Vermont Relocation Vacation {10/11: Tramside, Zoom Church, Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, Big Falls State Park}

We had a delightful big breakfast on Sunday (October 11th) morning (including some of our recently purchased Sugarbush Farm syrup on pancakes!) and then set out for a brisk morning walk around the resort. We made our way up the road and over to Tramside base area, but this time ventured further to the north (I think?) where we discovered the snowmaking pond and beyond that a network of cross-country ski trails through the woods. We will for sure be back to hike more on these!

This was the epitome of "apple crisp October day!"

When we got back we got ready for church. This was the first week our ward back in Eden was broadcasting Sacrament Meeting, so we tuned in on our couch in Vermont to watch. It was great to see and hear from the bishop and other ward members bearing their testimonies.

Before church I was perusing my family
search email that was celebrating "the women
in your family tree". As I was scrolling through,
this photo of my great-great grandmother on my mom's
side caught my eye. I couldn't believe the family
resemblance!

Ready for couch church!

Hi Bishop Keith!

After church and lunch, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous blue-sky, sunshiney and calm day by riding the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail. We ended up parking in Richford and riding a couple (plus) miles to a bridge over the river (where we played for a few minutes) then turned around to come back. It was gorgeous and peaceful riding through the countryside.

The beginning of the trail.

Definitely farm country.

These signs were cute, just welcoming riders to
Berkshire in the "Northwest Kingdom of VT" and 
"This is farm country. Enjoy your time here."
Thank you, I totally have!

This trail was well marked with signs
and distances.

As we drove, we finished another audioboook.
We all loved this one!

I had noticed one lonely covered bridge on the map before we left that was pretty nearby and realized if we made a loop of our Sunday drive, we could easily hit it on the way home. So we did. It is the River Road Covered Bridge (at least according to Google, the bridge itself had the word Caber on it, so maybe that's it's real name?) though it is actually located on Veilleux Road. It was super cute. (I really dig the red bridges . . . have I said that already?) We drove through and turned left onto River Road to take us back to North Troy. Little did we know we'd discover Big Falls State Park, though we didn't know it even had a name until we got home and googled "waterfall on missisquoi river near troy vt" -there was no signage and no one around. Gregg just noticed a pull out where we could park and wander over to the river to explore. A few feet from the car we realized we had stumbled upon a huge waterfall! It was pretty fun to see something that cool without having any idea that it was coming up.

Well, this is a lovely little spot on the river.

Oh wait. What's over here? (We knew
something was over there because it was loud!)

Gregg was the only one who braved the edge with the
best waterfall view.

From another vantage point (ie cliff),
Gregg snapped this birdseye view of
the falls below. Wow!

What you see from the parking area (only big enough
for maybe 3 or 4 cars to fit in, and not a sign in sight!
so it really was a happy accident that we even stopped
to see what was there).

Back on the highway into North Troy -
I love this view, though this through-the-
windshield view doesn't give it justice.

We made it back to the condo in time for quick gromlets for dinner followed by a fun zoom birthday party for Gregg's dad with the fam. Happy #70!!