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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Vermont

Sunday we drove south through the Vermont valleys with trees changing colors into red, yellow and orange. We didn't see much of the tops of the mountains, because they were covered in fog. We stopped at a water stream which had carved deep round pots in the granite. After lunch in Hanover, we arrived at Billings Farm in Woodstock. It's a working farm open to the public, with a small herd of Jersey cows and four horses. People get to see the milking process and other activities. There was also a large agricultural museum, with farm equipment and interiors from a farm house from around 1900. There were displays on ice collecting, cheese making and maple syrup making. Later in the evening we found Mark & Cindy Bergstrom's house near Rutland. Cindy brought us to Mark's job. He works for the electric power company. It was fascinating to see the control room, the huge grid was on a "map" on the wall and the computers were listing figures in massive amounts. We returned to the house and had dinner (chicken), and spent the rest of the evening chatting in front of the TV.

Monday morning we had waffles for breakfast and then Mark took us in the Volvo sports car on a trip in southern Vermont. We went to Manchester, a nice town with lots of outlet stores and craft shops. I did some bargain shopping in the Lane Bryant outlet store, and also got some souvenirs. The bacon cheeseburger at the local diner was delicious. We took the even more scenic route back to Rutland, passing by small lakes and colorful forests. Despite the somewhat chilly weather, we had the top down on the car for quite a while. In the evening we picked Cindy up and went for dinner at the Long Trail Inn. The athmosphere was Irish-inspired and the food was great. After dinner, we made use of the hot tub in Mark & Cindy's back yard. What a luxury!

Tuesday it was time to say goodbye to the Bergstroms (including the dogs Ripple and Nelson). Rolf and Sharon brought me to the airport in Burlington, and I left from there around noon. I changed planes in New York and arrived at O'Hare in Chicago in the afternoon. The taxi ride from the airport to St Charles was long (rush hour), but I finally got there at 6 p.m. I'm visiting my mother's second cousin Jeane and her husband Jim here. Their daughter Ann and her family stopped by and we all had pizza for dinner last night. Today we really haven't done much, apart from talking about family history and using the computer for email. I have also viewed the photos I have taken during my trip, and they seem to have turned out pretty good.

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