Dot's Restaurant in Wilmington, VT

On the day after Thanksgiving Paul and I took a ride to Wilmington, Vermont and went to Dot's Restaurant.

Dot's was destroyed in Hurricane Irene in August 2011.  They had to totally rebuild and finally opened again in December 2013.

This was the  first time that we had been there since their re-opening.  The food was as good as we remembered!

In reference to a previous post of a covered bridge in Vermont

***  UPDATE  -  Saturday 6-28-2014  ***********************************************

As promised, we took a picture from roughly the same vantage point. Dense vegetation made it impossible to take it from the exact same place. Paul had to actually walk quite a way out on the existing railroad bridge to take the shot. In both pictures, you can see the existing railroad bridge in the lower right corner. You can see the obsolete abutments for the covered bridge and the long gone railroad bridge on the other side of the river. The abutment for the railroad bridge is taller and partly covered with greenery. The bridge in the modern picture with the car on it is altogether new.

***  UPDATE  *********************************************************

We kayaked around this area and made new discoveries.  We talked to the owner of the canoe/kayak rental place that occupies the north side of the West River there.  He actually owns the obsolete abutments on that side of the West River. He was quick to realize that the postcard picture was taken from the south side of the West River. We had assumed that it was taken from the north side because the railroad bridge was on the left.  The bridge in the postcard picture was actually the long gone West River Railroad bridge. You can see the taller West River Railroad bridge abutments right next to the covered bridge abutments.

The picture was probably taken from the south side of the existing railroad bridge which also existed at the time of the picture (someone may have called this the Boston and Maine Railroad bridge ?). You can see what is probably part of the abutment for this bridge that still exists in the lower right hand corner of the postcard picture.  We plan to take a picture from the same vantage point and publish it with the postcard picture. Stay tuned.

Paul and Debbie 6-22-2014

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Back on August 17, 2010, I wrote this post called Covered Bridge.  I was comparing a postcard from the 1920's that was in my grandmother's photo album, to a modern day covered bridge, Creamery bridge in Brattleboro, VT.  I assumed that they were the same bridge because the Creamery bridge is very close to where my grandparents lived in Brattleboro when my Aunt Dot was born.

Someone named Phil B left a comment on my blog pointing out that the pictures were two different bridges.  Ever since then I have been wanting to find the correct bridge in the postcard.  Whenever I thought about it when we were in Brattleboro, I either didn't have the postcard with me, or I didn't feel like trying to find it on my blog.  A few days ago Paul and I took a ride to Vermont and we looked for that bridge.  Paul is really good about finding places.  The postcard said that it was over the West River in Brattleboro, so using a map, he found the bridge.

This is the postcard ~

This is what the new bridge looks like today.  It is called the Vermont Veterans Memorial Bridge (Rt 5) ~

We found the railroad bridge over the West River and walked down to the bank and found, in between the new bridge and the railroad bridge, what we think are most likely the concrete abutments of the covered bridge.  This is where the West River empties into the Connecticut River.

I love doing things like this, finding remnants of what used to be old things.  

I wish I knew how to contact Phil B to say thank you for pointing that out and also to show him that I found the correct bridge!

Monday.... Ride to Vermont

Today, being Monday and Paul's day off, we took a ride to Bellows Falls to go to the scrapbook store and Fat Frank's. On the way home, we stopped at the Grafton Cheese store for their 4 Star (four year old) cheese ends. Here, Paul is looking through the ends for the 4 Star. If you like sharp cheddar cheese, the 4 Star Grafton cheese is the BEST!

Another Post Office - Westminster Station, VT.



Also, Places That Are No More - Friendly's in Greenfield.


I really hate it that Friendly's is closing some of their stores!

First day of "retirement" - ride to Vermont

I have decided that each day, for the first year of my "retirement",  I am going to take a picture of something that went on that day.

We were heading into our third day of no electricity/no heat and it was 48 degrees in our house this morning. Luckily it was Paul's day off and around noontime we headed out for a ride to Vermont. It was so good to get warm in the car.

The picture above is at the Vermont Visitor's Center. I can't tell you how nice it was to sit in the sun room there, sip on coffee, and look at our computers (ha!). The sun and the warmth was almost overwhelming. The old saying, you don't appreciate something until you don't have it, is so true.

We took our usual ride through Southern Vermont. They have had their own problems. There is still a lot of evidence of the storm that went through their state.

This picture shows some of the erosion along a little river that runs through Bennington.



They have come a long way since the last time we were there, though.

We stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home, mostly because I couldn't stand the thought of coming home to a dark, cold house again. What a surprise it was when we got home about 10 pm to find the electricity back on. I was told that it came on about 8 pm. I was so excited; I just can't tell you. I was like a little kid. Still no phone or cable but I didn't care. It was warm in the house.

We were the first in my family to get power. Kris and Toby, Mark and Janelle, and Big Baba are still out. I will probably have a houseful tomorrow, and that's okay!

p.s. I am WAY behind in my blogs. I have about 12 or so to catch up with, but I wanted to start posting my picture a day "retirement" blogs. So....if you have the time, keep checking for older dates as now that I have "more time" I will be catching up.

Ride through Southern Vermont

Today was such a gift. The weather was perfect, sunny, high 60's. We were able to drive with the windows open which is one of my most favorite things.


We headed to Vermont, stopping in Putney at Harlow's for more Honey Crisps.









Then to Fat Franks in Bellows Falls (again).




We went to some different parts of Vermont today and ended up taking a huge loop through Southern Vermont. It seems Vermont is our comfort zone for a day off when we are too tired to try something new.

This is a lookout point at Hogback Mountain.





Vermont is still recuperating from Hurricane Irene. The fall foliage season is big for them.


***A couple more post offices

Westminster, VT


Chester, VT


What a nice day; as I said, a gift.

Ride to Wilmington VT

We probably should have stayed home today. We have a lot of things that we need to work on.....but since yesterday was my birthday we decided that we would take another ride and just relax. The calm before the storm so to speak. We headed up to another part of Vermont. The leaves are really starting to turn up in what I call the "high country" (Rt. 9 across southern Vermont).



I was not prepared for what we saw in Wilmington. We have seen a lot of flood damage on our last few rides to Vermont, but what we saw today was the worst, because the whole main street of this town was devastated. We have been to Wilmington many times and know the town well. Dot's restaurant has been a haunt of ours. It sits right next to the river. It was flooded along with the rest of the street.












Here are some pictures of the rest of the main street.











This weekend they were having "Floodstock" at a farm nearby to benefit the town.



Again, I was amazed at the force of water.

It's going to take parts of Vermont a long time to clean up and recover. They have had to rebuild a lot of their roads. It's amazing how much they have done in a month.

***Another Post Office - Wilmington, VT

Ride to Putney, Bellows Falls, and Grafton, VT

Today we took a ride to Vermont. We headed up to Bellows Falls, stopping on the way at Harlow's apple orchard in Putney, VT. I was hoping that they had some Honey Crisps. They are by far my favorite apple. I discovered them here at Harlow's a few years ago. They had them and they were delicious.






Paul reminded me that this was the reason I started my blog, him throwing his apple out my closed window.


After lunch at Fat Franks (one of Paul's favorite hot dog places) and a stop at the scrapbook store in Bellows Falls we headed home on Rt 121 through Saxtons River. That town had so much flooding damage. You can still see where the river rose.

This covered bridge is lucky to be still standing.





So much water damage along this route, roads washed out, trees on the river bank pushed over, homes destroyed. It was just amazing. They have already done at lot of cleanup.

This is just up the road from the Grafton Cheese factory. I saw a video on YouTube about the flooding in Grafton. This is where we have picnics after getting cheese.






This is what it used to look like.





The cheese factory had a raging river right around it. Luckily the covered bridge right next door was alright.

It's just amazing how forceful water can be.


***Some more Post Offices

Feeding Hills, MA


Saxton's River, VT


Townsend, VT

High country Vermont

Paul and I took a ride to Vermont today. It was a beautiful day, cool but bright sunshine. We took a ride up to what I call the high country (elevation somewhere around 2300 ft). The last time we were there was in November during an ice storm. Today those hills that were so treacherous then were hardly noticeable today. The picture above is from Hogback Mt. The view there is incredible on a clear day.


This next picture is of Harriman Reservoir. It is starting to melt and turn into ice chunks. Very weird.








As we were driving I noticed a pink hue on the trees. I realized that this was because the trees were starting to bud. This was the first sign of Spring that I have seen so far. What a welcome sight.