Day-5 Sep-9-09

Today we continued our tour through the southern area of the Green Mountains of Vermont. We covered 221 miles, traveling over mostly back roads, with a fair amount of twisty mountain terrain.

As I mentioned before, the scenery around here is great, and the back roads are a treat to ride. The only issue I have, is the number of roads in pretty tough condition. I am sure it is due to the snow and salt usage, just like our roads at home.

Here is a nice shot on one of the back roads, meandering through some farm land at the foothills of the mountains.

We saw a number of covered bridges today, and even crossed one on our route.

There are a lot of ski areas in Vermont. Today we drove through the Stratton Mountain ski area. This place appears to be rather upscale, and the condos near the base look pretty new. Reminds me of the more upscale ski resorts out west, like Vail and Beaver Creek.

We have ridden through a lot of little towns throughout this area. Some of them are really picturesque, just how you imagine a little New England town might look. Other towns are... well... not as nice. Here is a shot of a fixer upper in one of the towns (even the car out front is a fixer upper). The garage (I think that is a garage), appears to be a total loss :)

You also see a lot of places like the picture below. This guy has everything you might need, right there in his front yard. A tractor, a trailer, an old car, even looks like an old snowmobile on a trailer. Looks like the stuff never moves, he just mows around it all (at least he mows).

Tomorrow we start heading north. We will end up in Burlington Vermont, after traveling through places like Stowe, and Smuggler Notch. We are planning to stop and take a tour of the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. Green Mountain Coffee Growers is also nearby but they do not appear to offer any type of tours. Hopefully, the weather will continue to hold out and stay dry.