Vermont in the fall
Well, just about! We made it to Vermont in mid-October, at the tail end of the season. Most of the leaves had fallen, but there was still plenty of colour around and everything was still looking sooo beautiful (and fallen leaves still make very beautiful photography subjects!). We stayed in Southern Vermont in a place called Hubbardton on the edge of Lake Bomoseen (see my previous post for photos of the gorgeous Lake House we stayed in).
We wanted to avoid epic drives, so decided to explore the areas in reasonably easy reach of where we were staying. Day one kicked off with a visit to Woodstock. We found a fabulous farmer's market to pick-up a delicious lunch and I think possibly the finest gluten-free wrap I had on holiday :) The village was so pretty. There were pumpkins and decorations outside all the houses and piles of leaves to swish around in.
Day two was my absolute favourite in Vermont - one of those marvellous serendipitous days, where you don't really know what you're doing/where you're going and plans just evolve, most perfectly and magically. We drove in the opposite direction to the previous day, hoping to find some pretty red barns, white churches, golden trees still full of leaves, and houses with pumpkins outside to photograph (we didn't want much!!). As we drove through a tiny village called Sudbury I yelled "stop the car!" and we piled out in great excitement with our cameras. Everything we wanted in one small perfectly formed location. Pure magic. Picture postcard perfect!
The day just got better, too. We drove on to Brandon, another pretty, bigger town. I yelled "stop the car!" again as we passed a cool looking antiques store/ice cream parlour (something for him, something for me). OMG. Kitsch heaven, crammed to the rafters, in the most unexpected of places. There was just sooo much to look at - impossible to take it all in. Sadly for me (but thankfully for my purse) I really had no space in my luggage to bring anything back as my handbag was already stuffed with precious Blythes! So I settled on a tiny cute owl and reluctantly put down the matching owl planter, and the bambi planter, and the kitty planter....The pics below aren't great - it was pretty dark inside and I had my wide angle lens on - but you get the general idea!
We enjoyed a wander around Brandon - so many pretty houses with white picket fences and beautiful trees outside. And a strange assortment of figures dressed up in a wide variety of outfits, strapped to trees and lamp posts...We continued a meandering drive, stopping the car regularly to jump out and take pics whenever we fancied. I also saw a black bear - thankfully we were in the car at the time - it looked me straight in the eyes! (Sadly no pictures - I was too flustered to even think about getting my camera out!)
Day three saw another meandering drive, taking in lots of agricultural land - such beautiful scenery. We saw the very photogenic red barn below in Whiting. We then went on to Orwell to do a walk around the Mount Independence Trails - decided it was time to stretch our legs! I also took some Blythes with me for a mini photoshoot in the woods :) Oh and we were treated to a most spectacular rainbow on our return.
Day four (our last day) involved taking it easy before our big drive the next day. So we had a leisurely drive around the Stone Valley Byway, stopping in Poultney for coffee and photos and in Dorset for amazing, freshly made sandwiches from the general store that sold everything! Then it was back home for some kayaking on the lake (Al) and some Blythe photos (me)! The owl in the pics below is the one I found in the antiques store in Brandon :)
You can see the rest of my photos in my Vermont set on Flickr.
Coming next - the third and final leg of our trip - the very beautiful Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Watch this space....
