Oct. 5-7 Woodstock, VT

Oct. 5

Today was a free day so we roamed around Woodstock with some of our new pals, David and Shirley. It’s a beautiful little town with interesting architectural styles and tons of charm. Had lunch at a popular restaurant in town, even had live music. Shirley and I went on a tour of the museum which was well worth the price and the time.

David then drove us around some of the scenic roads and we discovered a maple syrup farm that Joe and I had visited years ago on a bus tour through New England.

We then stopped at a darling place called “Fool’s Hill” that had cute little yard animals (stuffed) scattered across a large hillside. They were roasting corn over a huge outdoor grill and the shop had all sorts of homemade goodies.

Oct. 6 Colchester, VT

Colchester is near Lake Champlain. David and Shirley took us to explore the islands in and around this area and it was gorgeous. I can see why this is a very popular place for summer vacations, especially for people who love boating. This trip proved was full of surprises. We found an old Quaker Cemetary. The graves were marked with simple rocks placed in the ground. Very few had markings that were legible. There was one very large rock in the center of the cemetery but we didn’t know what it represented. We then stopped at a small, or what appeared to be a small, general store. It had everything from fishing gear to toys to china and even had a café serving clam chowder and fresh homemade pastries. What a find! (Lake Champlain behind us, no my hair wasn't big that day - it's the wind)

But that wasn’t all. A few miles on, we passed a produce stand with a variety of squash and other vegetables. David is quite the chef so he had to stop! A few other people were there shopping and we discovered that it was an open market operating on the honor system. You selected your items, wrote down your name and what you got, weighed the items and figured up your total from a chart listing the prices. You then put your money in a container. There was no one tending the store except a big ole, lazy hound dog sleeping next to the pumpkins. (I can’t imagine this system working in Columbus.)

We stopped at the ferry landing to watch the ferry that runs between Vermont and New York. It’s only a 12 min. ride but we saw very big trucks, even a tanker truck, drive onto it. Guess it’s cheaper and quicker than driving around the island.

Oct. 7
Today we went to the Shelbourne Museum which is an outdoor museum covering about 50 acres. It is one of the most extensive and diverse collections of art and Americana. It houses the actual steamboat “Ticonderoga”. I heard that they had to build a railroad track specifically for moving the ship to its location at Shelbourne. They then tore up the tracks. There was one museum with a special exhibit of Mary Cassatt paintings and another house with a huge exhibit of quilts. There were hundreds of old carriages in two large barns. It was all so overwhelming! To really see what this museum contains you might want to look at their web site http://www.shelbournemuseum.org/ .