Elmore State Park, Vermont

May 30, 2024

Exciting news! We now have a new blogging platform, courtesy of our dear son, Alan (thanks Alan!). As we previously mentioned, Alan has been having fun slaving away creating a better, more attractive, less frustrating blogging experience for us and hopefully for our readers as well. And today, we unveil it!

While an extensive debugging process has already occurred (courtesy of a retired software engineer with too much time on his hands), it is possible (however remotely) that there may still be a few glitches that pop up from time to time. Let us know if you notice any odd behavior. Also, we are still working on importing all the content from Blogger (our previous platform), so some pages may be empty for the time being.

Rick is especially excited to point out a new and improved photosphere viewing experience! You no longer need to open the photosphere link to view it. You can simply drag your finger/cursor along the embedded photosphere to move around in the picture. You can also click on the maximize button to do the same in a full-size screen (best viewed on a laptop). Here is an example below--give it a try! *

* Rick's notes for Apple iOS and iPad users:

• I don't think full screen works on iPhone. As far as I can tell, Apple does not allow full screen - sorry.

• On an iPad, I think you have to pinch to zoom to make it larger.

Now on to this week's blog post!

We left you back in New York, and since then we traveled through Massachusetts and into Vermont. On our way through Massachusetts, we made a stop at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge.

We get the impression they aren't very excited to see us

A pastoral ranch in the Berkshires

The National Shrine of Divine Mercy

Nicely done life-sized Stations of the Cross

After visiting the shrine, we continued driving a couple of hours through western Massachusetts before stopping for the night at a Walmart in southern Vermont and doing some grocery shopping while we were there.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Fancy-looking park in Pittsfield

Very attractive countryside here

Driving through Bennington, Vermont

Much better than expected "Camp Walmart" experience

We normally don't like staying overnight at Walmarts, but occasionally it is convenient if we are just looking for a quick overnight and there aren't better options nearby. Have to say, this particular Walmart was hands-down the best one we have stayed at--not very busy, and very quiet.

We headed out early the next morning for Elmore State Park in northern Vermont. Neither of us have ever been to Vermont, and its slogan, "The Green Mountain State" describes it very well!

Our campsite at Elmore State Park was plenty fine--nothing amazing, but it did have good solar exposure.

The day-use area had a beach on a small lake.

Inside the lakeside shelter

It was a bit chilly for us to swim, but there were some kids who went in for a dip

Normally, we like to avoid touristy-things on weekends (especially holiday weekends), but the weather forecast indicated that the best weather of our stay was going to be that Saturday and Sunday. So, we headed off to the nearby ski resort town of Stowe (no snow at the moment--thankfully!) Stowe has a multi-use recreation path that traverses through town and country, and it was quite crowded with families celebrating the beginning of the summer season (Julie is quite adept at taking photos without people in them so the trail looks empty - let me assure you it was not - Rick.)

Stowe Recreation Path

The path crossed the creek several times

Our picnic lunch site

After the bike ride, we took the short Sunset Rock trail (seems to be a common trail name out East) to a rock up the mountain overlooking the town.

Sunset Rock

Overlooking the town of Stowe

Mass that evening was at Blessed Sacrament Church which had some very unusual art.

Can't say we've ever seen stained glass windows like these before

We weren't sure what to make of the figures on the ceiling

The next day was also a nice sunny day, so we rode a section of the scenic Lamoille Valley Rail Trail that traverses over 90 miles of Vermont. This trail was not nearly as crowded as the one in Stowe.

The old train depots were converted into picnic areas

Another depot/picnic area

A cute idea for picnic tables

Memorial Day was cloudy and cool and threatened rain, so we sought out a much-needed laundromat and cozied up in the camper the rest of the day.

Threatening skies today

Tuesday promised a window of some sun before afternoon rain, so we decided to ride a different portion of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.

This area had some serious flooding in the summer of 2023. Check out the tree stuck in the bridge.

At first we were puzzled by the plastic tubes in the forest. Were they water pipes???

Ah, it looks like maple syrup tapping--we are in Vermont, after all!

There are lots of picturesque farms in Vermont

And picturesque cows

The quaint little town of Hardwick

Another former railroad depot, repurposed as the Historical Society building

Our window of sun suddenly expired, and we made good use of our bike throttles as we tried to outrun the impending rain. We failed, but we only got a little wet 😏

The next day was cool and mostly cloudy, with the occasional drizzle or small patch of blue sky. Our interest in maple syrup had been piqued, so we drove down to near Montpelier and visited Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks.

Montpelier is the smallest capitol city in the U.S.

Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks

They had a short but entertaining video describing the sugaring process.

Amusing wood art

The maple sugarworks farm was a smaller operation than we expected. It turns out, there really isn't much to making maple syrup. In the springtime, you drill a hole in a tree (well, more like hundreds of trees), attach plastic hoses to vacuum out the sap, and remove the extra water from the sap. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup. While we were there, we tried a maple creamee, a Vermont specialty. It's basically soft serve ice cream flavored with maple syrup. Julie also tasted four different grades of maple syrup (from light amber to dark). All in all, it was a fun diversion.

That's all for now--see you next week!

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