Setting the Scene - Part 1

Some scene setting... I can get all poetic later, but for now, so you know where we will be...

We live in the center of town. There's a defunct gas station, the Church, the General Store and the Historical Society visible from the house, along with the post office and yes, the Green.

Here's a map of the town with the center located.  The wedding will take place at our friends' land on Many Springs Road here. And the Green is here.

There are all kinds of lovely walks in the area. Buxton Ave is quite flat and an easy 2 mile circuit without going back over the same territory though you WILL have to be on heavily traveled West Street for part of the route.

You can walk up to the school practically in our backyard, and from there walk through the woods to the river, over a snowmobile bridge and back through Dietra's meadow. There's a good little swimming hole here if you know where to look!

There's Springs Park which is practically across the street. We were thinking of having the wedding there, but it seemed more appropriate to wed in our friends' backyard with a view of our landscape. Maybe we will have a post wedding picnic there before Strawberry Festival..

Spruce Knob is my favorite local walk through a range of houses and some forest and marshland. You can take a long walk up to the Knob  (even climb up if you dare) or just wander til you tire and then come back to the Green.

There is also the Green Mountain National Forest with some great hikes and you can head down to Manchester for Outlet shopping and one of the great independent bookstores: Northshire.  There's a lovely route to take by car through the Green Mountain Forest and into Weston where the Vermont Country Store sells all kinds of odd and retro goods and penny candy (no longer a penny of course), and this is a MUST stop if you are coming with kids. Besides the sugar rush, they have a range of retro toys that will keep them occupied without Nintendo.

Proctor is the home of the marble that built the Supreme Court and much of the architecture and the retaining walls on the roadways are lined with marble. Burlington is our big city and is a two hour drive north through the college town of Middlebury and there's some lovely agricultural land along the way with Lake Champlain as your destination.

Oh yes, and here are restaurants like Simon Pearce where you can watch glass blowing powered by hydro from the Ottaquechee River, breweries including Otter Creek and Long Trail, and one of the new additions to Manchester's outlet haven is one of our favorite places: a craft gallery known as Epoch and run as a cooperative. They sell some fabulous glass and a friend's wonderful treenware (David and Jenny will be at the wedding), and the work of a wonderful sculptor named John Long who makes pieces of art with old barn wood from the area, shaped into forced perspective views of old barn cupolas and steeples.  Mom gave us one for an engagement present!

Well I have student papers to respond to so I will go. But.... there's much more to come!