Quechee, Vermont(Hartford, Vermont)

Anthony and I spent a nice day in Quechee, Vermont (which is a part of Hartford, Vermont). First we hiked to the bottom of Quechee Gorge. It was a nice walk down, and certainly worth it for the views. Be warned though that the hike back up is steep, though fairly short.

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We did some antiquing at Antique Mall, located within Quechee Gorge Village. We purchased a music box-photo album. Because I am also a genealogist, I feel the need to mention that the book is inscribed with Edith Styles name, Chehalis, Washington, December 25, 1910 (in case someone out there might care... and if you are related, I'd love to hear more about the woman who once owned it).

After that, we had dinner in the Quechee Diner. Part of the diner is located in an old train car. Unfortunately, the train car was full so we had to eat in the other area of the diner. The food really wasn't great, and the waitstaff seemed very scatter-brained. I am really bummed that we didn't get to eat in the train car, because then it would have made the experience at least worth it.

Plymouth, Vermont

This fall, we visited the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. Plymouth Notch is such a sweet little town, and I definitely plan on visiting again one day!

My son got to be the President!

The childhood home of Calvin Coolidge's mother is now
home to a quaint soup & sandwich diner.

Calvin Coolidge's father owned this little general store.
The lived in the little building attached to the back (also
the place where Coolidge was born).

The church where the Coolidge family worshiped.

The school that Coolidge attended as a child.

The view from the visitor's center.

Derby, Vermont

You can't get much further north in Vermont, or even the United States, than Derby. Located along the Canadian border, this small town has some quaint places to shop and eat.

We did a little shopping at Anthony's cousin's shop, Primitive Place. I truly could spend a ton of money in this store! Here are a couple of my goodies I found there:

The star was hand-painted by the store owner!

Next, we at at the Cow Palace:

Finally we stopped at the Border Lounge for a few drinks with my cousin. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, but you can see some by clicking the link and going to their Facebook page. And if you drink a little too much, you can stay the night at the adjoining Border Motel! :)

Barre City, Vermont

Every now and again we act like tourists in our own town. These are some photos taken around Barre City

Recently, we visited the small museum located at the Vermont Historical Society (they also gave us tickets to visit the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier at no additional fee).

Downtown Barre City, Vermont

Barre, Vermont: Granite Center of the World

My kids (ages 8 and 15)

Civil War artifacts

Room of oddities donated by local residents.

This train was loaded with granite from the Barre quarries.

Trains deliver Barre granite all over the country

Barre Town, Vermont

We spent some time exploring the Websterville and Graniteville areas of Barre Town this weekend. On Saturday we hiked some of the Millstone Trails in Barre Town Forest. It was a really nice hike, but I wish we had printed out a map before setting out. We parked at the Brook Street access, which had a disk golf course along the trail. We don't disk golf, but figured it may be a point of interest to others who may.

East Vista trail.

Sierra relaxing on a chair-shaped boulder at the East Vista.

East Vista

As we were driving out to the Barre Town Forest, I noticed a bike path running alongside the road, so we checked it out on Sunday. It was 1.4 miles one way. We parked at the Barre Town school and walked to the end of the path and back. Here are some photos of our walk:

The path passes Rock of Ages

The following photos were taken when we visited Rock of Ages in 2013:

Rock of Ages granite quarry

Rock of Ages granite quarry

Rock of Ages granite quarry

Bowling on the granite bowling lane outside Rock of Ages

Brookfield, Vermont

Brookfield's main attraction in its floating bridge, which spans Sunset Lake. The original bridge was built in 1820. "It was built this way because the lake is too deep for traditional pilings" (Wikipedia). Due to a failure of the flotation system, the seventh bridge closed in 2008 and the eighth bridge opened just last month. We passed several fisher men/women as we drove over the bridge.

Brookfield Floating Bridge (aka Sunset Lake Floating Bridge)

A wide wooden sidewalk runs along each side
of the bridge where several people conjugated
to fish.

Williamstown, Vermont

We didn't have to venture very far home to visit Williamstown. Actually, I lived in Williamstown for about three months when my daughter was a baby. However, this was my first visit to T-Time Driving Range and Knight's Spider Web Farm.

First was T-Time Driving Range: 

As hard as I tried, I couldn't get any balls past the 100 yard marker.

Tyler had a blast!

The ball machine with a large number of solar panels in the background
(there are many more solar panels than what is pictured here).

The golf clubs Anthony bought me for my last birthday.
I'm slowly learning.

I was happy to find a pink ball basket! :)

Next up was Knight's Spider Web Farm: 

Spiders at Work!

Knight's Spider Web Farm

Entrance to the Spider Web Farm shop.

These are the "canvases" where spiders are hard at work
creating the webs that Will Knight will turn into artwork.

Spider Crossing