New York to Vermont to New Hampshire

19 10 2016

I’m continually amazed how quickly you can traverse a state in this part of the world. Today I crossed a full state (Vermont), most of another one (New Hampshire), and part of a third (New York). Compare that to 3 days just to get to my closest state border in Australia…

Today was meant to be in the high 70s again and sunshine. Both were accurate, though heavy cloud, some drizzling rain, and a 15F drop in temperature occurred in the afternoon. I left Lake George (NY) just before 8 am. It was pretty foggy for the first half hour or so, then cleared up to blue skies with scudding white clouds. The light was amazing, and the trees were gleaming as it had rained overnight.

I crossed into Vermont over the Lake Champlain bridge, after my sat nav girl took me on a backroads route (which I wanted, but I was a bit unsure where she was taking me at first — I’m glad she did ‘cos I got to see some stunning scenery).

Once over the bridge, I was in Vermont farming country — and what STUNNING country it was too. OMG. I could live there! Some other parts weren’t quite so stunning (tiny towns dying; farm buildings falling into disrepair), but that bit from the bridge to Shelburne was just amazing. The town of Vergennes was particularly beautiful.

I went to the Burlington area as a good friend of mine (in Australia) has a family cottage just north of there, on Lake Champlain. I wanted to take photos of the area in the fall, as I’m pretty sure she’s only seen it in summer.

After seeing the cottage and the locality, I headed along the backroads to Waterbury and the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory. I was in time for the next tour, so that was good. Yummy ice creams!!! But the temp had dropped and it was drizzling by the time I came out. Not a good day for eating ice cream, but hey — you do what you have to do to keep your blog readers coming back for more 😉 I had a small cone/single scoop of the salted caramel (excellent) and a taste of the coconut and caramel (really nice) and the Cherry Garcia (not for me… too cough syrupy for my liking).

Some observations from today:

Interstate 87 north had signposts to Montreal!
Signs telling you no cell service for the next 64 miles followed immediately by a deer sign for ‘next 58 miles’. So, don’t hit a deer ‘cos you won’t be able to call anyone.
There was a dead skunk in the middle of the road, and yes, it stank to high heaven.
Highway 17 in Vermont from the Lake Champlain bridge is just spectacular.
Everything smelt so earthy and fresh.
I LOVE VERMONT!
The Shelburne Museum looks HUGE — we’ll be back there with the tour group next Monday, and I can see why we have several hours scheduled for it.
Road signs I spotted today: deaf child, blind person, wheelchair, moose crossing for next xx miles, horse and rider, farmer on tractor.
Hand-made sign: ‘Daffy Duck for President. The best choice.”
Colchester, VT still has an outdoor drive-in!
Thank goodness for McDonalds and their bathrooms… Sometimes gas stations don’t have them or they’re not public. But McDonalds always do. Which is good to know after driving for 2+ hours without a break.
Strong winds blow delicate dying leaves off trees in great numbers, and swirl them around. They look so pretty, but would be a sod to have to rake up from your yard.
The hills in Vermont and New Hampshire were just COVERED in colour.
Ben and Jerry’s use milk from both grass-fed and grain-fed cows. My opinion: Grass-fed cows give much better milk.
Highway 25 South in Vermont follows a river for much of the way and it’s just SOOO picturesque.
Even four miles out of a state capital, the scenery is still very rural — no evidence of urbanisation.
My sat nav voice tells me ‘Welcome to New York’, ‘Welcome to Vermont’, and ‘Welcome to New Hampshire’ right as I cross the relevant state’s border.