Pictures from Stef, Cairo and NTodd's travels to all 251 Vermont towns. (Please also see Our Vermont Travelblog: http://dohiyimir.typepad.com/251_club/)
Oddly, the dogs seem to have little interest in the big fire hydrant sculpture in the center of Shelburne.
Mexico's first 251 Club trip with us! Shelburne has a leash law, so we had to put one on Cairo as well--she didn't seem to mind.
Notice how there's no snow on the ground? The last few days' thaw wiped it out most places, but it's returning tonight with a vengeance.
You'll just kinda have to trust us that this is Middlebury. Check out the Congregational Church (http://www.vtcucc.org/churches/Middlebury.html)...
The Peacham Store (and the town) was where The Spitfire Grill was filmed.
Way back in '98, when NTodd and NTodd's Folks were first seeking the Fortress, Peacham was one likely candidate for its location. Stef and I on stopped by the store for sandwiches when we were traipsing around at the time, and chatted with the (then) new proprietor, a very nice CA transplant who'd gotten tired of the rat race and bought the place sight unseen. She doesn't appear to still own the place--at least we haven't seen her the last few times we've been in.
We weren't going to officially do Barnet, but I had to stop when we passed the General Store.
Stef took a little nap in the gazebo in the center of town while I meandered looking for pictures.
In front of the Sharon Historical Society, which you probably can't tell from the sign at web resolution.
Life in Vermont: sometimes even on state highways you get stuck behind a tractor and can't pass for a while.
Hancock's Post Office is attached to somebody's (the Postmaster's?) house, so we just had to take a shot. While we were doing so, a truck pulled in and a woman inside the house informed us that it would be backing up to the door, so we had to hurry.
Off Route 114 in Lyndon. Also known as the Burrington Road Bridge--serves only pedestrians, cycles, and snowmobiles.
* Size: 68 feet
* Year Built: 1865
* Builder: Unknown
* Crosses: East Branch Passumpsic River
* Type: Queenpost
Cairo's philosophy dictates that you cannot know a place unless you swim in a place. We now know Jobs Pond (in Westmore, just on the other side of the county line).
Are you missing a hubcap? Cuz there's one in Lyndon on Burrington Bridge Road.
In East Burke on 114, a few miles north of Randall Bridge, just before we got to the River Garden Cafe for brunch. We thought about grabbing a shot in West Burke for the trifecta: wanted to do the volunteer fire dept, but things were rather busy there, so we bagged it.
There were several hefty bolts around--dunno if they are part of the original works, or the repairs done a couple years ago (http://www.vermontbridges.com/pastnews.notes3.htm#item13).
Warren Bridge is located within the village Historic Residential District. Built in 1880 by Walter Bagley, it is particularly noteworthy due to its unique asymmetrical design: a vertical east portal, but upper side walls that project differently at the west portal.
Size: 55 feet long, 13 feet wide
Year Built: 1880
Builder: Walter Bagley
Crosses: Mad River and Covered Bridge Road Lake Road
Type: Queenpost
Just before the village. I'd forgotten my full-sized tripod, so I had to park in the intersection with my flashers on and put my mini-tri on the roof of the car to shoot this. Yes, I looked both ways before crossing the "busy" road.
We started our trip at the Jericho Village offices, just behind the Historical Society (where the Bentley Snowflake Museum is located). To Stef's left (uh...your right) is Elizabeth Mehren of the LATimes and her photog, Alden (who lives in VT). Both were very nice--Cairo accepted them into the pack--and we asked them to be in one of our "official" photos. A fun trip with special guests!
In front of the famous Round Church. No, I didn't take a shot of the church, but the LATimes photog did--maybe that will be in the article.
A little departure from the usual picture at Appalachian Gap. There is in fact a sign with Buels Gore on it along Rt 17 up the mountain, but it was -12F and windy, and we didn't want to get out of the car more than once per town today! And no second shots, either. As it was, Cairo's pads were pretty frozen after she dug in the snow.
Eastbound on 58 in Lowell, in between where the highway becomes a dirt road and the intersection with Route 100.
There's a nice gazebo in the middle of town we could've used for our backdrop, but given the winter chill and recent light snow, we felt the town garage was more apt. Hey, it's got X-mas lights, a plow blade, and mostly off-frame to the right is the town sand pile (3 times our height!), destined to keep us safe on the roads (and to create "snirt") this winter.
And yes, true to form Cairo found herself a stick...
We were there just at the start of the market, so there wasn't a lot set up yet.
Camp is getting set up off Rt 22A in Orwell. Too bad we couldn't stay to watch the re-enactment.
After consulting MapQuest, I plugged Colchester's coordinates into my Garmin eMap GPS and we were able to successfully navigate to our first stop.
At the HQ of Waitsfield Telecom, one of the independent phone companies that provide service to places where Verizon dare not tread.
Cairo heads for the island in the middle of Island Pond in the town of Brighton.
This seemed a fitting place to take our shot in Island Pond/Brighton: both my parents have been librarians at various points in their careers.
Of course I had to shoot the covered bridge we took--Cairo desperately wanted to go swim in the river, but she stayed in the car with Stef.
Covered Bridge #33, the Columbia Bridge, in Lemington, VT. A Howe Truss construction spanning 148 feet, built in 1912. Shot from the NH side.
I didn't know I owned a hill in Canaan. Cairo didn't believe me until I pointed to the evidence.
We drove up my hill because the sign promised a "splended [sic] view". I don't think this wooden sheriff guy was what they meant.
Not sure what makes Dick a dictator, but notice the nice people have helpfully highlighted the 3 sixes in his phone number (out of courtesy, I've blurred the rest of the numbers).
As we were driving on Rt. 215, we saw this (red) barn off on a side road, and thought it had a lot of character.
