Wilmington - Vermont.

Our first of seven days at "Crafts Inn" started with a short drive to the nearest convenience store to buy some essentials for breakfast. This was a real eye opener in itself. Firstly bear in mind that this is essentially a winter ski playground, consequently there are few shops built with an external presence. The store I was directed to looked more like a barn from the outside, but once inside I discovered how well they were stocked with every imaginable item you may want if you were snowed in for up to 8 months a year. Snowmobiles and snow ploughs were stored for summer outside a large number of houses. Sunday was largely a day to look around the tiny community of Wilmington. The people at the information centre were very helpful, providing heaps of literature on trips around the area. We are certainly located in the heart of the New England area and we intend to visit places of interest in all four states comprising New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachu!
setts) during our stay here. The local shopkeepers are all very friendly and helpful towards us - we have had some interesting conversations, ranging from politics to accents to differences between USA and Australia. For the most part we seem to be making ourselves understood and vice versa.
On Monday we drove approx. 190 miles to Portland, Maine via New Hampshire for the day. Portland is a very old town which burned to the ground in 1866 and was rebuilt with original architecture in mind but with the advantage of some town planning. The waterfront area is a real attraction and it was from here that we took a 90 minute narrated town trolley tour, which was exceedingly informative and interesting. On our return journey to Wilminton we stopped at the nearby township of Battleboro where there is a real supermarket, so we stocked up on supplies for the week ahead.
Took the opportunity for a slower day Tuesday, so after a late breakfast we went for a walk around town - about 2 blocks in total, then did a short drive to the local lake and ski run areas of Haystack and Mount Snow. Being summer there was very little sign of life at the ski resorts, however the scenery is just beautiful everywhere we go.
This morning we saw on the TV the aftermath of a roof collapse in a major arterial connecting tunnel in Boston. This tunnel is part of a massive reconstruction project known as "The Big Dig" which has been under construction since about 1995. Two large sections of the concrete and steel roof weighing about 5 tonne each collapsed about 11pm, crushing a passing car and killing one person. The huge impact this had on the following peak hour traffic was immense. We had actually driven through it on Friday night on our way from the airport and again on Saturday afternoon after visiting the Boston markets.
Boston area has also been hit by exceptionally high winds and huge hailstones in the last 12 hours, causing a weather alert warning - bordering on a tornado alert, so I think we timed our visit there perfectly.
Tomorrow we plan have another day of driving, this time to Northern Vermont and the many interesting and historical places of interest.
Kevin & Gail.
www.alaska-2006.blogspot.com

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