More Beards in Vermont!

All of us were excited when Jenny and Jerry decided to take a trip up to Vermont to join us in our visit with Mom!  They flew north and then returned via Amtrak (they are getting good at the train thing).  We filled several days with talking, eating, shopping, and a bit of sightseeing.

The most important request was a stop at the Hope Cemetery in Barre.  Normally a cemetery might be a strange request, but not in this case.

One of our favorite granite headstones - how on earth did they make this?

We're also partial to this detailed (and basically mid-air) plane:

We could spend all day checking out the gravity-defying stones:

A former soccer player:

Amazing archway:

A detailed violin and scroll:

An even more detailed carving of the person buried here:

Admiring the love and dedication of these two in life and in death:

This one might be new since we were last here - an actual tiny house:

We can highly recommend this place for a visit if you're ever in Vermont!

And since it's nearby, you should also visit the Rock of Ages granite quarry.  We happened to arrive just as a tour was starting, so we hustled to join in and drove up to the top viewing area.  It was chilly and windy but worth standing outside for a few minutes to see where the rock is being dug out of the ground.

It's difficult to describe just how deep this hole is!

Jerry's camera has a lot more zoom than mine, so here's a closer look at the cranes:

And a shot of the people working at the bottom (thank you Jerry!):

Shopping time!  Mom's suggestion of Morse Farm was a good one, with plenty of local products to choose from.  And some pretty flowers out front:

"We love old goats around here!"

This display speaks my language:

We're not quite sure why there's a replica of the State House here, but it's pretty cool:

This might be a cornucopia?  Or a pumpkin-copia?

Be the tree you want to see in the world:

Next stop was the Green Mountain Club, where this little backpacker also has his arms wide:

A fun relief map of Vermont, and we can trace many of the places we've been:

Jerry took a picture of the colorful front porch at the AirBnB where they stayed:

More excitement - BilliJo arrived to spend a day with us, yay!

We met up at Cady's Falls Botanical Gardens, which is a lovely, quiet place to explore.  At least, when it's not flooded...

One of many brilliant sets of flowers in the garden:

Enjoying our little walk through the green space:

There's also a big barn and old farm implements:

Jerry got a kick out of the old tractor:

Silly group photo, where Mom looks sanest of all of us (probably true):

After lunch we ventured over to the Gold Brook covered bridge, because every good visit to Vermont should include at least one of these:

The view from below - mostly wood and stone:

Family photo time - thank you, kind stranger who took this for us:

What a lovely visit, thank you all for our special time together!

Visiting Mom in Vermont

New England in September, always a good idea.  Even better, a visit with Mom, yay!

We flew into Albany and drove over to Vermont.  I managed to capture a screenshot on my phone as we crossed the border - hello, maple syrup man:

The #1 project entailed painting Mom's bedroom.  John was in his happy place wandering around Home Depot picking up supplies:

The Master Planner, pondering his next move:

Mom was very pleased with the result!  Thank you John!

Looking through some old photos, take a guess at who these people are... (Hi Dad!!)

Kip was into trains back then:

The rest of this post is about another FKT run, because of course it is.

It was a good one - I got to run from the lowest spot to the highest point in Vermont!  Such a fun idea and I was super lucky to have the opportunity.

We started at Lake Champlain in Burlington, with a "good luck" hug from Mom:

Checking my route notes for the first part through the city:

Group shot with my awesome crew before starting my watch:

The FKT page with additional pictures and writeup:

https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/marcy-beard-vermont-lowest-highest-vt-2024-09-21

And we're off!  Walking up the first little hill...  I remember my legs feeling good once I started running on the sidewalks, and the grade stayed reasonable much of the time.

Admiring a pretty yard:

I almost went to UVM for college, and I imagine my life would have been very different if I had:

Crossing the Winooski River (we started saying "WINOOSKI!" whenever we went over it because it's fun to exclaim out loud):

Historical plaque about the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Ethan Allen:

This appears to be some kind of agrisolar:

One of several helpful crew spots along the way, so I didn't have to carry much beyond a water bottle:

Early fall foliage, a special treat:

An iconic spot along this route, the Old Red Mill in Jericho:

Mom and John had walked down to the mill, and they were hustling back up to the car when John snapped this picture:

I don't think they minded this as one of our crew locations:

John's picture from inside - lots of choices!

I wonder what's on this pizza...

A view of Mount Mansfield as I'm slowly getting closer:

In the sections with plenty of cars, there was almost always a sidewalk or good shoulder.  The shoulder went away later, but at least it was a lot quieter there (just a bit of hopping off the road for the occasional car).  It's convenient that a direct line from the lake to the top of the mountain works out so well.

A resupply at the library before heading toward a more rural area:

A pole-er bear!

Beautiful butterfly mural:

The start of the dirt road where the slope turned decidedly more "up", and the second-to-last crew stop (thumbs up for excellent support!)

Into the woods, hiking next to a creek, enjoying the shade:

John and Mom found a place to park along the road below the surprisingly-crowded trailhead.  I changed into trail shoes and got a quick snack.  Mom was game for driving the car around the mountain so John could hike to the summit with me - thank you both!

OK, now we're going uphill for real.  STEEPLY uphill.  From my writeup, "Big steps, large rocks, straight up the side of the mountain."  A worthy finishing section for a unique adventure.

Taking a little break to eat a bar, at least there were plenty of places to sit:

It's not always easy to capture trail steepness in a photo but I think John did pretty well:

Another excellent picture from John's phone, including 3 barely-visible people on the edge of the mountain:

Finally the steep part was over and we had a few boardwalks to traverse (and people to dodge) to reach the top:

Hitting "Done!" on the various timers and trackers:

The summit survey marker, and I'm happy to see I had only one hole in my shoes:

Pacer extraordinaire:

Despite the random clouds, we could see Lake Champlain in one direction and down to the bottom of the ski area in the other:

The adventure wasn't quite finished... we had to descend the Cliff Trail to reach the gondola station.  Nothing about this mountain is easy:

The "slow slide" method of getting off this big rock:

John is of course a mountain goat, with plenty of time to take pictures as I picked my way down:

At last, the chalet - reminds me of Europe:

A free ride down the mountain!

Mom was waiting at the bottom, and we had only one last little hill to climb to reach the car:

Thank you Mom and John for a wonderful and memorable day!