Another Rainy Day in New England...

Hello again,

I expect to be on the move again tomorrow morning, to somewhere...don't have a plan quite yet. Rumor has it that the rain should taper off sometime tomorrow for a couple of days. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm really hoping! I saw the sun for about 3 minutes late this afternoon, so I know it's still out there. But it has rained on & off most of the day...and continues as I write.

Vermont is a tiny state, but it can (and often has!) take 90 minutes to travel 26 miles because the roads are narrow two-lane highways in poor condition. I was tempted to be whiny about ALL the pot holes and ruts, etc., but then I was talking to a woman on a farm who reminded me that Hurricane Irene did severe damage in this state - washed out roads, destroyed several covered bridges (which has made for some interesting detours), flooded homes....and explained the significant erosion I've seen along the river(s).

Monte (you know, my car!) has been a real trouper...despite occasionally loosing contact with the road due to the conditions. Thus, we hit the road early this morning to visit the UVM Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge. It's been a while since I posted horse pics, so....

Here's a yearling. His name is T-Rex. His Official name is UVM T-Rex. All horses bred through this farm - run by the Univ. of Vermont - begin with UVM.

And two of the new foals (all born this week) In the "maternity ward."

For lunch, I backtracked a few miles to the A&W I passed on the way. I haven't been to one in a long time & this is the only car-hop A&W in New England. There is one other A&W in New England but it has indoor seating. How lucky that It showed up on my random path!

After lunch Monte and I leaped into our most interesting road trip so far... wet and steep dirt/gravel roads on the way to Sugarbush Farm, which is in Woodstock (or Pomfret - depends on who you ask). It was all perfectly safe...believe me, after accidently getting stuck in the sand in NC I'm not looking to test Monte's limits :-).

Sugarbush Farm is a cheese and maple syrup farm that welcomes visitors at no charge, offers samples of all kinds of good stuff (syrups, cheeses, Vermont jams & mustards), and invites you to wander around for as long as you want. This place is beautiful & it now has my favorite smoked cheese and maple syrups! And their pumpkin butter was very tasty too.

The view from the Sugarhouse:

The Farm Chapel:

A few of The Maples:

Last, but not least, one of the still-working covered bridges near the farm. This is the Lincoln Covered Bridge.

By the way, I meant to mention in the previous post that I had dinner at Gordi's Fish & Steak House the night I stayed in Lincoln, NH. Two of the owners have Olympic ties, so they have lots of memorabilia on the walls. The night I was there the fireplace was going and people were telling ski stories. My guess that's how it is most nights.

Hope all is well wherever this finds you...I will be in touch again soon.