Thank You Vermont, For Showing Your Colors
We Just Missed Peak Foliage and did not finish a 1,000 piece puzzle
Our time quickly came to an end in Vermont. It was by no means long enough. We visited. We relaxed. We certainly photographed the beauty around us. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was hard to pack up the SUV and return to the road. What a terrific experience and memories made.
Dining local, exploring farmer’s markets, riding the gondola and capturing the waterfalls. It was great to live like a local for part of the month. It’s what travel is about these days.
And the leaf peeping. I cannot ignore what we came here for — To experience the changing of the fall colors in one of the best known destinations for just that. To be able to watch the landscape slowly turn from green to orange, yellow and red is something I will hold close for a long time. What a gift.
What an opportunity to see mother nature at her best. Well, close to her best.
Unfortunately, we are leaving Vermont right before peak fall foliage. Missed it by that much. When we drove out of the Sugarbush Ski Resort earlier this week, the colors seemed oh so closing to picture perfect.
No complaints though. Debbie and I spent eight wonderful days in the mountains. We have captured fall and I will highlight here some of my favorite photographs from Vermont within this post.
As soon as we arrived, locals shared with us that this year’s fall foliage has been a bit different. Due do a summer that delivered unusual weather, it has influenced when and where the leaves are changing color.
Vermont has long been on my list to photograph and I leave here more than happy with this experience. I can easily understand why tourism destinations promote leaf peeping. It is a great time for tourism before the snow begins to fall.
Vermont as a destination should be high on your planning and vacation list if you love the outdoors.
Initially we wanted to stay in the town of Burlington. However, lodging availability was very limited. We did spend one full day visiting the city and the surrounding colleges including the University of Vermont. We fell victim to visiting right smack in the middle of Vermont’s parents weekend which is why housing was so scarce.
So we opted for the mountains. A ski resort actually. Looking back it was the very best move we could have made. Next to the town of Stowe, Sugarbush had terrific colors and it allowed me the ease of exploring the roads and small towns.
No crowds. I didn’t have to fight anyone for a photo position. I did not have to patiently wait for people to clear out of an area I wanted to target for a landscape photograph.
That would not have happened so easily in Burlington. We loved walking Church Street and the restaurants and shops the street had to offer. But nothing beats the colors and experience we had by staying a bit more inland.
The experience here has been more than photographing trees and its leaves.
Last Saturday, we visited three farmer’s markets within a 24 hour period. We made stops in Waitsfield, Burlington and Stowe. We also made friends with a few vendors.
We purchased food and bought household items from pottery vendors for our home to remind us of the experience.
I even learned how to produce an online poker game from the same pottery maker. It could resurrect old poker games with college friends. We all seem to live far apart these days. His solution for online poker was as valuable as the kitchen dish Debbie and I purchased.
I do have one confession. We did not achieve one of our objectives. Debbie and I purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle and thought, what a great way to spend down time. We could drink hot chocolate and working on a puzzle together. We did that, but didn’t finish the puzzle.
The puzzle won.
Er, we ran out of time. It only won for now.
The puzzle is sure to be with us for our next destination and our goal remains to complete the assignment. I’ll have more Vermont stories to share another day.
Time to move onto the next adventure.
Catch Up on Previous Posts:
Vermont, Leaf Peeping and Navigating Dirty Cabins
Cubs Baseball, Pennant Races and Tommy Lasorda’s Crooked Index Finger
Traded Our SUV for Airplane Tickets: Off We Go
My Very First Post
Some Additional Resources
Purchase Photographs from My Website
Purchase Photographs From Etsy