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Oh my goodness ya’ll, it was 54 degrees when we woke up this morning ! Have you ever experienced a July 1st in this kind of weather ? It is freezing cold and Tim is lovin’ every minute of it ! He walked outside in his shorts and flip flops and never even skipped a beat. I, on the other hand, was trying to figure out a way to wear my long johns under my clothes today. Jon has pretty much gotten accustomed to it living over in Pennsylvania and all but I prefer the sunshine over this mess any day. Mother Nature is just not listening to my prayers at all; looks like I’m gonna have to go to the higher power on this one. It’s so rainy and wet and dreary up here and I just can’t seem to get myself motivated. Tim gave me a little pep talk, made me some breakfast, washed the dishes (YAY!) and finally got me up and going. He had picked up a map of the covered bridges throughout Vermont and he was ready to hit the road. He said our first stop would be in Dummerston, so we got ready, packed up
and said goodbye to Hidden Acres. We drove through Peru, VT (so now I can say I’ve been to Peru !) which lead us directly into Dummerston where we saw our first covered bridge of the day. The bridge was really cool; we walked through it and read all about it and stuff and of course Tim had to inspect the workmanship. He also tried his darndest to figure out a way to cross it in the motor home but I wasn’t having any part of that. He talked to a local guy, who was passing through on his bike, and the guy said that it had been raining there for thirty days straight ! Surprise, Surprise ! We took a few pictures, Jon walked down to the water and then we headed on across Vermont in search of another bridge. We traveled through Newfane, which is on the National Historical Town list, and then on down through Harmonyville and Jamaica, VT. We drove through some beautiful scenery and then we eventually came upon The Scott Bridge. It is the longest wooden covered bridge in Vermont, so we pulled over to check it out. It was different than the first
one but it was really cool too. Thank goodness it was blocked off so Tim didn’t get anymore crazy ideas about crossing it in the motor home. I just loved the old sign that hung above the entrance. It read: Speed Limit - Horses at a Walk, Motor Vehicles 10 Miles Per Hour. We all got a chuckle out of that one ! Tim crawled all up in the rafters and stuff checking out the construction of the bridge and when he was done foolin’ around we took a few more pictures and then made our way on over towards Grafton (in the book).On the ride over, we came across a private llama farm and you know we just had to stop. There were cute little baby llamas everywhere ! They were so clean and manicured, you could tell they were very well taken care of. I jumped out of the motor home and took a few pictures and then we were on to Grafton. We thought we were just going there to check out The Old Tavern and have lunch but we ended up staying for a few hours. When we arrived, we rode around for a few minutes
trying to find somewhere to park “The Beast” and we ended up in the town’s church parking lot. We made our way down the flower lined streets and on into The Old Tavern but not before Tim and I sat in the rocking chairs on the front porch and savored the moment. It’s an old country inn, with 46 rooms, that was built in 1801 and it has been beautifully restored by the local Windham Foundation. The kind lady behind the counter suggested we go across the street to the Daniel’s Café for lunch so we took her advice and walked on over. Lunch was wonderful, Jon had the toasted tuna fish sandwich, Tim had the ham sandwich on ciabatta while I enjoyed a toasted BLT on wheat ! While we were waiting on our food, I stepped over into the welcome center to gather some information about Grafton and I’m so glad that I did. We found out that the town had this nice walking trail throughout and you could follow it all around to see the different sights. After lunch, we strolled down to the blacksmith’s shop where Tom was pounding away at his newest creation. We were
the only people there so we got to ask a lot of questions and he even let me behind the ropes to give him a helping hand ! Our next stop was the Grafton Village Cheese Company which has been home to Vermont’s premier cheddar cheeses since 1892. We sampled several different types of cheeses before we finally settled on the one we liked the best. Tim bought a pound of the maple smoked cheddar cheese while Jon picked out a couple of the local chocolate bars. I bought some Vermont Maple Syrup and then it was on to the next stop. We continued to follow the dirt path that took us over a bridge or in Tim and Jon’s case, through the ice cold river, where we ended up in a field with the sweetest cows you’ve ever seen. They were part of the tour so we stopped to play with them for a few minutes and then headed on down the path. The trail took us behind the Village Park and Public Library and over to the Windham Foundation Sheep Exhibit. Here we were able to talk to the caretaker, feed the sheep, and he even let me
hold a one day old baby lamb. She was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen in your life ! I didn’t want to give it back but Tim didn’t think it would do to good up in Nova Scotia so I reluctantly had to leave her there. I guess I’ll always have the pictures to look back on (sad face). It was still drizzling and we really needed to head on back to the motor home so we said goodbye to the cows and sheep and started walking towards the church. Tim and Jon decided to play in the freezing cold river again for a few minutes so I snapped a few pictures of them as I was crossing over the bridge and met them on the other side. We eventually made it to the motor home and began making our way over to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After a long, wet, foggy ride we finally made it ! Portsmouth is a really neat town with lots of organic based stores. They even have an organic pizza shop and an organic clothing store. There was a little ice cream parlor listed in the book called Annabelle’s Natural Ice Cream so of
course we had to stop and get a scoop ! Tim dropped Jon and me off at the corner and we walked down the ally to Annabelle’s while he circled around the block and waited for us. Don’t worry Lynn, even though you don’t get to mark it off the list, I bought you a pint of french vanilla so at least you can say you’ve had it ! We drove through Portsmouth as we ate our ice cream in the freezing cold weather, you don’t have to tell me how crazy it sounds, I know, and then we made our way on over to Kennebunkport, Maine. Normally I would be up and about taking pictures of everything in sight but since it was so dark and foggy I couldn’t get any good pics so I just decided to take a little nap on the way to Kennebunkport instead. The boys woke me up when we were pulling into the Wal-Mart there and wanted to know if I wanted anything for dinner. Jon ran into Wendy’s for us and then we found a great parking spot and settled in for the night. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna sleep late tomorrow
and just head on into Portland tomorrow. We’ll hang around there until it’s time to be at the airport to pick up Lynn, Jason and Heidi. It’s going to be an interesting next few days with 6 adults living together under one very small roof !! Take Care and Good Night !
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Carlton Morse
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New England Weather
I once spent a summer in Andover, Massachusetts and I remember weather weeks like the one you are experiencing. Embrace it!