Bolton Valley

Except for the Nor'easter, we've had pretty great weather this fall. It's definitely colder than fall in Virginia - but mid-50s don't feel too bad! Today it's 68 degrees and I'm actually feeling a little bit hot - I already put down all our storm windows!

We're done lots of hiking recently so I'm working on a few posts for you - here's the first!

A few weeks ago we hiked up to the top of Bolton Valley. This resort is only about 25 minutes from our house and is where we purchased ski passes for this winter. Matt likes to "check out the terrain" before winter comes so this was an exploration mission :)

The road leading up to the resort had some beautiful color....



We hiked up the access road...





Which was a little steep...



But it didn't seem to bother Willow much!



We climbed to the top of the highest lift.





And checked out the trail map....



The views were amazing!







I know the next time we're in that same spot it will be MUCH colder and MUCH whiter - hopefully!

I'll be back soon....

Fall

Dear Fall,

Please stick around for another couple of weeks. I'm not ready for the cold, bleak winter and I'd really like my friend Lizzie to see how beautiful you are when she visits next weekend. Especially because my camera isn't good enough to really capture it.

xoxo

P.S. Don't worry, I wasn't the one driving when I took most of these pictures.

Nor'easter

SO we survived our first Nor'easter. WOW. We had strong wind and driving rain from Thursday night until Saturday morning. 60 mph gusts out near the lake house. Good thing the dock was out or we would have been diving in Lake Champlain looking for missing wood panels. I bet these boat owners wish they had taken it out of the water....

Most people hunker down and ride out these storms inside. Unfortunately for us, we have a young and energetic dog that doesn't know or care about Nor'easters. Friday afternoon you would have found me and Willow at the dog park, with me trying to keep my umbrella from turning inside out, feeling a little like the man below. I was miserable. She didn't seem to notice.

Courtesy of the Washington Post

We did venture out Friday night as well for dinner with some new friends. After dinner we walked next door where an unusual bluegrass band was playing. I wish I had a tape of them....They covered songs from Justin Beiber to Journey, giving them a bluegrass twist, all while wearing karate outfits. Very entertaining.

The Nor'easter brought mostly rain to the valley, but snow to the mountains. Matt, of course, was ecstatic. He couldn't wait for the skies to clear up so we could hike on Sunday. We drove to Lincoln, VT to hike Mt. Abraham (one of only a few VT peaks above 4,000 feet). We hoped there would be a little bit of snow up top (so we brought a few extra layers) and Matt could hardly wait!

Here was our view on the way down...Beautiful fall!



The hike started out pretty nice too.



After a few minutes, we started seeing a little snow. Snow + mud made me glad I decided to wear my hiking shoes rather than my running ones.





After the first mile, things looked like this. I started to worry that maybe we weren't prepared enough...



We quickly reached snow like this that only got deeper as we made our way toward the top! As Matt says, it was "full-on winter" up there. I knew at that point that we really were unprepared. We really could have used crampons, hiking poles, and waterproof pants.



It was pretty fun to see this kind of weather and Willow LOVES the snow, so we had a good time hiking up. Check out the great conditions at the top. You can't read the sign but it says "Mt. Abraham - 4,006 feet." Do I look cold yet?



Coming down went well about 2/3 of the way. The rocks were a little slippery and, as I told you, I fall at least once so it wasn't unusual that I lost my footing a few times. It's not usually a big deal, but on this hike the first fall caked my pants and thin cotton mittens in mud so Matt had to listen to some pouting the rest of the way. I wish now that I had a picture of that but I was in no mood at the time. Oops! I apologized to him later :)

As much as I like winter, it was really nice to come back to the sunny fall at the bottom! Hope you had a good weekend. Happy Monday!

Decorating for fall....

I still have so many foliage/hiking pics to share but thought I'd get to the fall decorating around here first :) I LOVE Vermont in the fall. I've never visited past September and it is just so fun to be here right now!

Towns do things like this....



Everywhere you turn, you run into a scarecrow! Matt thinks they're creepy but I like them...



Check out the cute bride and groom in front of a local church.



I love the way these homeowners use so many pumpkins! They're my favorite fall/Halloween decoration :)



Speaking of pumpkins...here is where I bought mine this year.

I spent about $10 here...



My mom bought some for the lake there as well.



I spent about $5 more here...





And now they are sitting happily on my porch and bookshelves.





Here are some close-ups of those and other decorations. Sorry for the bad picture quality...I'm still working on my photography skills!







Did you notice the painted pumpkins? Yes I'm very crafty. I saw something similar in Country Living last month and had to try it. It's a lot harder than it looks! I think they turned out OK...I especially like my haunted house. It even has a scary stem.







This one is dangerous...



Willow watched me with an eagle eye the entire time I was arranging outside...



That's it for now! I'll be back with more but I'll leave you with another foliage preview. BEAUTIFUL!

It's nice to come home...

As fun as it is visiting with old friends...it feels nice to come home! Especially when the views look like this.