Savoring the Changing Season in Picturesque Vermont

 I have resolved to live, not just endure, each season of my life.

-HealingBrave

I don't know about you, but that philosophy is becoming harder and harder to live by lately.  This year, 2020, has given us so much to endure, it's a wonder we keep getting out of bed willing to face another day.  I feel a little guilty complaining.  So far my family has managed to keep Covid-free, the kids have been happily back in school for two months, my son-in-law is back to work from a several month furlough and although our daughter, Laura's, place of employment closed, she found a wonderful new job that she loves with many advantages over her last job.  My mom is healthy, albeit missing her social life, John and I haven't had many sacrifices overall and yet.....some days life feels unreal and heavy.  The bright spot in navigating this year of challenges is that our family is all within a 5 mile radius and the things we love to do are pretty much unhindered by pandemics or politics.  We took advantage of that and enjoyed a number of road trips this fall and today I'm sharing one of my favorites to the ever picturesque, Vermont.

We began our trip driving through Bennington with a quick drive past the Bennington Monument.  One of these days, I'll share our visit there (up the monument) last fall, but for today we continued up Rt 7A to visit some of our favorite stops.  

In February 2014, we accidently happened upon what has always remained one of my favorite barns, and photos.  We've tried, unsuccessfully, to locate it many times but on this day in early October, several dirt roads later, we finally hit the jackpot and I knew it as soon as I saw this:

It looks a little different now than it did in 2014 with a fresh coat of paint and in a different season, but it was a thrill to finally rediscover it and make a note of it's location so it won't take another 6 years to find it again.   Just before that discovery, we visited our favorite white farm in Vermont, looking as pristine as always.

From here we traveled up the road to Manchester.  Since we are trying to avoid Covid germs, we only got out of the car once for a quick pit stop at Stewart's, but that didn't stop us from a brief drive through Hildene and Equinox Valley Nursery.   We eventually parked in the Orvis parking lot to enjoy our packed lunch.  

After lunch we headed to Dorset and then traveled east a little before heading to Danby and Pawlet, Rupert and Salem, past several of our repeat photo ops. The foliage wasn't peak yet but it didn't matter because Vermont is gorgeous in any season and the time away from reality did wonders for restoring our wellbeing.

I'm grateful that all it takes is a few hours and some dirt roads to lift my spirits and remind me that life isn't just about what's on the evening news.  We did a few more autumn road trips like this one....keep an eye out for upcoming blog posts.  Thanks for allowing me to share our adventures.  I hope it inspires you to do your own exploring.  Hang in there and stay well and come back soon for more Life As I See It.  If you're on Facebook, don't forget to check out my daily photos on my Life As I See It Facebook page:  

https://www.facebook.com/GAWelter