Reminiscing about Vermont - Wonder Of Wander

It’s Fall here in the Pacific Northwest and that mean one thing, I’m thinking about Vermont.

I am sure everyone knows about the speculator show of colors the mountains put on each year and everyone oohs and ahhhs over the pictures and videos that appear on line, but Fall in Vermont is more than just a show of color. Fall’s arrival means the farms are gathering their final harvest and thousands of acres of fields are plowed up turning once fields of green and gold to black. Lakes begin to cool and each morning they too put on a show as the summer heat escapes the water and fog blankets their surface. Then there are the smells; from the forests where vegetation is breaking down and giving off wonderful aromas to farms spreading fertilizer giving off their own special aroma. Birds being to migrate south and with them the skies erupt in the sound of the wings and their calls as they fly overhead. Fall also brings with it some wonderful comfort foods, my favorite being Pumpkin and Apply pies. As the season unfolds, your body can feel the crispness in the air. Yes, Fall in Vermont is so much more than a show of color. There truly isn’t a single sense left out during this remarkable time.

While so many think of Fall as an eruption of beautiful colors, only those that stay in Vermont know about the other end of Fall. The moment when everything turns to white and grey. Yes, Fall is sometimes battling Winter and it is not unusual to go from a show of color to a white out in just a few hours. If we’e really lucky, it won’t last for but aday and then the color is back. If you really want to see something amazing; catching a mountain erupting in color blanketed by a sheet of white is rather speculator. Another one of my favorites would be catching the fog lifting off the warm lake freezing on the trees.

I am lucky that I got to experience Fall in Vermont like so few can. I biked it, kayaked it and hiked it. Seeing it by car, well that is like reading a cook book. You get a visual sense, but you miss everything else that truly makes it speculator. I remember one beautiful Fall Day, I was walking down to the end of my road where it met Route 30, main North South thoroughfare through Vermont; in other words, a slow windy two lane road. There at the end were two cars full of tourists who had stopped to take pictures of the hill to my East. Some were from Europe and others from Massachusetts – all related though. They apologized for parking there and I laughed. “I come out here every day to see the sun rise over this” I said. “but if you really want to see something speculator, follow me” I took these strangers back to my house on the lake and treated them to views so few could experience. I even offered to take them out on the boat, but they had a schedule to keep so they reluctantly declined. Still, they spent a good half hour there talking pictures by the water and they were so thankful that I shared this experience with them.

Experiences like above are why it always amazed my that during my time living on Lake St. Catherine, so many people would flee the area right after Labor Day. How could people who actually live here pack up and close down their homes and head south – right before the most remarkable time of year.? To me, it was the equivalent of leaving a show before the final performance just to beat the traffic home. Why would you not want to experience this sensory delight? It is a question that still puzzles me and I think the answer is, is that people want the easy, but the best experiences in life are not achieved through comfort and convenience.

As I sit here in and prepare to spend my first Fall in Washington State, one of the first things that I have begun to realize is that there is far more green here. Sure, we do have trees erupting in color, but so far, I have not seen mountains full of color. I am also not seeing the lakes release their heat under blankets of fog. That’s due in part to them never getting warm enough. And while there are farms, there are not as prevalent as Vermont. The Pacific Northwest is quite speculator in it’s own way and it is my goal to find its uniqueness during this season and though I am sure I will, it sure does have big shoes to fill, for my expectations are quite high.

Enjoy these pictures of my town in Vermont during Fall. Some are current pictures from neighbors and friends and others are mine from years past. Which ones are your favorite and which ones surprised you?

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