Friday, January 27, 2023

A Day in My Life - Day 26 @RRBC_Org 2023 #RRBC 30-Day #Blogging Challenge @YvetteMCalleiro #ADayInMyLife #RWISA @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #travel #RoadTrip #Vermont #hiking #waterfalls #Fallseason #mindfulness #poetry


Hello, beautiful readers! Today is Day 26 of the #RRBC 30-Day Blogging Challenge. Yesterday, in addition to writing my blog, I also wrote a poem for the #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge. Colleen Chesebro gave us a painting and asked us to write a poem inspired by it. My mind hooked onto one part of that painting, so I focused only on that. If you'd like to read my poem, you can find it here.

My morning routine was the same until I got to work. Today, I had a Zoom workshop on mindfulness to assist me in my role as the Mindfulness Champion for my school. We completed a body scan which was so relaxing and then discussed ways to bring mindfulness into our classrooms to help our students become more aware of their present moments and how to pay attention to their lives with kindness and curiosity. My school is starting a mental health club, and we are hoping to incorporate mindfulness to encourage students to become more mindful and to learn ways to manage their stress.

After lunch, it was back to teaching as usual. I came home and worked out. Then, I used my sauna, took a shower, had dinner, and caught up on commenting and reading other authors' blogs.

I have one more road trip to share with you. That's correct! By this point, we had gone through 48 of the 50 states. This next trip focused on Vermont. On our road trip to Maine, we had somehow missed driving through Vermont. It turned out to be a blessing because we had to plan a trip to go see it, and what better time to visit Vermont than in the Fall! Living in Florida and always traveling in the summer, my son never had the opportunity to see the changing of leaves in the Fall season, so we planned a weekend trip for him to experience that.

My son has had perfect attendance since pre-K. So, I wasn't about to let him miss a day for a trip. Luckily, students are given full attendance if they are in school for at least two hours. Originally, I had our flight departure planned for 11 am.  Unfortunately, it was the same weekend where a hurricane was going through the state of our connecting flight, so I had to rearrange our flights to get a connecting flight in a different state. 

Because of this change, my son got in a bit over three hours into the school day before I picked him up to get ready for our trip. Because of the new connections, we didn't arrive in Vermont until after 11 pm and then had to drive to our destination about 45 minutes away (In pitch darkness. They don't have street lights on the highway. What!). Had the hurricane not disrupted our plans, we would have arrived around 6 p.m. and would have been able to explore a bit. Instead, we got to our hotel around midnight, but we were there and had every intention of making the best of it.

It's hard to plan a trip to see the changing of the leaves. One week, it can be all green and some yellow, and a week later, it can be all reds and browns. We used the Fall Foilage Map & Nationwide Peak Leaf Forecast site to pick our weekend. We were between two weekends, but one of those Fridays had a football game that my son did not want to miss, so we picked the first weekend. The leaves were still more on the green and yellow side, but there were pops of color everywhere. My son loved it!


Since we arrived very late on Friday, we took full advantage of Saturday. After breakfast, we drove to Underhill State Park in Mt. Mansfield State Forest to do some hiking. We completed the Sunset Ridge as well as a bit more. It was quite chilly for us, so we had jackets with us, but the skies were amazing! We hiked past streams and climbed rocks. We were in our element! The hike was so worth it because at the top, we saw miles and miles of beautiful foliage.



We drove a bit of State Road 100 and Route 108 and took in the scenery. 


We stopped at Bingham Falls at Smugglers Notch State Park and hiked to see that waterfall. 

 

Then, we went to Moss Glen Falls to see another waterfall. We climbed a hill and saw it from a distance. My son saw some people below so we backtracked until we saw a trail which led to a stream with boulders running through it. Yep, you guessed it! The only way to the waterfall was across those boulders. 

My son said, "Come on, mom! You've got this!" So I pulled up my big girl panties and followed his every step across that stream. I almost fell in once, but I caught myself just in time. I am so glad I did because the place was breathtakingly beautiful and the energy was incredible! In total, we hiked almost 8 miles on Saturday. We made the most of every minute.

 

On Sunday, we had a little bit of time to spare before our flight home. We went to the original Ben & Jerry's factory. They were closed, but we still took some fun pictures there.


Then, we went to ECHO, the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. We walked along the lake and enjoyed the beautiful day. Then, we went inside ECHO and enjoyed science for a bit. Soon enough, it was time to come home.


 


It was the shortest "road trip" we have ever taken, but we enjoyed it to the fullest! Now, my son has only one state left, and that will happen this summer! (Vermont was actually my 50th state, so I have seen every state now.) I'll share more on next trip later. ;-)

Have you ever been to Vermont? Do you enjoy the Fall season? I'd love to hear about it.

17 comments:

  1. Hi Yvette! I used to live in upstate NY and I've been to Vermont in the autumn - it's simply breathtaking! We also used to go apple picking, those are great memories - and these are beautiful memories for you and your son as well! : )

    Best wishes,
    Donna M. Atwood
    D.M. Atwood
    https://www.dmatwood.com

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    1. I would have loved to go apple picking, Donna! Maybe one day I'll find myself going on another Fall trip. Thanks for the idea! :-)

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  2. Hi Yvette--It's Wanda. I still live in upstate NY (Donna used to live in the very same town as I live in now!) and have traveled through Vermont many times. My kids went to college in New Hampshire, and I had to drive through Vermont to get there. My son lives in New Hampshire, and we have to drive through Vermont. He drives on the highway to get home; I drive through the mountains because I like the scenery. You went all the way through the state to the very north, to Lake Champlain. Bernie Sanders country! He was the mayor of Burlington before he was a US Senator. A lot of people who live in Vermont listen to my radio show, too. Very hearty people live there. And it's a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing these photos.

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    1. That's very cool, Wanda! We stayed in Stowe but flew in and out of Burlington. That area is just beautiful! Everyone we met was kind and friendly. It's a nice place to visit. Thanks for sharing! :-)

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  3. Yvette, we have been to Vermont many times, as well as New Hampshire and Maine, and always loved it. We were in Burlington, Stowe, and many others. I'm glad your son got to see fall foliage! I think that's nature's way of compensating we Yankees for the cold (lol, just kidding, I love the cold!)

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    1. That area is just beautiful, but you can keep all that cold weather. I'll come just to visit. ;-) Thanks for sharing, Maura Beth! :-)

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    2. It's funny, Yvette, how people vary in their tolerance to weather. I am the opposite from you, I get uncomfortable when it's over 80° and feel I should take to my bed with a cold compress on my head! I actually dread the midsummer months. When I smell autumn in the air, I perk up. Its a good thing we live where we do, huh? My best friend moved to Florida but still misses fall leaves. She loves it there, though, and the tropical beauty of your State.

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  4. Hi, Yvette,
    I have never been to Vermont, but I had a 2nd Lt. that came from there. He loved his state. I know that it gets exremely cold there and the summer months are not so long according to my former 2nd Lt. So, I don't think I will be living there.
    Very nice pictures.
    Shalom aleichem

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    1. Like you, Pat, you will never see me living there. I don't handle the cold well, but I did love the environment and the people. It's a nice place to visit. Thanks for stopping by! :-)

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  5. Hi, again,
    I forgot to put my URL and name in.
    The post marked Anonymous under Maura Beth's is mine.
    Shalom aleichem

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  6. Hi, Yvette! What beautiful photos! I've been to Vermont, but only briefly. We had the full foliage experience in Pennsylvania, and we'd pick apples every Autumn. Loved the cider and cider donuts at the apple orchards. Fall was always bittersweet for me. Loved the colors, crisp air, and the scents, but winter inevitably followed.

    Blessings!
    Patty

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    1. That darn winter ruins everything, huh, Patty! Lol! I had wanted to go to a cider place, but Dominic wasn't interested, so since we only had one full day, we skipped it. Thanks for sharing! :-)

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  7. I love that you have shared these trips, Yvette. It's been fun tagging along and watching your son slowly get taller than you. :) Fantastic experiences!

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    1. I'm happy you are enjoying our travels, Jan! Thanks for sharing. :-)

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    2. I’m glad your son got to see the fall leaves, Yvette . You both are awesome photographers. These photos are amazing.

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  8. I must visit Maine since my book, Meet Me In Maine, and the rest of the series takes place in Maine. For now, I use the internet and the TV shows in Maine. And of course, Murder She Wrote took place in Maine.

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    1. Maine is absolutely beautiful, Susanne! Definitely make plans to visit. Thanks for stopping by! :-)

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