Today started out like all the other days this week. I checked the sky when I woke up, saw the dark brooding clouds, and went back to bed. We didn't get up until 10:30 and finally left the motel about 11:30. We decided it would be a tourist day as we headed for Ben & Jerry's and Stowe. Even on a cool, cloudy day, the parking lots were full and we parked out on the north 40. We only had to wait 50 minutes for our tour. The sad thing was that they weren't actually making ice cream on the weekend. We could only see where it was made.
By the time we left the tour, the sky was starting to lighten up and we could see some blue spots to
the west. We decided to drive through Stowe and head for the
Old Red Mill
in Jericho.
It is a very popular landmark and frequently
photographed. The sun peeked through just as we arrived, so we
were able to get some good shots. The scary part was standing
on the highway bridge to get the shot. We were only about a foot
from the lane of traffic. It definitely helped to speed up the shooting.
The interesting thing about the Old
Red Mill is that they had a mini-museum of Wilson
Bentley's works. He was an amateur naturalist
in the early 1900's who had an intense interest
in photographing snowflakes. He was known as "The
Snowflake Man." He rigged up a setup to take
photomicrographs of snowflakes that he captured.
He is the person who said that there are no two
identical snowflakes. They are all naturally six-sided
but never identical. Even with his primitive equipment,
he had some amazing images as he photographed over 5,000 snowflakes.
The sun was going in and out of the clouds, so we decided to drive some of the back roads in hopes of finding a farm to use as a foreground object in front of Mt. Mansfield. We had no luck at all. The frustrating thing about this trip is that we have found mountainsides covered with colorful maples and alders. Without sunlight and blue skies, they look subdued and drab. We can see the potential, but have no photographs that capture what the beauty could be.
On our way back through Stowe, we saw a church steeple rising up through the trees just before sunset.
We made a quick turnaround and found a parking lot where we could shoot the church. We only had a few minutes of light, but managed to get a few quick shots.
Then the light was gone.
Tonight was our third straight night at the Wayside Restaurant near our motel. The motel owners recommended it, and we've had good food every night. They have specials every night; one of which usually has Vermont maple syrup in it. The first night, Carol had maple apple salmon that was fabulous. Last night, I had apple maple pork loin. It was amazing. Tonight, I ordered from the regular menu, and it was just ok. It will be interesting to see what they have tomorrow night.
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