Vermont

We had a wonderful weekend in Southern Vermont, mixing a little bridge and a little hiking with just plain taking it easy.  This picture is from the top of Shrewsbury Peak (3710'), number 21 on the Vermont list, which we hiked on Friday morning (we were on the trail at 7:30am to beat the heat).  We're looking East towards Bald Mountain (3315') and thence to Ascutney (3143'), I think.  Pixie needed a ride up the steep part of the trail but otherwise was fine.

We rented a small cottage (right) down a long grassy driveway off a dirt road in a quiet part of the state (West Windsor, to be precise).  What a lovely spot!  There were barred owls nearby (heard only), yellowthroats, wood thrushes, robins and various other unidentified birds.  Out the back are trails heading up and around Hurricane Hill.  We came across an even more remote and smaller cabin.

On our way home from our first bridge session (in Rutland), we had just passed a Moose Crossing sign on a quiet road when lo and behold there was the moose (a huge ole bull, the size of a horse) in the act of crossing!  A firm application of the brakes ensured that we didn't collide.  Venison might be tasty but it would be no good if we didn't live to eat it!  On our return we heard about a fatal car/moose collision on I-95 in Maine.  Nasty.

We had some great meals, especially at a small local eatery in the middle of nowhere called Keepers.  They were serving an excellent beer called Switchback.  The dogs seemed to enjoy it all too (except the restaurant visits and bridge sessions when they were cooped up alone).  On our last day, we hiked a small portion of the Long Trail (and Appalachian Trail) down to the lovely Big Branch (see left).  Pixie seemed to really enjoy this hike.  Perhaps she's finally become a hiking dog!

Unfortunately, we were rubbish at bridge.  It's hard to switch from rustic getaway to bridge and back smoothly.  But it didn't matter one jot.  It was a wonderful place to visit.  Definitely a place we'd like to revisit.

Meanwhile, I was very happy that Spain won the World Cup.  Their skill level was considerably higher than that of any other team and while their forwards didn't always capitalize on their chances, the midfielders passed them up a seemingly endless supply of balls.  I was disappointed to see that Holland, inevitably, had to resort to a physical game and several fouls were not called.  Fortunately for those of us supporting Spain, the fairly obvious foul on Robben's scoring opportunity wasn't called either, otherwise the game would have ended in regulation time with a win for the Dutch.  All in all, a very enjoyable and well run competition.  Brazil is up next in 2014.  Guess who's going to be the favorite?