Sunday in Vermont

We're home now, but I'm still trying to catch up from the trip. We took so many beautiful pictures and just really wanted to share them, so I'm posting more now. The first picture is actually from Saturday night when we went out to the terrific McGrath's Irish Pub at the Inn at Long Trail in Killington, Vermont. Just up the hill from the famous Long Trail Brewery, and just down the hill a few feet from the Appalachian Trail and Long Trail. Back when Jim walked the trail, he got overheated and dehydrated near here and had to spend a day drinking Guinness to rehydrate. Tough job, but he had to do it. On Saturday night, we ended up our travels in the Pub and spent a few fun hours listening to Donal O'Shaughnessy, amazing Irish singer and joke teller. What a great night in an amazing place. This whole building is tucked so close into the mountain that parts of it come into the dining room and bar, with one whole wall of each room made up of the living rock of the mountain. Another rock forms a seat in the bar for casual comfy seating. It was a terrific time with great friends.

In the morning, we were off again to see more amazing sights. Our goal this day was to find a trail that Jim could take off and hike by himself to work out his kinks from sitting so much. On the way there, we saw more small streams and camping places, and swampy spots where there should have been at least one moose, but never was. While Jim was hiking, John, Lora and I found a gorgeous long overview with several mountain ranges marching away into the blue distance, and talked with a nice couple visiting there from Ohio. Then we came across a mysterious, beautiful place with several paths that explored different faiths. While walking there, we found a labyrinth! I'd always been intrigued by these very special walking paths, so plunged right in to walk the curving trails to the center of it. Once we got there, we found this nice little basket, where others had left little tokens of their walk. We needed to leave something, and finally found that perfect yellow leaf to drop in. Notice the little golden Buddha, and all the other little trinkets there. What a neat place.
We ended that amazing day back at the riverside property with a big fire and a picnic of hotdogs and goodies. The picture I'm placing for that shows John, proud landowner of this beautiful place, Lora, relaxing, with her eye on her beloved river, and Jim, poking at the fire. What a great, quiet night to just sit and listen to the river chuckle in its bed as it rushed by us. As you listened to it, you could hear so many levels of sound: the base note of the big rocks slowly moving against each other, mid tones of large waves flowing over the rocks, and the high, almost giggling sounds of the smaller splashes. Constant variety and always fascinating.