Our
Vermont Travelogue
September
18-25, 2018
Before we even began
our trip David and I agreed that nothing
could go wrong. We would be happy and enjoy it all. And we did. We
had a great trip.
9/18
(Tuesday night)
We flew into
Burlington, via Chicago, and stayed overnight at the GGT Tibet Inn,
Shelburne. It sounded more interesting on the internet than it was
in person. But it was comfortable. Styled after a suite, but really
just a motel room with a couch, fridge, and microwave.
9/19
We enjoyed a very
good breakfast at Denny’s. Their parking lot was so tight that
most of the vehicles were not parked correctly. We headed for East
Fairfield (north) to see President Chester Arthur’s recreated birth
home. His father had been a pastor. The museum was closed. We went
to the Town Hall to see the display they had there. Stopped at the
cafe next door for coffee. David bought a maple covered cinnamon
bun. At the Town Hall we talked to a very fun gal from the Clerk’s
office. She sent us to Smuggler’s Notch (east). We didn’t
actually make it all the way there, because we thought we must have
passed it, before we turned around. We stopped at Big Spring which
was just a small steady stream; tiny falls from which I filled up my
water bottle. Stopped by the water mill and took pictures. Stopped
briefly in Franklinville and then returned to Shelburne.
Then we went to the
Shelburne Museum. It was 4:00pm and they close at 5:00pm. We
visited the Ticonderoga Steamboat. The museum is a very large park
with over 30 buildings, a memorial home to the founder, a covered
bridge, and 20 gardens. We’ll return tomorrow.
We found a less
expensive motel (Northstar) and went to dinner at Pauline’s, which
is a more gourmet dining. Then we returned to the motel for the
night.
9/20
We went in search of
breakfast; we thought we were going to have breakfast at Dakin Farms,
but it turned out it wasn’t the farm but a store annex. So I did
an internet check for gluten-free breakfast. We ended up at
Pingate
Cafe & Eatery in
Burlington. Here we found a waterfall beside the building. This
was mainly a vegan restaurant but the girl who ran it said most, but
not all, their food was gf. The
style, David said, 1960s hippies; they played 1960s music and sold
maple infused cannibis (CBD – no we didn’t buy any). We drove on
some interesting and tight streets to get there, but I think this we
were approaching Burlington’s downtown.
After
breakfast we were going to go to the Shelburne Falls but I missed our
exit by 20 miles, so when we got turned around we went straight to
the Museum. Huge place 45 acres. It was about 11:30am when we got
there and we left at 4:34pm. We tried again to go see the Falls.
There was construction on the way there and construction on the
critical bridge. This was where the business district became the
residential district. From the stream we could see as we drove over
I’m guessing it wasn’t much of a Falls at this time of the year.
The day started out
cloudy but was sunny by the end of the day.
9/21
The rain we expected
yesterday has arrived. We don’t know if we should leave the motel
or not. We did. We had breakfast at Denny’s then headed south.
When we left our motel the rain had stopped temporarily. While we
ate it started again. We were three nights in Shelburne.
1) Our trip south
went through Vergennes. We saw a monument so I wanted to stop and
see it. Then I wanted to see the opera house/town hall and the
falls. We also tried to see the library but it was closed. It has a
stained glass domed ceiling.
2) Before getting
to Crown Point we passed an important site established by DAR:
General John Strong’s home. He was important to the Revolutionary
War and in the Statehood of Vermont, among some of what he had done.
(They even put it on the roadmap.)
DAR also had a
“forest” across the street. I wouldn’t call it a forest or a
wood, unless it was a left-angled forest, because a short move down
the road showed nothing much behind the fence except a trail of trees
that went for about a mile off to the left with a bit of a curl.
Couldn’t tell how deep the wood was. In Edmonds (my childhood home
in Washington) there are several woods, not forests, that seemed
thicker than this DAR forest.
3) Our third
adventure today was to Crown Point. My map said it was Vermont, but
it was actually New York. It’s counterpart is Chimney Point,
Vermont. In the 1600s & 1700s that area had been called New
France. We went over the bridge to get to Crown Point. We don’t
know what happened to the 1929 bridge but in 2011 it was replaced to
look (almost) exactly as the original but with more modern updates
and safety measures. [
The French
and Indian War (1688–1763,
4
conflicts)
comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven
Years' War of
1756–63. It pitted the colonies of British
America against
those of New
France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_Wars
A portion of the
war was fought here on Lake Champlain.] I have a brochure
regarding the lighthouse to read later. This is the narrowest part of
Lake Champlain.
4) From Crown Point
we were going to Bridport (not misspelled) but our map did not lead
us there. Some of the directions were missing & some were
backing up on themselves. With the help of the GPS pointed to Ripton
we came across Bridport. Basically just 2 roads: one north-south &
the other crossing it east-west. But beautiful old buildings.
5) Our son-in-law,
Mike, had suggested we put Middlebury on our itinerary. He was
excited that they have a University and a waterfall in their
downtown. We didn’t have to look for Middlebury, it was right on
our path. We had lunch and found their Falls. Lots of old churches
that I would have loved to look in but David didn’t so I didn’t
look.
Speaking of
waterfalls, so far we have looked for 3, found 3, but did not find
one we were looking for and did find one for which we weren’t
looking.
6) Our next stop
was Ripton to find (poet) Robert Frost. We didn’t find any sign or
memorial/ monument to him. Someone later told us that we should have
looked in Middlebury or East Middlebury, but it turns out this was
also wrong. Frost had a family vacation retreat in Ripton, we just
didn’t find it.
7) Hubbardton
Battlefield State Historical Site. Usually there is a fee to see it,
but it was 4:45pm when we got there and we were invited to enjoy the
site. When we got back to the house (a lovely house with a marvelous
view of the mountainous area, but built for the historic site and
never lived in). The curator offered to let us see the 15 minute film
he and his son made during one of the Revolutionary War battle
recreations. This is the only place where the Revolutionary War was
fought in Vermont, and it was a very important battle to our winning
the War.
8) We traveled to
Bennington to spend the night. At the Hampton Inn they wanted $220
and said there wasn’t much in town to choose from. Best Western
wanted $185 after my member discount. We settled at Knotty Pine for
$138. I forgot to ask them about AAA discount. But they do have a
fuller continental breakfast.
Most of our drive
today was along Lake Champlain.
9/22
– day started out cloudy then became sunny and warm
The Knotty Pine gave
us the first of our area maps with highlights marked on it, very
helpful, and a tour book. The map showed us where to find Robert
Frost’s home and Norman Rockwell’s home & art museum.
1-3) Our first stop
was at the Bennington Monument; awesome view. David took lots of
photos
here. From there we headed back north again (not far) to
Shaftsbury to see Robert Frost’s Stone House. There was even an
unpublished poem in the wall display. Then further north to
Arlington. I stopped when I saw the Dorothy Canfield Fisher marker,
which was fortunate because the woman who worked for the bookstore in
the building invited me in to see “house”, the living and meeting
rooms. The “house” was a donation to the town for meetings and
other community functions. The historic Fisher was supposed to be at
the Shelburne Museum, but she wasn’t there when we were there (or
we just didn’t see it). The woman who showed me the rooms also
told me which direction we wanted to go; she had hailed me from the
information board, which wasn’t very informative.
4-6) Our next stop
was Norman Rockwell’s home. We could only see it from the outside.
Then we went to the Sugar Shack for the Rockwell Display. The
unique part of this display was each art work was combined with
comments from the local models and from Rockwell. Also an old 15
minute movie about his art life. The Sugar Shack also processes
Maple Syrup and we ordered two gallons double-dark (used to be called
Grade B) to be shipped and maple ice cream (Maple Creemees).
7) 3:00pm as we
were leaving Arlington we stopped for lunch at Snow’s Arlington
Dairy Bar; headed for Brattleboro.
8-9) Our route went
through Willmington which is basically a one-lane each direction
through the mountains and full of houses, B&Bs, inns and
businesses. I think it must be very busy for winter sports. David
didn’t find a ski-resort near it. We found West Brattleboro and
were stymied as to the town and motel. But we were fortunate to find
people to help with directions. We found a motel, the Black Mountain
Inn, then we went looking for Rudyard Kipling’s house. We went
past the address three times but we didn’t find it. There is a
marker in town but I wanted to find the house. Surprisingly, it’s
not listed under their cultural resources. [
Naulakha,
also known as the Rudyard Kipling House, is a historic Shingle Style
house on Kipling Road in Dummerston, Vermont, a few miles outside
Brattleboro.
Wikipedia]
We looked again for both the next
morning. It turns out that the house is managed by the Landmark
Trust as an Inn; you need overnight reservations to see it. I
believe we did see the outside on Just
So Stories Lane, Kipling
Road. In
Dummerston (Brattleboro)
Kipling
wrote Captains
Courageous,
the Jungle
Books and
a book of poetry that included Gunga
Din
and
Mandalay.
9/23
– woke up to fog which quickly burned off
1) Looked again for
Naulakha and for the marker. The marker was supposed to be only
1/10th of a mile from our motel. When we didn’t find them we
continued out of town to Plymouth Notch.
2) Plymouth Notch
is where President Calvin Coolidge was born and raised. The whole
town has been purchased by his son and daughter and donated to the
State as a living-working monument. The restaurant there had
gluten-free bread and muffin. I had the muffin.
3) There was no
problem finding covered bridges. There were many on our travel path.
(We were able to change some of our travel plans because of this.)
4) We arrived in
Woodstock and didn’t stop except to read the marker. It would be a
great place to spend a day (2 nights) if we ever come back to
Vermont. On the Hwy 4 as we approached the town there was a
restaurant and a motel; they were marked “Eat Woodstock” and
“Sleep Woodstock.” We came across a covered bridge which we
drove over on the way there and a red one after we left on Highways 4
& 12.
5) White River
Junction and Hartford are both, along with some others, villages
within the Town of Hartford (see map and the notes on the train
schedule I brought home). The woman working there was very friendly
and answered what questions she could about the railroad station. We
came here because there was supposed to be a railroad museum but it
and the historical train ride closed four years ago. They did still
have an engine and the only remaining wooden caboose on display.
6) Our purpose in
going to Strafford was to see a historic State Legislator’s home,
Justin Smith Morrill. It must be nice to be so successful at
business that you can afford to retire after seven years and then
build an estate home and lands, and finally, to leave retirement to
go into politics for the next 44 years. There were interpretive
boards all around to lead you from one feature to the next. He had a
brilliant mind.
7) Since
Montpelier, Vermont’s capital, was on the way back to Shelburne we
decided to stop there for the night and visit it tomorrow. We found
our motel and dinner in Berlin, which we had passed before getting
off the freeway, backtracking. We got our motel room. It was not as
nice as last night’s and more expensive. Then we went to find
dinner. We got turned around twice before finding Applebees.
9/24
Cold and clouds
started this day; by about 1:00pm finally the sun burnt off the
clouds and the temperature became sweater temp, but I didn’t want
to get out my sweater so kept my jacket. The days up to yesterday
had been cloudy.
We headed out to
look at Montpelier and enjoyed a nice tour of their capital building.
Then we decided to
find the Vermont Maritime Museum (LCMM). You go through Vergennes to
get there. We had lunch just down the road then toured the museum
starting with the curator at the replica ship. He was quite
informative. The GPS got us there but couldn’t get us out to find
the Lake Champlain Patio so we just headed back to Shelburne.
On our way back, on
Hwy 7, 13 miles south of Shelburne, in Ferrisburgh, we saw Dakin Farm
(the real one).
Also, this is where
Vermont Teddy Bear is. I’d forgotten about them and there they
were on our road. We didn’t stop because we passed the sign too
late and I didn’t want to turn around. I even saw a city bus
headed for it.
The Northstar motel
gave us the same discounted price they gave us the other two nights.
(They had vacancies and wanted to be full.) We were quite tired so
we didn’t even go out to dinner. It’s probably also the reason I
didn’t do either of the two turn arounds (Dakin Farm & VTB).
9/25
– Tuesday
morning
The GPS took us
through the back roads to get to the airport, a lovely drive. We
passed an overlook, I should have turned back. It looked over Lake
Champlain.
Our flight was very
bumpy. Finally, home again! We are tired and glad.
We went to see the
vibrant Fall colors but they are late in coming this year. I wanted
to see history and we saw a lot of that, and missed just as much.
Some of the places we missed that David would have liked to see were
the Stratford Inn in the Newhart TV show and the town where White
Christmas 1961 was shot.
According to Hertz
we drove exactly 500 miles (they didn’t measure 10ths of
a mile).
Pine tree that
looked soft and fuzzy = Eastern White Pine. I found a blue pine.
We ate outdoors
twice: once was dinner at the
Top
of the Hill Grill (9/21)
and the other was lunch at Snow’s
Arlington Dairy Bar (9/22).
Animals we’ve
seen on this trip: 2 baby deer, a farm of geese, a camel, ducks &
chickens loose, wild turkeys twice, a baby pheasant (or quail, not
close enough to tell), about four varieties of cows, lots of
squirrel, a few chipmunks, 1 eagle, many hawks, horses, goats,
sheep. I looked for moose, especially since there were a several
signs that said “Moose crossing”; but didn’t see any.
David took 418
photos, I took 8 & one video.
http://www.theshiresofvermont.com/brochures.html
http://accd.vermont.gov/historic-preservation/roadside-markers
or
http://www.waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx?f=1&guid=9cd074cf-33c7-4e49-8c79-0cde5f9c39a6&gid=3
