October In Vermont. Again!

I'm told we're creatures of habit and I'm ok with that. Going to Vermont to enjoy the Autumn colours and some mountain biking for Canadian Thanksgiving is a habit I like and will happily be that creature for years to come. Andrea and I have been doing this longer than I've been keeping this blog.

If you look back through my blog you can see some of the previous adventures here. I think the three entries from October 2013 are a good overview and will give you a taste of what it's like.

Decisions, decisions

As we have done before the trip starts with a journey to Massena NY which is about 6 hours from home. With a late afternoon start this has become our habit, down to the point that we stay at the same motel because we know it will be a place to relax after a rushed start.

And our next scheduled stop has become an evening and overnight at Guy & Joan's place in Underhill VT. We could get there is a few hours but love spending a day getting there. Usually it involves an adventure or two along the way, have to break up the mundane aspects of habits right?

Colour me pumpkin

We wanted to stop in at Boyers apple orchard so we picked a route through the Adirondacks as we made our way to the Green Mountains. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. And we very much enjoyed our travels. Boyers was a great stop and we'll enjoy the apples we got there for the rest of this trip. The apple cider donuts won't last that long though, they are delicious!

Next up was looking into getting a US based phone & data service for when I'm traveling. I intentionally got a fully unlocked phone so I'd be able to use any SIM card as I travel. Seems very few providers have a service designed for this... I expected AT&T to have something on the "GoPhone" plans but they only seem to be interested in monthly customers even with no contract offerings. That was really the only frustrating part of the day. I feel like I wasted a bunch of time (in reality it was only a bit of time and it wasn't wasted, just felt that way). But then it was time to head off to visit and enjoy some home cooked food.

I'm not sure how to describe the pleasure Andrea and I get from the time we share with Guy & Joan. I'll try by saying that we both feel really honoured on a bunch of different levels. We connect in a lot of ways, have gotten to know each other reasonably well over the past few years, still have lots to learn. This was a nice visit :)

And Guy has some new "hobbies"! Imagine that! I'm looking forward to seeing how that evolves between now and next October. One thing we did on our way to Underhill was to drop in at Queen City Brewery and there will be a couple of growlers arriving in Toronto. This is a place Guy has been getting some of his yeast from for his beers and he has a good relationship with the brewmaster there. Impressive place and I'm glad we made a point of dropping by.

A delightful evening of good food, good company and good beverages came to an end and we all expected there to be some rain the next day (Saturday, today as I write this). Before I move on though I have to include a photo of Andrea, Joan and Sampson... their furry friends are very much a part of their family.

It was a purple sky over Mt Mansfield in the morning but it wasn't raining yet. Guy had a friend coming over early to help mill some wood and the weather was a concern so they got down to business early. About the time it started to lightly rain.

We got an early start too. A tasty breakfast and everyone got down to business. For us that meant more driving but when we saw a Red Hen bakery we had to stop. And it was "the" Red Hen so we have awesome bread to go along with great beer now!

Red Hen Bakery

The rain did affect the way today went. We spent a little time in Montpelier wandering and shopping and enjoying the atmosphere. We tripped thru Barre (and we continue to trip over pronouncing it correctly (Bear-E, not Bar) and headed up to the spot we'd reserved to camp near the Millstone trailhead. It was still raining; steady but not heavy. And the camping was down a steep hill from the lodge. I walked part way down, drove that far. Then I walked further and decided it wasn't going to happen. Even getting back up from where I'd been confident I could get out from was hard so I know I made the right choice. I'll keep the slick conditions in mind when we go riding tomorrow.
And on that note I'll wrap this up. It's still raining but the forecast is for dry conditions tomorrow. We'll see what the riding is like here!