Today was a lazy morning as our drive wasn't too long and we just wanted to have an easy day of it. We made coffee and breakfast and watched a bit of local news before stowing everything and getting set to travel. Harper and I had an early morning walk just before sunrise, the morning was glorious. One of the places we felt was a must stop was the Pet Food Warehouse, a pet store extraordinaire right in Williston proper and only about 5 miles away. This became our first stop and we shopped and found new doggie outfits and collars and leashes and food and treats...well, you get the picture. Ofter the shopping frenzy coffee was in order and we found the closest Dunkin Donuts, which had a very small tight parking lot but I muscled the Doodle into position. Harper and I waited in the Doodle while Carol went in to get coffee . . . and a toasted bagel for me. I haven't been eating too much bread these days, so a nice toasted bagel, every now and then, just hits the spot.
The morning and the miles rolled by and soon we were heading down Route 91 and decided to stop in the small town of Bellows Falls. We were thinking that we might find a local hiking trail or something scenic, or maybe even another bagel. As we drove onto the main street there was a gathering of firefighters all dressed up in their finest dress uniforms and we had the realization that we were watching the staging of a parade.
Quickly spotting a parking spot the decision was made to stop here for a while and enjoy a parade. Harper led the way as we walked down the hill to the main shopping area where towns' people were gathering. We hiked down past the falls part of Bellows Falls, and along the river and up and down the main street and were soon rewarded with the sound of drums and a marching band. We gathered ourselves, spotted a nice stone wall as the parade began.
It was the 132nd Annual Bellows Falls Fire Department's parade, with marching bands from high schools and middle schools and fire fighting equipment from many surround towns and many different eras as well. As the sound of drummers faded and the last big red truck passed by we headed back up to the Doodle and hit the road once again.
Our plan for the final evening in Vermont was to stay at another Harvest Host location, the Vermont Distillers. I had called them a few weeks prior and the voice on the other end of the line said that they had a large parking area across the street with accommodations 'for several RVs'. So that was where we were headed as we drove through the scenic countryside along Vermont Rout 9, westward from Brattleboro. This twisty and winding road was scarcely populated but from time to time we would pass through a small village. There was little traffic on the road.
Then, suddenly, and completely unexpectedly.. both sides of the road were lined with cars and the 'traffic' came to a halt. A sign on the side of the road announced that there was scenic overlook just ahead with a '100 mile view'. At the same time my GPS was telling me that 'You Have Reached Your Destination" - how could that be? Sure enough, as we crept past the overlook parking, there on the left was the Vermont Distillery, and on the right a huge parking lot as described, The lot had plenty of parking. We found a nice level spot on the edge of the lot which was out of the way and got settled in. Harper was excited to explore so we walked around checking out all of the new sights and smells.We also walked across the road to the Distillery for a tasting and ended up purchasing a nice bottle of Metcalfe's Vermont Maple Creme Liqueur, which is apparently their signature spirit. Not being much of a drinker I am not a great judge, but this liqueur tasted pretty good. We took Harper back to the Doodle and I grabbed my camera. Carol and I went back up the hill to where all the action was and to the scenic overlook where I shot many pix of the fall foliage, for 100 miles around.
We hiked further up the hill and discovered a Polish Food Truck! Carol's heritage is Polish and we both love Polish food and we quickly queued up to get some Pierogis, Golumpkies and such. As we got to the head of the line, we were told that he was out of everything we wanted but was going to head home an be back in an hour. We thanked him anyway as we didn't think we would be walking back up to the truck later. He said to wait and wrapped up a nice long Kielbasa and told us to enjoy, no charge.. gotta love Polish people. Later we had the kielbasa with supper and even Harper was Polish for a while. The evening turned chilly and we ended up with the furnace running for a while and were soon fast asleep.
