Vermont Adventures with Green Mountain Man

Last month, I traveled back home to Vermont for a few days to catch up with family, friends and spend some quality time with my favorite person, my niece. Each time I go home, I spend some quality time with my brother doing something outdoor oriented, sometimes shooting guns (attempting to hit a target), canoeing, snowshoeing or going for a drive. This time around, we went canoeing and fishing and hiking.

Canoeing and Fishing

Vermont is beautiful. The mountains are rich and you will find tons of lakes and ponds tucked around, just waiting to be explored. We came across a few of them, in desolate areas. I swear, my brother knows every nook and cranny in Vermont. The man doesn’t get lost.

Needless to say, we didn’t catch any fish, on a lake that is. We ended up catching a few trout in a brook that we went to later. I did get my legs extremely sun burnt. The views were amazing. My rowing skills were not. The oars were taken away, apparently there was too much laughing and not enough “straight” rowing. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Hiking

I should’ve learned my lesson snowshoeing. Vermont had a ton of snow this winter, I think the most they’ve seen in a few years so it wasn’t surprising that there were still a few snowpatches at the top of the mountain where we went to hike. We started off on the northern most part of the Long Trail in Richford, Vermont. The thing is, when you hike with my brother, you may start off on a trail but I guarantee that you won’t stay on it. You will eventually come back onto the trail but again, you may not end on it. We started on the trail, went off the train, came back on only to get back off, found it again and eventually cut through the woods to get back to the main road to where we parked the truck. Again – the man doesn’t get lost.

Tons of moose trackings and rubbings on the trees, and a few views peaking out of the trees. As exhausting as it was to hike with someone who seems to still have energy to run up the mountain after hiking for three hours, it was well worth it!

Volkswagen Car Rally

While I was visiting Fredericksburg in April, there happened to be a Volkswagen convention in town. There’s literally a different event every weekend year round in Fredericksburg. (Check out their calendar. It’s packed!) It was like walking into the 1970’s seeing all these cars. I think the best way to describe this is to let the photo’s speak for themselves. There were one to two hundred cars around, a great variety.

Here ya go!

Growing up, I use to want a bug – I thought they were so cute. Now, if I had to pick I’d go for the Thing.

This dune buggy – I’d love to take for an off road drive!

I have no idea what this is (below), but it really reminds me of the Bat-mobile.

Texas Tuesday link up with Amanda from Princess of the Panhandle and Crystal from Masons Mama. This is a chance for any blogger to participate in a post on the greatness of Texas! There’s so much to explore!

Blog Everyday In May: Vivid Memories

Today, I’m joining up with Story of My Life.

Today’s question: Day 31, Friday: A vivid memory

I have a few vivid memories from when I was a child – going back to I guess before I was three.

I remember sitting on my great Memere’s lap (she was bouncing me on her lap) sitting outside my grandparents barn.

I remember sitting in my grandparents sugarhouse.

I remember walking in my grandparents barn with the cows.

 

This is probably the most vivid, because it was probably the most traumatic (for a little one). My grandparents use to own a farm and would partake in maple sugaring in the spring (it’s Vermont, I think most farmers did/do). I remember being in the woods collecting sap from the buckets (they used the tin buckets back then on the trees). They (my uncle, mom and I think my pepere) were collecting the sap. They would take the sap from the buckets and dump it into a tank on this wagon (I’m presuming being pulled by a tractor). Well, the tractor took off and I either fell off the wagon or was already off the wagon. I remember seeing them start moving away and I just started screaming and my uncle came and picked me up and brought me back.

Aww, how sweet the uncle is you might be thinking… I also remember him making me kiss the fish when he’d take me fishing.

What’s some of your earliest memories?

Have a great weekend!