Sunday, November 17, 2013

Quechee Gorge, Vermont

Hello!  Today I begin the first of many posts of our last day of our New Hampshire/Vermont Vacation.  After two days of hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (you can see those older posts starting HERE if you missed them),  and one family day of touring local towns (you can see the family posts HERE and HERE ) and watching our daughter perform in an opera followed by a celebratory brick- oven fire pizza dinner, we spent our fourth and final day only a few miles from our hotel touring a gorge, a family farm, and a historic village.  Today's post is all about our visit to the gorge.

Quechee Gorge is described as 'Vermont's Little Grand Canyon'.  It is one mile long and can actually be viewed from the VT 4 Highway Bridge, where there is a 165 drop to the river below.   The first picture shows the view from the bridge.  It was really nice for us because this gorgeous view was only a few miles from out hotel.  We just popped in the car, drove about three miles, and there it was!  It's so nice for the elderly or handicapped too because they can get out and enjoy the beauty of nature from their car.


 There is a beautiful, well maintained trail that you enter through the gift shop.  But before you begin the trail, be sure and stop in the shop and talk to the wonderful volunteers who man the gift shop.  The day we visited we met the sweetest older woman who said she spent her entire life in Vermont and shared with us some wonderful stories of the area.  My favorite comment of hers was when she talked about all the Vermont Moose Warning signs one sees all over Vermont.  She laughed and said 'I've lived in Vermont my entire life, traveled every country road you can imagine, and I've never once seen a moose'.  She was so wonderful to talk to.  That is always my most favorite part of traveling, meeting fun, interesting people and hearing their stories.

Here I am below just about to enter the trail,  because I knew it would be a 'chick day', I dressed up a little bit more than I did on our mountain climbing days and I wore my new Stitch Fix blouse with a pair of dark, skinny jeans from Express.  For my feet however, I stayed practical and wore hiking sandals. LOL!
 Once you walk down the path to the gorge and get to the base of the river, you see the most interesting rock formations formed by the rushing water.


 A picture of my son and husband in the distance.

 Here is a view looking back at the bridge we were just standing on where I took the first picture.
 I was absolutely fascinated with the jagged straight lines of the rocks in the river bed.
 A close up of my handsome son Jordan.
 I forgot to mention that my daughter Ashley had a performance of South Pacific that day, so her husband Jason stayed behind and didn't go sight seeing with us because he wanted to watch the show.  I wanted to see it too, but I also wanted to see the area, so I had to choose.  I wish they would have had a night performance, than we could have done both.  Ashley was in many different performances during her six week stay in New Hampshire, and we couldn't possibly see everything, plus sight- see, so we had to pick and choose.
 Here is a real close up of the rocks.  Amazing isn't it?
 The walk back UP the trail wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the walk DOWN,  so we stopped to catch our breath and enjoyed the beautiful views once again.

Have a great day!  Amy

1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful place! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Your family seems so close! And oh my goodness, your daughter is so talented! Thanks for sharing :-)

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