Category Archives: Travel

Standing on Top of Vermont (Part II)

(I apologize for the amount of photos in this post. The view was so beautiful, I need to share. Hope you don’t mind!)

(Continuation from Part I)…Why haven’t I ever heard of people getting to this point on Mount Mansfield?! Maybe because as soon as you overcome it, you’re exhausted, tired, anxious, hungry, nervous from the heights and ready to just soak in the view from the top. At least that’s what it was in my case (and it may have helped if I had pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast). I saw people go up with dogs (somehow) and they seemed fine. Maybe it was just me or maybe they had a teleportation device.. Again, “who came up with this idea anyway?!”

Low and behold (and also because I’m writing this), we made it to the top! Do I have any pictures of the rocks on the way up? Sure as hell don’t! I’ve never shook hiking. Ruffles my stomach just thinking about the steepness of the rocks mixed with the heights and my great imagination. My fear of heights is going no where. Doesn’t’ matter – we made it to the top!

The summit. Holy beautiful. The view, oh the view is awesome! Vermont, Lake Champlain, Canada, New Hampshire. You can see EVERYTHING! (The couple that we saw at the breaking point… both of them made it up as well!)

Check out this video from the summit (or almost… we started walking down and I forgot so it’s close enough!)

The summit is also the best spot to people watch….

Mr. Green Mountain Man and I are sitting at the top and here we see Mr. Extreme Mountain Runner coming from the other direction. Jogging away like it isn’t anything. He literally jogs by us, reaches the highest point and then jogs away. We were both speechless. Mr. Extreme Mountain Runner…. May I please jump on your back so you can carry me down?!

I have no idea who these people are but I really hope they come across this photo! I love it!

There was a guy and gal at the top helping to direct folks. Gal is talking to a random visitor who just hiked up and apparently they lived in the same area at some point. Convo goes something like this:

Gal: “You should come visit sometime!”
Random Guy: “Definitely, it was great meeting you.”
Gal: “Yea, bring some friends. Stay the night. You and your friends. Or just you.”
Hello proposition. Way to be bold lady!

A fairly good sized group of Middlebury College kids came up the mountain right after we did. They were smart and prepared. Did I mention all I had to eat that morning was a meal bar and we didn’t’ bring lunch? Soon, they all settled down for lunch, pulling out bags of bagels, cheese, pretzels. I kid you not, I literally asked myself how fast I thought I could run if I grabbed one of those bagels and took off in the opposite direction. My response to myself was “not far”. That would’ve been a sight to see.

Meanwhile, I was taking lots of pictures!

Looking out towards the west – Lake Champlain and New York (far side of the lake) and the Adirondacks.

View to the South. Hail Green Mountain State!

More views looking west down into the valley.

Sibiling love. He has put up with so much of me over the years. I couldn’t love him more!

He’s so photogenic, that brother of mine!
Standing on top of the world!

My signature move… the muscles!
“I came. I conquered. I’m tired.”

After we got done taking photos and checking things out with the bino’s (because we were never going up there again)… we decided to take an alternate route down. Obviously. There were a couple other ways down, one called “Profanity Way”… surprising considering I thought I just got done hiking that one. Then, we came upon one that went to the Gondola at Stowe Resort. This should be fine… we’ll hike down some rocks. I mean, it CAN’T possibly be any worse than what we just came up and then taken the Gondola down. Easy as pie, right?!… (Stay tuned for part III)

These mountains will always be my home! I love this state like no other!

An Adventure to the Top of Vermont, Part I

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Remember my post on Monday regarding my brother and I’s bonding time? Well, here is part two – we hike. (To tell the full story and provide photo’s I’ll be breaking this up in a couple different segments.)

Hiking. This seems like something my brother and I are starting to do whenever I visit and it turns into an adventure. For some reason, I gathered this CRAZY idea to hike Mount Mansfield (the highest peak in Vermont and sits around 4,300 feet above sea level). The iconic Long Trail flows thru, capturing serious and not so serious hikers along the way. This is a recap of our adventure to the top of Vermont…and probably what not to do while hiking…

Friday, September 6^th.

Mr. Green Mountains and I set off to hike. Just getting to the trail head is scenic in itself, winding through the mountains of the Notch.

We arrive at our destination, unable to see the top of what we’re about to embark. We start on what we thought was the trail. Only when we returned six hours later, we realized it really wasn’t the trail at all. When we began on “the trail”, he suggested that we jump off and take a more “direct” route to the summit. (Don’t ever do this.) Soon enough, we realized we were not going in the right direction. Traversing over tree trunks, branches, brooks, trees, lots of branches, we finally found the trail (with the help of a compass and I was with Mr. Green Mountain after all). It only took about 40 minutes. Start on the trail folks, start on the trail! (Disclaimer: I highly believe this man will never get lost in the woods in Vermont, maybe anywhere really. I trust him. Did I give him a crazy, I can’t believe I’m doing this look along the way because I’ve been thru this before? Sure did, but I’d trust him over anyone else. Especially after this ride.)

Once on the trail, we hiked up, and up, and up. Occasionally, I would stop to take pictures (or catch my breath). Living in Texas has made me forget what an “incline”. A couple hours in, the summit never seemed to come. Whenever we reached a clearing and I could see the top, it always seemed so far away. It also didn’t help seeing my brother literally running up the mountain in front of me. I could be standing still watching him and I would feel the energy just being sucked out of my body. Who is this guy?!

“When are we going to get there?”
“Who came up with this idea anyway?!”
“My legs are going to look like Tina Turner’s after this!” were phrases coming from me.

I guess I didn’t think this through. It seemed like a great idea, at the time. Little did I know this was not going to be the hardest part of my hike. It seemed as if we were just hiking straight up, these large rocks, sometimes they were like steps (or giant steps for my short legs), othertimes we were just hiking. At one point I felt like I was climbing like I just got off a horse, wide legged. I’m sure I looked really cute! On the flip side, the thing I love about hiking is the peacefulness of the woods. You feel so tiny and completely remote and the busyness of the world has disappeared. It’s the tranquility. My place of solitude.

Shortly, into our hike, he had me take a picture of him climbing up some step like looking rocks, like we were climbing straight up… ha! What a joke that became!

After a while, we were actually getting really close to the summit. We began scaling rocks, really large rocks. At one point, I said, “There’s no way that I’m going to be able to hike down this. It’s too steep and I have no idea how I even got to this point.”

Then there came a point where we had a two foot wide trail that came literally to a stop. We had the steep rocks we just climbed up behind us, a complete drop off the side of the mountain on our left and a rock wall to our right. There was no going forward.

This would be a good time to mention I have a great fear of heights…and was shaking.

Another couple comes along and he was equally as scared as I was. All four of us are sitting on the trail wondering what the hell we’re suppose to do. His girlfriend seemed calm as a clam. He and I are shaking. I look at my brother… we’re going to have to make a decision. Then it happened.

I became an intermediate rock climber without a harness…

Today I’m linking up with The Paper Mama, Jenni From the Blog, Seven Clown Circus, Photography Essentials and Communal Global for{Wordless Wednesday}.

GrapeFest 2013 – The Largest Wine Festival in the Southwest

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Disclaimer: I did receive free general admission tickets in return for this post. All opinions are my own.

In the past, I’ve been a huge fan of the events in Gvine, Texas but this one has got to be my number one favorite! GrapeFest is an annual festival that exemplifies the wine industry in this area. Whether you are looking for a family friendly, couples getaway, girls weekend or even if you live in the area, this is a great event to check out!

Obviously, this event is for wine lovers (hence “GrapeFest”) but it incorporates so much more! An amusement park for the kids, live music, beer tent, champagne tent, an immense amount of food, vendors, unique stores and restaurants and it is situated right down Main Street in one of my favorite towns in the country. (To provide perspective, have you ever seen those Hallmark movies where it seems like these people are from the coziest, small town ever where everyone is incredibly nice and you think to yourself, “I want to go there!”… this is how I describe Grapevine!)

Throughout GrapeFest, magnifying glasses were placed on street lights. This was actually a scavenger hunt for the festival! If you completed the hunt (via cell phones), you would be entered to win a prize after GrapeFest. Pretty fun! You can also see the (people) traffic at the festival Saturday afternoon. Perfect weather and just the right amount of folks! It was amazing!

PicMonkey Collage5

GrapeFest also had a ton of exhibits going on throughout town. One of my favorite and most interesting spots to check out is Vetro. This is a glass blowing studio where they make a ton of beautiful art pieces. They held an open house where visitors could walk in and check out their craft. Pretty interesting!

The Wine!

As mentioned, Grapevine is known for being a wine destination. With a ton of different wineries and tasting rooms situated throughout town, you will have a difficult time running out of options!

GrapeFest hosted a free bus for wine tours to three different. Amy and I took this option up as one of our “must’s” for the day. Cross Timbers Winery was our first stop (below). What was even more interesting is that this winery is located at a historical site in town and is also apparently haunted. Mixing all things into one!

Although there are wine tasting options set up throughout the festival, the real tasting happens at the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic. I later referred to this as “Speed Dating with Wine”…. and it was the greatest event ever!

If coming to GrapeFest, this is an absolute must! For an additional $20, be sure to put the ultimate wine tent on your to do list! With various hour and a half time slots set up throughout the weekend, your mission is to explore various wines from throughout the state. You will be given a commemorative glass and a booklet describing the wines available from the wineries (each set up at a different booth). At the end of your time slot, fill out a form and select your favorite wines from throughout the day!

A list of the winners can be found, here.

At first, I was a little discouraged that I had an allotted schedule of time to try out what was available but it’s really a smart move. There’s plenty of time. Amy and I (arrived a little late) but ended up trying 60 wines in about an hour and fifteen minutes (30 each, we tried each others). The lines move quickly and it’s a great experience chatting with those around you to compare what you liked best!

Next up, was a little old fashion grape stomping! (Yes, we moved from the wine tent to the grape stomp contest!) We learned there is a trick to this, but I’m not going to share it considering – what fun would that be?! It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a video of ourselves doing this but it was a lot of fun! Be sure to sign up early, it’s a popular event!

The festival proceeds well into the evening, where the crowds pick up and things really get interesting. With five different stages set up throughout the entire day, entertainment is always plentiful. The headlining band on Saturday was Le Freak, a local cover band who really captured the crowd!

GrapeFest is an incredible festival for all ages and groups of folks. There’s so many events that go on throughout the weekend, I didn’t come close to listing them all (so be sure to check out their website)! This was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had at a festival. If you have an opportunity to check out the event, I highly suggest it. You can’t go wrong!

Have you ever attended GrapeFest? I’d love to hear what you thought of the event!