Beautiful! Gorgeous! Wish you were here!

Yesterday I went on the most beautiful drive of my life. For those of you who have followed my blog for the past few months, you'll know that this is saying a lot as I have traveled many miles of landscape. What made this drive so perfect was that it was an unexpected treat. One of my Seattle friends was visiting family in Brattleboro, VT so I made the two hour drive over to see him! I left Albany expecting a typical drive along a highway, hoping that there wouldn't be a lot of stressful, morning traffic. As I made my way along the NY-7 E, I began a drive that makes you feel lucky, special, as if you were let in on a secret. I had seen the books and pictures of the amazing fall foliage of New England but it is something to be witnessed! The drive continues through NY for about an hour and then you head into Vermont, winding through part of the Green Mountain National Park along the VT-9. It's a drive so serenely beautiful that it should be experienced without concern for cars passing you, without news radio reporting on our economic woes, and definitely without cell phone conversations. Instead, put on your favorite music and take in the Northeast Fall.


After I got into Vermont, I met up with Dan and he gave me a tour of Brattleboro. Brattleboro is a very small town but offers unique charm with fun shops, coffee houses, and bakeries. After enjoying some coffee at Mocha Joes, Dan took me out for an authentic Vermont experience- APPLE PICKING! Vermont offers a lot of varieties of apples but we stuck to Dan's favorite: the Mcintosh. We had a great time walking through the orchard and even said hello to the farm animals including a reindeer! It was a fabulous afternoon and nice to get away from some of the noise our country has been facing the past few weeks. Now the real question/challenge- do I dare make apple pie?!?