Peak Leaf Weekend: Brownington Pond
This is apparently peak leaf weekend in our neck of the woods. We saw a lot of out-of-state tags during our errands today. That's great! Come enjoy our leaves and support Vermont's economy!
My posting here should relieve anyone who was worrying that, no, I did not reach an ignoble end in a killer-clown attack at school yesterday. It was a little of a rough afternoon, and my colleagues and I gathered at the end of the day, kind of heaved a collective sigh, and I said, "Well, the good news is that no one was killed by clowns today."
Bobby had a rough week too, so we both very much needed to recalibrate. We discovered while picking up the perennials from his colleague on Thursday that we are about ten minutes from Brownington Pond, so we loaded the kayaks on top of the car and went out to explore.
It was just what we needed. About an hour-and-a-half out on the pond with the setting sun making the surrounding forest glow like fire and we both felt like new humans. Pictures are below the cut with the usual caveats that they are cell phone photos taken from a kayak on the water. I do my best to keep them clear and my horizons straight, but currents and winds sometimes foil my best efforts!
When we arrived, the water was a little rough. It was sunny and warm yesterday, so the water was a spectacular shade of blue under that sky.
Cabins nestled in the woods beside the pond.
The reflection on the water from this tree--OMG!
We weren't there long before the wind died almost completely, which made for some stunning reflections on the water. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done to capture them from a kayak; the very process of getting situated to take the photo tends to disturb the water surface you're trying to photograph!
Day Brook feeds into the pond on the eastern side and flows out on the western side to join the Barton River that runs near our house. We rowed a little ways up the eastern side (we never got a chance to explore the western side of the pond), which was deep and open enough to be comfortably passable. I'd love to go back sometime with the express purpose of seeing how far up the brook I can actually paddle. It's hard to tell from Google Earth how narrow the brook becomes because it is so heavily wooded that there are places where it's impossible to see it at all. It'd also be cool to use the other side of it to row home but, again, it's hard to judge how passable it remains from Google Earth. I'll just have to set out one day to find out for myself. What a sacrifice.
This guy followed me up the brook. He asked me to dinner, so I went.
Back on the pond itself.
I found a little inlet that led to a part of the pond that was almost perfectly sheltered by plants and reeds, like a tiny private pond. We had a nice float there for about ten minutes. The sun was starting to go down at this point, changing the light completely (and also making the air much cooler!)
It was impossible to capture how beautiful the halo of light from the setting sun and the reflection on the water was. I think there are some things one must really experience for oneself.
Sunset from the access area, as we loaded the kayaks back onto the car.
So I did end up letting that cute bearded guy who followed me up the creek take me out to dinner. We went to the Newport Ciderhouse for their Oktoberfest weekend. I have written here before about how I have the occasional allergic reaction to beer. A lot of beer makes me itch and cough a little, but it's very minor, and so I limit myself to one and never mix varieties, and I'm fine. But every now and then, I get a hold of one that progresses beyond itching and coughing. My face and lungs fill with mucus, so I'm constantly coughing and sneezing, and my face gets red and hot. I had tasted 14th Star's Maple Breakfast Stout when Bobby's ordered it before, but when I had my own pint last night, I was three sips in and felt that distinctive itching start between my shoulder blades. I asked Bobby to finish it for me and resigned myself to sticking with water going forward. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there, and I had a full-blown allergic reaction! D^:
I enjoyed dinner as much as I could given that my head felt like a water balloon being filled by a garden hose. When we arrived back home, I went to bed to read and ended up falling asleep very early, which I probably needed because the Goldens were very restless a couple nights this week, and I was operating under a sleep deficit.
I still can't figure out what causes that reaction. It seems so random. It's happened with four different beers: two stouts, a porter, and an IPA. The only thing I can figure is that it's a specific type of hops or yeast being used. Since Vermont has so many amazing ciders, I'll probably be sticking more closely to those.
Tomorrow, we are hoping to hike Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain, so I hope I will have more pretty leaves and mountains to share soon.
This post was originally posted on Dreamwidth and, using my Felagundish Elf magic, crossposted to LiveJournal. You can comment here or there!
http://dawn-felagund.dreamwidth.org/391951.html
My posting here should relieve anyone who was worrying that, no, I did not reach an ignoble end in a killer-clown attack at school yesterday. It was a little of a rough afternoon, and my colleagues and I gathered at the end of the day, kind of heaved a collective sigh, and I said, "Well, the good news is that no one was killed by clowns today."
Bobby had a rough week too, so we both very much needed to recalibrate. We discovered while picking up the perennials from his colleague on Thursday that we are about ten minutes from Brownington Pond, so we loaded the kayaks on top of the car and went out to explore.
It was just what we needed. About an hour-and-a-half out on the pond with the setting sun making the surrounding forest glow like fire and we both felt like new humans. Pictures are below the cut with the usual caveats that they are cell phone photos taken from a kayak on the water. I do my best to keep them clear and my horizons straight, but currents and winds sometimes foil my best efforts!
When we arrived, the water was a little rough. It was sunny and warm yesterday, so the water was a spectacular shade of blue under that sky.
Cabins nestled in the woods beside the pond.
The reflection on the water from this tree--OMG!
We weren't there long before the wind died almost completely, which made for some stunning reflections on the water. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done to capture them from a kayak; the very process of getting situated to take the photo tends to disturb the water surface you're trying to photograph!
Day Brook feeds into the pond on the eastern side and flows out on the western side to join the Barton River that runs near our house. We rowed a little ways up the eastern side (we never got a chance to explore the western side of the pond), which was deep and open enough to be comfortably passable. I'd love to go back sometime with the express purpose of seeing how far up the brook I can actually paddle. It's hard to tell from Google Earth how narrow the brook becomes because it is so heavily wooded that there are places where it's impossible to see it at all. It'd also be cool to use the other side of it to row home but, again, it's hard to judge how passable it remains from Google Earth. I'll just have to set out one day to find out for myself. What a sacrifice.
This guy followed me up the brook. He asked me to dinner, so I went.
Back on the pond itself.
I found a little inlet that led to a part of the pond that was almost perfectly sheltered by plants and reeds, like a tiny private pond. We had a nice float there for about ten minutes. The sun was starting to go down at this point, changing the light completely (and also making the air much cooler!)
It was impossible to capture how beautiful the halo of light from the setting sun and the reflection on the water was. I think there are some things one must really experience for oneself.
Sunset from the access area, as we loaded the kayaks back onto the car.
So I did end up letting that cute bearded guy who followed me up the creek take me out to dinner. We went to the Newport Ciderhouse for their Oktoberfest weekend. I have written here before about how I have the occasional allergic reaction to beer. A lot of beer makes me itch and cough a little, but it's very minor, and so I limit myself to one and never mix varieties, and I'm fine. But every now and then, I get a hold of one that progresses beyond itching and coughing. My face and lungs fill with mucus, so I'm constantly coughing and sneezing, and my face gets red and hot. I had tasted 14th Star's Maple Breakfast Stout when Bobby's ordered it before, but when I had my own pint last night, I was three sips in and felt that distinctive itching start between my shoulder blades. I asked Bobby to finish it for me and resigned myself to sticking with water going forward. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there, and I had a full-blown allergic reaction! D^:
I enjoyed dinner as much as I could given that my head felt like a water balloon being filled by a garden hose. When we arrived back home, I went to bed to read and ended up falling asleep very early, which I probably needed because the Goldens were very restless a couple nights this week, and I was operating under a sleep deficit.
I still can't figure out what causes that reaction. It seems so random. It's happened with four different beers: two stouts, a porter, and an IPA. The only thing I can figure is that it's a specific type of hops or yeast being used. Since Vermont has so many amazing ciders, I'll probably be sticking more closely to those.
Tomorrow, we are hoping to hike Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain, so I hope I will have more pretty leaves and mountains to share soon.
This post was originally posted on Dreamwidth and, using my Felagundish Elf magic, crossposted to LiveJournal. You can comment here or there!
http://dawn-felagund.dreamwidth.org/391951.html