scout Manual was created by Rockwell.

Since it wasn’t very far, we ventured into Bennington Vermont to take in the Bennington Battle Monument. The Battle of Bennington occurred on August 17, 1777 when American patriots defeated two detachments of British soldiers attempting to capture a store of weapons and food. Locally the battle is viewed as impressive and decisive at the battle at Bunker Hill in Boston due to the overwhelming advantage the British forces had.

The 306 foot tall limestone obelisk was completed in 1889. While it actually stands nearly 10 miles from the battlefield, it does stand at the site of the Catamount Tavern where Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys planned their attack on Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. From the observation deck which is where the slits are near the top of the obelisk, you can see Vermont, New York and Massachusetts.

We wanted to hike up to the observation deck, but due to issues with the stair system, they have installed an elevator – so we toughed it out and rode up. The views were spectacular in all directions. When we returned to the base, we were rewarded with  the actual kettle that the patriots capture from the British General Burgoyne from his camp in Saratoga as the battle raged on. We always enjoy seeing something that old.

On the way back to Colectiva for the night we stopped in historic Shaftsbury. We had visited the Robert Frost home in Franconia while there, but apparently as Frost aged and became more heavily published in the US, he desired both a warmer climate and easier access to his New York based publishers. So, he moved from New Hampshire to what he called Stone House in Shaftsbury Vermont. We toured the home and picked up some more tidbits on Frost. We are just having fun as we bum around and stumble across new things from time to time that connect with other people, places or things we have discovered on our Fall Colors trip!

With all our Vermont objectives met, it was time to move on into New York, and warmer climes.

Talk to you soon!

Woodstock - the other one

Woodstock, outside Plymouth Vermont, is recognized as one of the most picturesque and historic towns in America. One of the reasons is because of one of its most notable residents over the centuries, Laurence Rockefeller.

We visited the Rockefeller mansion and learned its very interesting history. George Perkins Marsh was born and raised on this land on the edge of Woodstock. The home was originally built as a farmhouse in 1805. George eventually inherited it from his father. George was an attorney by education, but was far more intrigued by what was going on in the forests of Vermont than in his law practice, and as a result, he became one of America’s first conservationists. During the decades before the Civil War, they say that 90% of the virgin forests of Vermont had been logged – hills that once were green with trees were now barren. Because of the heavy logging, the hills could no longer hold rainfall, the rivers became swollen whenever it rained, and the entire ecology and economy of Vermont was in flux as a result.

Marsh decided to become a student of history. After studying history, he decided that the great civilizations of the earth – the Romans for example – didn't crumble because of decadence of other reasons, they crumbled because the humans overtaxed and depleted the resources of the earth. In the 1840’s in a castle in Italy, Marsh wrote a book, Man and Nature in 1864, on his beliefs that would change the way in which the entire world would think about the land. After his revelation, Marsh decided to replant and nurture his little part of Vermont - 555 acres on the edge of Woodstock including Mount Tom.

Marsh ultimately sold his estate to Frederick Billings in 1869 (interestingly also a lawyer by profession). It was Billings who significantly expanded the home at that time, and what we see today is essentially his impact. Billings, who had been deeply impacted by Marsh’s book, kept on the focus on the natural development of the land there, researching and importing European trees that would do well in the climate. He essentially reforested the land he had purchased from Marsh. He also expanded the farm, bringing sustainable farming practices to the forefront.

When Billings died, the estate was in the hands of his wife, who along with their three daughters, continued on the practices Billings had long established. Three women managing an estate of this size was unusual in the time, but that didn't hold them back at all. Ultimately, the estate ended up in the hands of her oldest granddaughter, Mary French. That is where the Rockefeller name comes into the picture.

Mary French became Mary French Rockefeller, marrying Laurence Rockefeller on August 22, 1934 in the Episcopal Church in Woodstock Vermont. Laurence was already socially conscience, but the introduction to the Woodstock estate further enhanced his already established tendencies. During the rest of his life, Laurence would lead the family’s philanthropic efforts as it related to land and historic preservation, donating substantial amounts of land to what would later become 20 different National Parks, including this one which the couple donated to the Park Service in 1992 with a stipulation that Mary could live in the property until her death, when the Park Service would take over. The Marsh-Billing-Rockefeller National Historic Park officially opened in 1998.

We learned all about the history of the families that occupied this land over 3 generations, and the contributions they all made in history. A bonus was the ability to tour the mansion. Mary French Rockefeller lived in the home until the day she died, and then the home was turned over, with all its contents, to the Park Service. So all the furnishings, artwork, decoration, etc. were exactly as it had been during the time that Laurence and Mary lived here. Touring the home is like a time capsule – Mary’s dressing table with her personal hair brushes and jewelry about, monogrammed towels still hanging in the bathrooms. All in all, a special finish to a very interesting National Park.

On the way to Woodstock we stopped in Plymouth Notch to visit the Calvin Coolidge historic site. Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch in the home attached to the back of the small general store built in the late 1800’s that his father owned and operated. In this historic park, they have preserved the core of the small town that President Coolidge knew so well as he grew up here.

Next door to the general store and his birth place is the church where he attended during his formative years. The beautifully intricate inlaid woodworking in the ceiling of this church reminds me of a wooden church I once visited in Kizhi Russia. You could almost imagine the townsfolk gathered here with the future President in their midst.

Just across the street is the home where President Coolidge grew up. When the family got too big for the small home attached to the store, Calvin’s father built this home accommodate their needs. It was in the parlor of this home that Calvin received the fateful call that President Taft had died, and in which his father has sworn him in as the new President of the United States.

About a block up the street is the cheese factory in which his grandmother worked most of her adult life. Next to the general store is the still active post office where young Coolidge would pick up the family mail daily. Nearby are the local restaurant, gathering hall, and the barns in which Coolidge’s father kept his farming equipment and animals. In addition to operating the general store, with Coolidge’s mother keeping the books, his father farmed to provide most of the family’s food, not unusual in the time.

About a two block walk from his birthplace is the Plymouth Notch Cemetery. As in many of the places we have been in the East, there are way more residents here than there are in town. The woman who now runs the general store lives in the Notch, and says during Coolidge’s youth, a couple thousand people lived in the Notch, but that now maybe there were only 600 or so residents still living there. We strolled through the cemetery seeing all the family names that must have been prominent in the Notch in addition to the dozens of headstones with a Coolidge name on them. A simple stone standing area has been erected in front of the Presidential grave site, along with his immediate family.

I can see why this is generally considered to be the best preserved Presidential site in the Nation.

Talk to you soon!

More activity

In St. Johnsbury we visited the Dog Chapel. 15 years ago Stephen Huneck, and artist, became gravely ill, was in a comma for two months, and the doctors had little hope for his recovery. But recover he did, and while having to completely relearn to walk, carve, paint, he had the inspiration to build the Dog Chapel. Along with his wife Gwen, the overcame the challenges facing them and managed to build, over time, the Dog Chapel in the style of an 1820’s era Vermont church.

The stained glass windows came out of an actual church that was being demolished in upstate New York. They give a unique lighting to the inside of the church, which of course has a doggie door on the front large enough for any breed. As the sign says, “Welcome all Creeds, all Breeds, no Dogmas Allowed”.

Inside, the walls of the church are covered with visitor sentiments for their lost companions. I personally have not yet had to outlive a pet – I get to look forward to that at some time. But our son, Nick, had a wonderful dog, Kona, who lit up the world. Kona was all about chasing a toy, especially a ball – he would chase a ball for hours if someone would only throw it for him. We left a sentiment in the Dog Chapel for dear Kona – hope he gets it.

While we zipped around to the different towns we wanted to experience, we drove some of the most beautiful scenic roads in America – at least according to 1,000 Places to Go Before you Die. We drove pretty much all of Vermont Highway 100, at least the portions that have been designated scenic byways. We also drove a bunch of Vermont Highway 14, again those portions designated scenic byways.

Along the way, we went by the entrance to Sugarbush Ski Resort, but being in Colectiva and not being certain of parking, we didn’t go in. The year I graduated from college and got a job at Broeker Hendrickson CPA’s, I knew there would not be much skiing in my winters for quite a while at least. Having never skied on a mountain – we only skied river valleys in Minnesota – my brother Jerry and I decided we would spend the last week of December at Aspen Ski Resort in Colorado. Well, Murphy took care of that – there was no snow in the Rockies in December 1976 and Aspen was not yet open on Christmas

day. So, Jerry and I scrambled and booked last minute at the only place with snow and rooms – Sugarbush in Vermont. Unlike skiing in the Rockies where the snow is dry and powdery, we found skiing Vermont to be just like skiing really really really big river valleys in Minnesota – the snow was wet, and would get icy when over exposed or over skied. However, it was our first mountain skiing at a real resort with real babes in ski overalls and sweaters in the bar after hours, so all it all, it was a spectacular time. Just driving by brings back really good memories.

Talk to you soon!

Flurry of activity

We’d had rain and were clouded in for a few days. While it was fine for factory tours and cleared up long enough for us to walk in towns and such, it wasn't at all conducive to drive up to the top of Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont and part of the Stowe Resort. Getting a break in the weather this morning, we drove up the Stowe Auto Toll Road to hike the remaining 600 feet up to the nearly 4,400 foot peak.

The 4 ½ mile drive is up the original 1800’s era carriage road that brought wealthy patrons up to the mountain top accommodations. While the accommodations no longer exist at the top, the original carriage road does, and winds its way through all the existing black diamond and double black diamond runs. Unlike the Western ski resorts we are more familiar with that have huge movable snow making cannons with immense fans and maybe 3 foot diameter openings, here they just have a long line of permanently mounted snow making nozzles that look like a string of street lamps. It appears they would blanket the entire slope with a fine drizzle of newly made snow when operating.

The pooch came with us on our final hike to the summit – maybe not our best decision – it was 37 degrees and the wind about knocked you down, and it was mostly rocky terrain with huge puddles from the rain – but Niko still had a great time – he doesn't get to hike with us too much these days. And the Woman was in ecstasy – she had been reading about The Long Trail – the oldest long distance trail in the US – built by the Green Mountain Club between 1910 and 1930, it is a 272 mile trail that runs the length of Vermont from the Massachusetts state line to the Canadian border. Well, the 1.3 mile section of trail from the visitor center to the peak is a section of The Long Trail, so she got to hike part of that as well!

If we could keep from getting blown off the mountain, the views were spectacular. From a rocky overlook about mid-way up we could see for miles. While the face of Stowe ski slopes face East, being on the crest, we could see in all directions. We saw the complete Lake Champlain basin, actually straining to see both its Northern and Southern reaches. We could also see Burlington where we had been the day before. Lots accomplished, and a happy pup to boot.

I guess if you happen to be driving down the road with a dead horse in the back of your vehicle, this sign would come in useful.

It turned out Montpelier, the capitol of Vermont, was only a short distance away. Being lunch time, we actually combined two activities to a good result. We hit Fresh Track Farms, a winery only about 4 miles from the capitol building. We got to share a nice glass of their yummy Cabernet with our picnic, and then get a sampling of all their eight wines they produce here. All their wines are made from grapes grown on their property here, except for their apple wine which still comes from locally grown Vermont apples. It was an especially nice lunch, and we picked up a little after dinner treat for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast.

Our visit to the capitol was fun. We learned that the capitol building was built in 1859, and is in much the identical condition it was the day it was opened – nearly all states have either replaced their capitol buildings or expanded them, but Vermont has not. Because of that, Vermont’s capitol building is the oldest in the US that is still operating as it was on the date it was built.

Because of that, the furniture has never been replaced. When you enter either the Senate or the House Chambers, what you see is the original 1859 furniture as it was the day the building was opened. Sure, some of the upholstery has been repaired as needed, but the desks and chairs and podiums and chandeliers are all from 1859. In the House chamber there are a row of 15 chairs on either side of and behind the podium – there are 30 senators in Vermont, so when there is a joint session for some reason, the senators join the house in these chairs. The interesting part is that each set of 15 is a single piece of furniture, each seat sharing the arm between them – and again all from 1859.

We also learned that Vermont has no state office building. And other than the governor and attorney general and their staffs, there are no state offices in the capitol building. So, the desk tops in each chamber open, and that serves as the official state office for each senator or representative, at least for as long as they hold the seat. Not much formality here!

We learned that two of Vermont’s natives have occupied the White House, but neither of them was elected when they took occupancy. Calvin Coolidge was the vice president under Warren G. Harding, and assumed the presidency when Harding suddenly died in office. He was at home, so his father, a notary public who was used to attesting to legal transactions on behalf of the government, administered the oath of office. Later, Congress would object to his presidency because he was not administered the oath of office by a Supreme Court Justice – Coolidge later corrected that and settled down the Congress. But apparently when asked why he thought that he was qualified to administer the oath of office, Coolidge's father said "Nobody ever told me I couldn't." Chester A. Arthur assumed the oval office when James A. Garfield was assassinated. Finally, we learned that the black marble squares in the flooring of the capitol was quarried from believed to be over a million years old – there are even fossils embedded in the marble throughout.

Apparently the moose are a great deal more intelligent than in other states in the US. Somehow they have trained their wild moose to cross the highways in a specific area – for example in the next 1,500 feet!

As we were making our way back to the RV Park, I thought we were maybe within about 8 or 10 miles, but the Bitch was suggesting it was going to take us over an hour to get there – odd! Then I figured out she was trying to get us to make a U-turn by making two rights and a left, or two lefts and a right. When she finally gave up and accepted the direction I was driving, our destination time dropped from an hour and a half, to 15 minutes – and I soon learned why – Smuggler’s Notch.

We had wanted to visit Smuggler’s Notch, what we heard was a beautiful Vermont state park. We just stumbled on it here, and this might be the first time ever that our GPS actually warned us to avoid something. We always have her set on “Bus” mode, so she shouldn't direct us to go down roads not suitable to a large vehicle, but she does it all the time. Apparently Smugglers Notch is on record as not being open to trucks and buses, so she was desperately trying to get us to avoid it – guess she didn't know we were in the Saturn. So we got to see this beautiful, but often single lane, scenic road.

We stopped to stroll through the most beautiful section of the Park. That is when the Woman spotted this formation reminiscent of some animal. The Woman thought it looked like a sheep, while I thought it looked like a rabbit. Either way, we both agreed it definitely was an animal.

We hit all the scenic roads we could, and found a map that gave us an idea where some of the many covered bridges were still in use. Most of them dating back into the 1800’s, and most of them being a single lane, they were a lot of fun to seek out, drive across and walk back.

Almost all of them were nestled above some really nice cascades on a rocky creek. So not only did we get to see a nice piece of early history, we nearly always got to see some pleasant scenery and some nice fall colors to boot.

Our favorite covered bridge of all was the Kissing Bridge. The bridge was said to have been originally built in 1844. Unfortunately, we weren't able to figure out how the name came about, but we did manage to be inspired by the name, and properly christened the bridge ourselves.

The longest of the bridges we saw was the Taftsville Covered Bridge, built in 1836. As an example of what we have to put up with, it was a good thing we were in the Saturn at the time because the Bitch sent us across this bridge, which has a 10 foot height restriction – no self-respecting truck could fit here!

Our scenic road journey took us within 8 or 10 miles of the Canadian border, so we decided to sneak up there and see if the fall colors were any different North of the border. It turned out, they were about the same. But since we were there anyway, we stopped at Canadian Tire – we learned that Canadian Tire stores are pretty much the equivalent of a Wal-Mart minus the huge food section – and stocked up on the things we can’t get in the US. On the buy list was the Woman’s Tylenol with Codeine (over the counter in Canada), my most favorite hay fever fix, Drixoral antihistamines (over the counter in Canada, but because of some FDA issue, no longer distributed in the US, too expensive to buy online) and the Woman’s Zip Starters – kerosene based fire starters that she loves, but aren't distributed in the US for some reason.

After having to speak a bunch of French, and contraband in tow, we headed back to use one of our Zip Starters on a campfire if the weather holds.

Talk to you soon!