We sure have had lots of rain.  It has washed a lot of leaves from the trees, but still lots of color.

We met at the Rutland Elks to decide what the plans were for the day.  Six of us went to Woodstock, considered to be the prettiest town in America.  On the way we went thru Killington.  A lovely ski area.  They were having a hay bale festival.  What a kick.  A real creative way to decorate the town.

Haybale Art

Woodstock has been a tourist area since the mid 1800s.  The Rockefellers offered their home and woodlands to form the only national park in Vermont.  The Woodstock Inn built in 1892 was beautiful.  We just don’t have these old buildings in CA.  The wood, fireplaces, and furnishings are gorgeous. 

Woodstock Inn

ermont is such a draw for the tourist.  There are Inns and Bed and Breakfast’s everywhere. Most of the homes are all decorated with corn stalks, pumpkins and mums.  Everyone gets in the spirit.  We had a great Lobster roll for lunch.  We walked thru town and checked out some really nice shops.  The drive was beautiful.  The road was next to Ottaquechee creek.  It was really raging from all the rain.  Went by 2 covered bridges.  There are lots in the area.  They built them to save the bridge from the bad weather and so the horses would not be frightened.

Back in Rutland we walked to the farmers market and picked out some fresh vegetables.  Ralph’s friend grows 35 varieties of potato’s. They were melt in your mouth.  We stopped at yet another one of Doris favorite bakeries before leaving Rutland.  How does Doris stay so little?

We headed to Stowe to camp for 3 nights.  On the way we pulled off to “Cold Hollow Cider Mill” They had maple everything, also hot apple cider, donuts and may good things.  There were many tourist on the road today.  Everything from Ca to Florida.  We unhooked the cars and went on a tour of “Ben and Jerry’s” We had an interesting tour and got to try a new flavor of ice cream that will be out in 2 months.

We are at a nice campground and have hook ups again.  We had a nice campfire and discussed tomorrow’s activities.

We started the morning off driving to the capitol, Montpelier. Very nice town with some beautiful buildings.

    Montpelier Capital Building

What a treat Ralph had planned for us. His friend Burr Morse {eighth generation of maple sugaring} gave us a special tour of his farm.  He and Ralph have been friends for over 30 years.  He was wonderful and really a character.  It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.  Four Maple trees,  each 40 to 200 years old are needed to make one gallon.  We were served maple sugar on snow.  It’s ice like a snow cone in a cup, hot maple syrup, raised donut holes and dill pickles.  You drizzle the syrup about the size of a dime, balled it up with a fork then bit into unsweetened donut.  Then came the pickles.  Pickles made instant peace with the sweetness in our mouths.  Hog heaven for Vermonters.  We all came out with a case of Maple Syrup. More Food!

Now off to the Trapp family Lodge.  A mountain resort in the European tradition .The Trapp family inspired “The Sound of Music”. We were able to see Marie’s private suite where she lived out her final days.  The youngest Son is owner and runs the Lodge now.  They had lot of family photos thru out the lodge.  Another lovely day.

Are last day in Vermont was a free day.  We had a nice potluck and a campfire.

Today we traveled to New Hampshire.  Such a beautiful drive.  Everywhere you look you see beautiful colors.  We stopped at a scenic area on the way and took some pictures.  We saw lots of signs for Moose crossings.  We were hoping to see one.  We have 4 days here on our own to see what is in the area and relax.



Fall Colors, Just Beautiful