I spent the majority of my first 21 years in Vermont having been raised there, and traveling back from college at every feasible opportunity. I drove retail lumber truck during most of my breaks and summers from college, and became very familiar with the state. After work, a good friend and I would take his 1970 Olds Cutlass convertible and drive the mountain and back roads for hours almost every evening, sometimes putting on a couple hundred miles... we absolutely loved Vermont!
The Taftsville covered bridge was constructed in 1836 and is the 3rd longest in Vermont at 190 feet... it's located between Quechee and Woodstock, Vermont.
While I was teaching for thirty-three years, it was very hard to be available to hit the all too short foliage season accurately, so the majority of our trips were taken during summers. After a very frightening trip at Christmas one year, in a blizzard so severe all the plows were removed from the roads from Detroit and all across Canada on route 401, my wife has been paranoid about car trips during the winter ever since. The last 800 miles of that trip took me 33 hours to drive, with my wife watching the side of the road for a ripple in the snow to tell where the ditches were... we were short on time and knew that a big ice storm was expected in Vermont. When we reached Vermont I would aim for the bottom of the hill and let the car slide down. At one point, we were going up the side of a mountain, car in drive, and wheels turning forward, and yet sliding backwards towards a steep embankment. Luckily a patch of gravel that had been spread stopped us. My big old 1970 Cadillac was very heavy thankfully, but for much of the trip the transmission was frozen in drive... oh yes, it was also Christmas Eve and in those days, not much was open along the route.
This is the view from the Roxbury mountain road near where I grew up. The Sugarbush Ski area can be seen in the distance and the area is known as the Sugarbush Valley. The open land seen in this photo is actually the Commons and the valley is quite a ways below these fields.
My first fall of retirement, I packed up my wife's VW Beetle and headed to Vermont to see the fall color and spend time with my family... in fact, my oldest son and his wife flew out to join me.... like every other time I've been to Vermont, I managed to drive close to 2000 miles while in the state for a week or so, simply soaking up as much of the nature and architecture as I could. That was one of the most glorious fall color seasons ever, and I am eternally thankful that I made the trip as that winter I ended up very ill with multiple hospitalizations and surgeries,and have had heart problems which limit how much I can handle, since that time.
This is a favorite place to take friends when I give them one of my Vermont tours... I never tell them where we're headed and the reaction they display when they see water rising as they cross this bridge built with 7000 barrels is always interesting to see... unfortunately I'm told the bridge has been closed for lack of funding since I last visited.
My sister has a lovely home and gardens on Moretown common which is a very short distance from one of my favorite views seen here... this is Camel's Hump which I hiked in my youth... how I wish my heart were strong enough to do this sort of thing again, but I do have the memories!
This is the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe Vermont. Many of the younger generation Von Trapps live in the area where I grew up and two of my sisters had Von Trapps sing at their mountainside weddings. I remember sitting near Maria at one of my sisters' high school graduations.
This is my dear wife soaking in the view from the field next to the Trapp Family Lodge... I do miss the original lodge which was destroyed by fire many years ago.
Another favorite spot for me is Smuggler's Notch near Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain. There is quite a climb beyond the point I've captured in this photo. The U.S. government had passed an embargo on English goods and the British shipped their supplies to Canada. Smugglers made their way through Vermont's portion of the Long Trail where caves and dense woods and the Smuggler's Notch Pass made it easy for smugglers to hide and accomplish their goal without being caught. Here are more photos from the notch... My brother actually lives very near here.
This was actually my grandfather's horse barn where I spent many fun moments playing and sitting on the backs of the belgiums when I was a child... the barn was moved to this location many years after my grandfather's death...
Here are a few more photos from a Vermont autumn...
Hope you enjoyed this episode of my autumnal tour... Larry
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