Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Aug 22, 2014



– Another day that we planned to be an uneventful driving day from New Hampshire to Montpelier, Vermont (the capital of Vermont.)   What a wonderful drive.  First, the leaves are beginning to change which, according to people who lived there, is not a good sign.  They are worried about an early, cold, long winter.  I hope their fears are not confirmed.  But, for us, it was nice to begin to see a little color in the trees.
 
 

Our first, unplanned stop, was Dog Mountain.  We didn’t know anything about it but saw a sign on the road and decided to ride up the side road and see what it was about.
 

Well – what a stop – if you are a dog lover.  An artist, who loves dogs, bought the 100+ acres and has turned it into a place where dogs can come and run free, families can have “dog parties” or groups can come and have picnics and brings their dogs to run and play.  The artist, Stephen Huneck, has his home there and has a gallery with many of his books and art for sale.
 
He also has built a chapel, dedicated to the lives of pets.  The stained glass windows each feature the profile of a dog, the pews in the chapel have ends that are dogs carved from different types of wood, and the walls are covered with notes from pet owners often attached to a picture of their pet.
 
 

Being a dog lover this was very wonderful.  One of the quotes from the artist, states that the Dog Chapel is the greatest accomplishment of his life.  You can read more about this, and see many of his books, at his web site:
.  If there are young children in your life who love dogs, I highly recommend his books about “Sally.”  Our next stop was Lancaster, New Hampshire which, again, had beautiful old buildings downtown.
 

 

 




Nearby we stopped at “The Farmer’s Daughter” gift shop who also had some animals, including lamas.  James just had to get his picture made on a “Thomas Train” handmade engine. 

Later we came upon a “sugar shack” which is where maple syrup is made.  After talking to the people in that area, we learned this is still the way maple syrup is made.  It is not in large factories, as I expected.  Small farms grow the sugar maple trees and get the sap in the spring.  They then boil the syrup off in these sugar shacks.  This is amazing. 
Driving on we saw an amusement park, Santa’s Village, which was absolutely covered up.  School still hasn’t started in this area but summer is running short and folks are taking advantage of the last few days of summer. 
As we passed the Vermont state sign, nearing Montpelier, we talked about what a great “driving day” this has been.   

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