Labor Day

We had a very stormy Labor Day weekend which caused us to rethink some of our outdoor plans. On Monday we decided to drive to Equinox Mountain in Vermont.

Along the way there we passed a covered bridge and had to stop and take a picture.  The drive up Equinox Mountain begins on Historic Route 7A in Sunderland, VT.  The drive up the mountain starts at an elevation of 800 feet.

As Skyline Drive winds and twist its way up the mountain, it provides panoramic views of lakes,  rivers and valley communities below. We stopped and took this picture when we were almost at the top.

There are many vistas and areas for picnics along the 5.2 mile drive, which has a vertical gain of 3,248 feet to the summit. By the time we reached the top the clouds had closed in, it had started to rain, and we couldn't see more than 20 feet in any direction.  

We went into the visitor's center to try to wait for the clouds to life.  It is new since the last time we'd come.  After waiting for 20 minutes or so we decided we weren't going to be seeing much and that we may as well head back down the mountain.

We decided to obey the sign and stop for awhile to let our brakes cool off. We were hoping that the weather would clear and we could head back up to the summit.  But it never did.

Amazingly, Glen was able to take a call from Jared at BYU.  I didn't think we'd have very good reception, but we could hear him just fine.

After coming the rest of the way down the mountain we drove into Manchester and looked around.  Lauren said that she wanted to live there forever.  I have to admit, it's a cute town.

On the way in we'd passed a sign that said "Chocolatorium" and thought it sounded wonderful.  So on the way out of town we decided we'd try to find it.  And after driving all over on winding roads and thinking that we'd somehow missed the turnoff we managed to find it.  What a disappointment!  It looked a little scary and we decided we weren't that desperate for chocolate.  We'd also seen the "Chocolate Barn" on the way into town on 7A and thought we'd just go there instead.  But by the time we got there it was closed.  Bummer! So we stopped at an ice cream stand on the way home instead.