Vermont with Mom and Phyllis - part 1

Mom's friend Phyllis came to visit her from Wisconsin last week, and Mom asked if I might be available to fly up there to help drive them around Vermont.  My first chauffeur gig!  It was fun, lots of good talking and sightseeing and some excellent places to run.

Middlebury is a great town to wander around.  We stayed one night, and for once I wasn't tired/wet from running in the mountains so I could focus on seeing what was there.

This reminded Mom and Phyllis of Laugh-In, and it certainly made us laugh!

View from the chair:

A more unobstructed view of the pretty waterfall:

Checking out the solar car charging station (including a Tesla charger):

From the top of the waterfall, such a lovely river running through town:

A reference to the phrase "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle":

An early female educator:

Fun sign in a store window:

A rather unusual dog sculpture:

John Deere worked around here, not surprising.  Phyllis said he has a lot of influence in Wisconsin too.

Phyllis is super artistic - she takes photos and turns them into amazing paintings.

The next morning I got to see some of the Middlebury College campus while running around the streets and paths - very pretty (but no camera).  Middlebury was an excellent place for a first stop.

Next stop = the Morgan Horse Farm, yay!

Just as we arrived, this happened (videos and a couple photos courtesy of Phyllis):



That was Zephyr, hello Zephyr!  He is being raffled off, so Mom might win a horse (?!).

One of the other recently-born foals:

A statue of Figure, the very first Morgan Horse:

A horse getting ready for some harness practice:

We were lucky to get to watch this - happily there were so many things going on at the farm today:

Outside watching the horse with its high-stepping hooves:

Another one getting a workout in the barn:


Lots of brushing and grooming (lots of work for the interns and people working there!):

Hello, sweetheart!

What a beautiful place, and a lovely day to visit:

Next we drove up the hill to take a walk on the Robert Frost trail, always a wonderful, peaceful place:

Fitting poems along the way:

"The Road Not Taken", posted where the trail splits, of course:

Ah, it's good to be back in the Green Mountains:

Texas Falls, a neat little waterfall, although not nearly large enough to live up to its name:

Checking out the interesting rock formations and narrow gorge:

Quite the stairway that stops at the edge of a cliff (I think there used to be a bridge):

Just lovely:

Our stop for the night is one of my favorites - the Inn at Long Trail, thank you Mom!

Scrabble version of the Long Trail:

A fitting close to this post - a shamrock on Phyllis's Guinness (thank you to the fun bartender who showed us later how he did that):

Good night!