When we woke up today we found there was finally no road workers in place out the front of the hotel and I was pleased Kerry had a great nights sleep. This hotel has been a great place to stay in Burlington, but today it is time to move on and we are traversing Route 100 south along the Mad River Valley which is a famous Vermont Scenic Byway, and yes the Mad River is the correct name !
First stop was the village of Wakefield to see the covered bridge where they have a live webcam we have been watching on You Tube for the last 5 years as the seasons roll by seeing the fall colours of the trees, the snow arriving, the river freezing and then the river melting where a cascade of ice flows down the river and then spring brings the trees and flowers to life. Its like a live Thomas Kincade view if youve ever seen one of his paintings.
There were two options of getting here and I chose to avoid the i89 and use backroads and then after 15 minutes I realised I only had a quarter
tank of fuel so I asked google maps to find me a nearby gas station and once I started refuelling it stopped again after only 4 gallons (why does this keep happening ?) and then we drove past a Dicks Sporting Goods warehouse at a town called Williston. It was just after opening time so Kerry encouraged me to stop and go inside looking for some more DSG socks as the six pack I bought at Phoenix on day 2 are now a bit discoloured as weve not been able to separate whites / darks when washing and one of my new blue might have run a little !
The price was posted as $9.99 but was also showing as $20.00 on the actual labelling and it turned out $9.99 was the correct price (this was even cheaper than I had paid in Phoenix). When I went to pay we were being served after a man in camouflage outfit who was with his son who was also in camouflage gear. The check out guy told us he had just spent $290- on new camouflage gear so I hope he finds what he is after !
Once we left DSG I was back on track for our route and I managed to find a covered bridge as planned but I had actually found the wrong covered bridge, but soon I found the right bridge and went to park the car at a nearby gas station for a visit to the restrooms and maybe get something for lunch but I found wine instead of lunch as you do. In fact the owner convinced me to by this Australian wine for $9.99 that his wine buyer had recently called Kings of Prohibition. What could I say ?
We then walked down to the covered bridge to grab some photos and had lunch at The Sweet Spot by the river watching some guys doing fly fishing and I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich with copper, cheddar and romano cheeses (delightful). Kerry had the soup which was tomato, onion, garlic, heavy cream, hot pepper flakes with salt and pepper. After we ate I told them I would like to give them some feedback and the look on the face of this guy was amazing as he thought he was in some trouble until he
heard me say we have been travelling across america now for over 4 weeks and that was the best meal we have had yet. Its not often I say enough nice things to make someones day better but Im trying.
We then kept going on the drive and we stopped at a couple of waterfalls at Warren and then Moss Glen. The weather was threatening to rain but still dry. We were listening to a Vermont country music channel (89.1 MHz I recall) and they were playing some good music and gave constant warnings about heavy tonight. Later we arrived in Manchester to visit Hildene House which was the home of Abraham Lincolns son Robert (home was built around 1905). It was beautifully restored and has on display his fathers famous top hat he was wearing when he was assassinated in 1865 and we also saw an old train carriage beautifully restored as he was the chairman of the until his death. It was amazing to see how the rich and famous travelled in such luxury back in the day.
