Vermont 09 Tue 6th-Wed 7th

Today (Tue) we went back to Woodstock. Once again the weather service got the prediction wrong. Instead of sunny it was mostly cloudy. I find it interesting that we’ve traveled here often enough now that we have an established routine.
First stop is Quechee Gorge. There was actually sun here but since it was morning only one side of the gorge was illuminated. We stop at a Vermont general store here and look at all the stuff (cheese, maple syrup, fudge) they have for tourists (flatlanders) to buy.

Second stop is the covered bridge in Quechee and the Simon Pierce Glassworks. Inside their building is a showroom for all their crystal products, a pottery, a team of glassblowers and a restaurant that overlooks the weir and covered bridge. We like to wander around and look at all the expensive glassware, marvel at the skill of the glassblowers and watch the potter throw a project. We end our visit with a walk out on the restaurant’s deck.

On this visit it was lunchtime when we left the building so we pulled the car up next to the river and listened to our audio book while we ate the lunch we packed. We had considered eating at the restaurant. They had crab, scallop and shrimp pot pie.

We actually passed the next covered bridge we saw. We had stopped there every year and have lots of pictures. The cloudiness today would not provide any additional worthwhile pictures.

We spent some time walking around Woodstock. It’s a nice little town with interesting shops, a town green and it is small enough to cover completely with an easy walk. We didn’t take a lot of pictures because it was cloudy and we did document Woodstock nicely in our previous visits. We took advantage of the short periods of sun to take shots of the most colorful autumn displays.

We headed back to Wilmington by a different route than we came in on. We were once again chasing covered bridges and we found 2 of the 3 we sought.

Wednesday--------------

The weather prediction for Wednesday was correct—rain. The rain came in torrents on and off all day. We started the day with breakfast at the Sonny's Cup and Saucer, Then we used the day as a catch-up day. Penny and I both blogged. We ventured out for a pizza lunch at a place in downtown Wilmington. Then we drove down to Jacksonville to see if we could find the alpaca farm owned by a guy we met at the Cup and Saucer.

We found it just as a heavy rain began. All the alpaca ran for the barn—no pictures today. We will be returning to the area on the 10th to get some Columbus Day pumpkin pie at a church sale.  We will try again then to get a picture of the animals.

We spent the rest of the cold windy rainy day at the cabin. The strong wind and heavy rain stripped many leaves from the trees. At times it appeared to be raining leaves. Fortunately some of the leaves here held tightly. The birch trees seem to be the hardest hit. The wind howled all night and in the morning there were branches down and lots of leaves carpeting the ground. Overall it is not a spectacular leaf peeper year. It is still pretty.