Crystal Lake/Barton VT

Day three of VT foliage trip:
Monday morning I went off by myself to shoot the sunrise. Mr S stayed home. I went up the road to the Crystal Lake boat access ramp along Rte 5 to catch the sunrise. I set my tripod up and waited for the magic to happen. It would have been nice to have more fog.....low fog makes some dramatic lighting when the sun rises, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.

Once the sun came up, I turned the tripod around and shot the scene that was directly behind me. Peak colors along the shore of the lake.

Here's a shot taken just before I returned to the car.

From here, I went up through the village and stopped to photograph the Pines Farm from across the Barton River.

Gotta love that morning light! Next post will feature Monday afternoon's images.

Chasing a balloon and pizza the NEK way!!!!

On the way back from Holland, I shot this view taken from Burton Hill Road in Irasburg.

We then went to the Barton Fairgrounds to see our Barton neighbor who was riding in a horse show on that Sunday afternoon. I'm going to print, mat and frame a picture for her as a gift. Here is one of the pictures I took:

Sunday evening we had a dinner date with our friends Terri and Steve (they and their sugar house have been featured here on the blog several times) Terri picked us up and drove us to Lyndonville to have dinner at The Pizza Man. I did not bring the Nikon with me. I was going to, but thought this evening was not going to be about photography, and I didn't want to look like a big dork and bring my camera gear to dinner.

Big mistake.........

On the drive, we noticed a beautiful hot air balloon off in the distant sky. All I had with me (thank God I did) was my point and shoot, which has a great sharp lens, but it has very limited zoom. Poor Terri was driving feverishly trying to get me to a place where I could shoot the balloon. I may or may not have been making her frantic. I don't remember...........

So she pulled over and I was able to get this shot, but I knew I wasn't going to be happy with it.

Terri then asked if I would like to try to get a picture of the balloon over a covered bridge.

Ummmm.......yes please!!!!!!

The balloon is still not as close as I would have liked and I'm not too crazy about all of the wires, but it was great to get a shot of the balloon and the bridge! 

I jumped back in the car and may or may not have asked Terri to "hit the gas let's go"!!! and we finally found the best possible spot to get the photo I was after.

I wonder if Terri and Steve will ever invite us out to dinner again??????

On a final note, the pizza at The Pizza Man was delicious. We all got different specialty pizzas and shared. I tried a slice of the Northeast Kingdom Special...........it is pizza with bacon, caramelized onions, apples, maple syrup, and cheddar cheese. It sounds strange, but I must tell you it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. You must go here and get this pizza if you are ever in the Lyndonville area of Vermont. It's THAT good. 

Promise!

Holland VT/ Holland Pond

Holland is an adorable little town way up in the tippity top Northern part of Vermont, bordering the Canadian border. It is a beautiful spot, enriched with miles and miles of farmland. This was our destination that we headed to on Sunday morning after we left Brownington, which was featured on the previous blog post.
Now remember, I was with Mr. S so I had to be very picky about where I yelled out "stop here" for a photo op. If I were not with Mr. S, I would have taken many more stops, but I have to keep in mind that I drive that man crazy with all of my stopping to take pictures...... but I must tell you that I was biting my tongue and and wringing my hands on my lap because I wanted to stop every 10 seconds.
Here is just one of the many farms we saw, but I wanted to take this picture to show you Canada, which is on those hilltops in the distance.

During my trip planning, I found Holland Pond on the map. Holland Pond? Why, I had never heard of Holland Pond! I have never seen anyone else's pictures of Holland Pond before (I see a lot of VT photographs) I felt like Christopher Columbus finding the new world!!!! So, I knew that this was the place I wanted to go and photograph. I did a good job of reading the map (not my strong suit) and got us to beautiful Holland Pond. We were the only two people there. It felt like we were the only two people on the planet. Well, besides our dog Rudy who was with us and he thinks he's a person so I will include him. 

The foliage was peak and beautiful as we stood there along the shore looking across the pond. The only problem was we were looking directly into the sun. I still managed to come away with a few half way decent images to share. I hope to return here (maybe next year) during the late afternoon light. (And without Mr S and Rudy)

On the drive back from the pond, I yelled out another "stop" when I saw this unusual sight. I titled this image "Ring of Fire"

Now, that's something you don't see every day!

The next post will make you hum up up and away........stay tuned. 

Brownington VT/Brownington Pond

 Sunday morning of our VT trip was a beautiful Autumn morning. There was a touch of fog in the valleys, and there was bright sunshine above. The first stop we made was to photograph this beautiful tree tunnel, along Hinman Settler Road in Brownington.

A few miles up the road from here, a beautiful view opens up to the West, with views of Jay Peak off in the distance. You can also see the morning valley fog, which is typical for the time of year.

After a few miles from here, you will eventually approach Brownington Pond on your right. This is a sleepy little pond, but I got lucky on this particular morning. There was a fisherman out in his boat which provided me a nice subject to photograph. I was shooting into some harsh light, but am happy with the results of this shot.

There were also a pair of loons swimming and feeding which I was able to photograph as well.

Here is another view of the pond. This was taken with the sun over my shoulder, so the lighting was easier to control. These little cabins look to be such a peaceful get-away.

And this was just part of our beautiful Sunday morning drive. Next I will share with you some images from Holland! :-) *wink*

Backroads of the NEK

The previous images were from Saturday morning, and I will now share some of the images taken on Saturday afternoon. We took a drive through the Mid and North Eastern areas of the NEK of Vermont. Here is a beautiful farm we stumbled across in our travels. This is Lone Pines Farm in Kirby VT:

Cows grazing on a hillside in Kirby VT:

The foliage was peak and it was beautiful. Just some random scenes from out travels:

Victory Bog which is located in the Victory Forest....a very remote area in the NEK

And an old mill replica located in Guildhall VT. I was happy to find a few sheep grazing here.

It was fun traveling the backroads of VT with Mr. S!!!

Vermont Foliage!

Back from a wonderful 8 day trip to photograph the beauty of Vermont in the Fall. I've been home for a week and feverishly working on my images. So many to go through and process. I don't even know where to begin, so I guess I will begin posting on the blog from the beginning of the trip through the last day. Many posts will follow. I'm happy about that!!!

Here is an image taken the first morning in Barton VT. This is a boggy area along Rte 5. It's typically shrouded in fog in the early morning in the Fall.

It was a nice start to a great week!

Here is Dolloff Pond in Sutton VT, taken just after sunrise. This is a beautiful remote pond located on a dirt road that I would not advise to be driven on in a car. A high ground clearance vehicle would be the best bet to get you up this road. But once you make it to the pond, your efforts are rewarded!

Here's an image that I softened to give it a dreamy feel. The colors were so beautiful in the NEK of VT this year.

More foliage posts to follow!!!!

First day of Fall!!!!

Feeling very excited. Welcome Autumn 2014!!!!! I can not wait to see what Mother Nature is going to delight us with this year!