Justa Rollin’ Right Along
Along the same lines as the post right before this one (and an earlier post), this is a video of the wooden covered bridge located in Woodstock, VT.
I was standing on the bridge with Laura and I decided to take a short video. It’s not the greatest, but it does give you a good picture of how nice it is up there. Nice and quiet, that is.
Here, take a look…
I wrote a post a while back about Laura and me visiting the Silas Griffith Inn, in Danby, VT. The Silas Griffith Inn is a very nice bed and breakfast in the most peaceful place you could ever ask for. I took a bunch of pictures, which I included in the old post, but I also took some video.
Before Laura was ready to go outside, I snuck out and took a walk up the field behind the inn. At the top of the hill and over the other side, there is some sort of a quarry. I thought it would be pretty neat to share it with you.
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I opened the package of the audio book, “Wandering Home - A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont’s Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondacks,” by Bill McKibben. I really didn’t know what to expect. My mother has been raving about audiobooks ever since she lived back in Brewster. I think they helped make her drive everyday to work in Danbury a little bit easier. She used to say, “My car can steer itself on the trip to work. That’s how used to it I am.” I think she really believed that at times. Well, when she told the story, she sounded very convincing.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
That’s not all, you can read the rest here.
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
One of the benefits of my daytime employment is perks. I earned a trip to Vermont, which I took with Laura. We stayed at the Silas Griffith Inn, in Danby VT. We stayed for 2 nights, which is not my style. On vacations, I usually show up and go home. People laugh about that…so this was a long trip for me. Lately, I have been learning that it usually takes about 3 days for me to unwind, so I have been trying to extend my trips. I worry that if I unwind too much, I might not want to come home.
We drove North in the dark of night into Vermont and made our way through Bennington. We continued on Rt.7 when we noticed fewer and fewer lights. It’s like we were heading into absolute nothing. We saw signs for Danby coming up in only a few miles and began to worry. There was nothing out here…how can there be a bed and breakfast? We finally got into Danby and it was pretty much a little one road town. Up on the hill to our left was the Silas Griffith Inn. We went in to meet the most personable people. After chatting for a while, we headed into Rutland for some sushi. We had a good dinner and headed back to the inn. Luckily, we had the pick of the inn because there was only one couple there. We had the biggest room in the house…Silas’ room. The next morning, we were delighted to see the most perfect weather we could’ve asked for. It was about 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
The inn offered great places to sit and think…
I immediately began to unwind and forget about the world. Vermont has a unique characteristic about it…the silence. If you need to get away, Vermont is a great place to go. Stress slides off you. If you live in a very busy place like NYC or LA, this will take some getting used to, but give it a chance. We ate our breakfast and walked around the grounds a bit. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked through a field. It kind of made me think about what the heck I was turning into if I hadn’t walked through grass in years.
We really didn’t have any plans for the day but heard that Killington and Woodstock were nice places to go…so off we went.
We drove North through Rutland and made our way to Killington. We made a right into the area where people party for weeks at a time. Since it was early in the season, there weren’t too many people around. I saw a little road that went into an area with lots of Hemlocks and cabins. We pulled in that road and stopped for a few pictures at a small stream…
Then, we continued to head towards the mountains. There are a few there that make up “Killington.”
Since there was some snow on the summits of the mountains, there were some lifts open.
After taking a ride through the area and stopping in some lodges, we headed out towards Woodstock. I pictured some little town like all the rest. Main Street, etc… On the way towards Woodstock, we stopped at a Vermont mall. This was basically a barn type building with a cluster of small stores inside…a food store, art gallery, etc… We purchased some wine, syrup (of course) and some ROCK CANDY!!! When was the last time you had rock candy?
By the way, who takes better pictures than me? I didn’t think so…
We made our way into Woodstock and were pretty surprised. This town is extremely inviting and VERY clean. It is the epitome of the quintessential Vermont town. Notice how there are no ugly thick black wires hanging of the sidewalks and roads? Hmmm, there’s an idea. I have always wondered why every town doesn’t do that, but no, they have far too many excuses.
We walked around for quite a bit in the peace of Woodstock. There were people just strolling around, looking in windows. It reminded me so much of when I was a kid walking home from school on an Autumn day. I would get bored and sit on the side of the road or climb a tree. It sounds strange, but that was the pace of this place and it seemed like you could do those types of things. We popped in a few stores and went in a coffee house to get some coffee. Then, we made our way down a small trail to sit at the side of a river that ran through town.
There were a few unique items on the sidewalk meant for tourists like us…
One thing that really impressed us was the quality of the condition of the older homes in the area. Woodstock definitely has some money. I think the last time I looked, there were about 2 houses for sale in this market.
Lastly, as it started getting darker, we walked across the town’s covered bridge. Of course, it was in great shape. We hung out for a while looking at a field downstream. I was very temped to walk down there to take a nap. Man, this place was relaxing.
So, Woodstock Vermont makes its place to the top of our list for great towns in America to visit!
PS - Ya ever wonder what it would be like to live in Vermont? C’mon, we all have had that dream once or twice…or just to walk to your mailbox in the Autumn. It’s so simple…
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