Bellows Falls

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Not all our expeditions are tremendously successful but neither are they ever a total disappointment. Yesterday’s outing to Bellows Falls would fall in this category.

It was a place we’d read about in a crime series by a local author, Archer Mayor.

Although I didn’t attend, I read that Mr Mayor gave a talk in our local, quite lovely book store and as I enjoy detective stories and like to support local talent, reading his books was the obvious thing to do.

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Before long, I’d finished the entire series which I passed on to Grant. It’s a good thing when the person you live with shares your taste in reading material!

In any event, that’s how we learned about Bellows Falls and we had talked for years of going but it was just that little bit too far.

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This past Spring visitors came from England, landing in Boston and driving. It is only a three hour journey but my friends were here for sight-seeing. Bellows Falls being about halfway, they thought to make a stop there. It was a Tuesday, but this apparently happened to be the equivalent of early closing day which was something one had to be aware of in the England of my childhood. Literally everything was closed. Additionally, we had an extremely cold, wet Spring (this was the end of May), so my friends did not get a very good impression of the place.

Maybe, in a way, this inspired us to find out how it would be on a warm, sunny not-Tuesday.

How bad can a drive through Vermont ever be?

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The problem with this drive is that it is due east, straight into the Sun. We waited until it had risen so it would not be right in our eyes which only meant that it was in our face coming home.

On a cloudy day this would matter less, but we are in another prolonged cloud-free period.

Such days are proving a challenge to me.

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Never the less, off we went.

On these “expeditions”, Grant is always the driver, I the drive-by photographer.

Now, it will not matter if no expectations are to be placed on the passenger, vis-a-vis navigation, however if said passenger is to be called upon for such advice, it is important for both parties to be on the same page. Generally, we are.

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One thing we certainly agree upon is the avoidance of main roads and thruways, however I cannot plot routes on what is non-existent. Consulting Google, it didn’t seem there were many options for this particular trip, so I hooked up the navigator to the car and we set off, I thought, toward Arlington and was a little surprised when we turned right instead of left out of Cambridge.

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The driver had is own idea of avoiding main roads which I would have factored in to the plan, if I had been informed! I am a woman with deep reserves of patience but communication with the opposite sex does sometimes try it.

After a deal of muttering, we headed vaguely in the right direction with periodic criticism of the route!

My feeling was that our destination being some 90 minutes away, we ought to follow our GPS going and meander our way home. Otherwise it could turn into a rather long outing, we agreed.

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Fall colours show earlier in Vermont and too often we have managed to miss them at their best. This year we jumped the gun, but more and more, I feel that this Fall is different.

Vermont too felt different yesterday. I am a big fan of the Green Mountain State. It sounds far-fetched, but crossing the state line, I always sense a very subtle shift in my mood.

Vermonters give the appearance of caring for their state. Things are less messy. Their roads are better, their properties seem better maintained. And there are miles and miles of steep tree-covered hills.

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But there is no getting away from severe drought.

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Beautiful, green Vermont looked exhausted, dried out.

It was unsettling.

It made me feel parched.

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Back in New York, we stopped to view the Batten Kill and I recorded a catbird:

You may need to turn up the sound to hear it.

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We can now say we’ve been to Bellows Falls. We even spent 15 minutes in New Hampshire, crossing that state line unexpectedly searching for Indian petroglyphs. We did not find them or much else, including the actual falls. We would have done better exploring on foot, but didn’t feel the need.