Saturday, October 6, 2007

Day Three: Fall Foliage Workshop in Vermont

What photographer in central Vermont can skip Jenne Farm? This morning we headed over to see the gaggle of photographers there to capture the morning light. There were about twenty people already set up and it was pretty light by the time we arrived at 6:45am.

I'm not sure what the big deal is about this farm, but it sure is popular. After the shoot, we headed back towards Woodstock and stopped at the South Woodstock Country Store for breakfast. Their blueberry muffins are outstanding and the coffee was pretty good, too! We had an interesting conversation with the guy who is developing the wind power farm in Nantucket sound and got the low-down on how Ted Kennedy and all the uber-rich are opposing it. For the life of me, I don't understand this operation. With blades turning at 16mph, they're unlikely to kill birds. Planted in on a shallow shelf, it's unlikely to be in the way of boats. With reef-like habitat for fish, it's likely to attract fish. At 13 miles offshore from Nantucket, you'll need high-powered binoculars to see them. Once they're up and running, this wind farm will provide over 70% of the Cape and Islands' power. It's completely green, no omissions, no run-off, no nothing. Who could oppose this?

We then headed for Kent Pond which is at the junction of Route 4 and Route 100. It's a true find. The stream is perfect for placing leaves and there are several waterfalls to work with. It's a good place to go when the sun is high. It's also on the Long Trail.

We headed back to Woodstock for lunch at Bentleys which was a zoo, but we got seated and were able to eat in just about an hour. Great place!

After lunch, we went to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller State Park for the three-hour, guided ranger tour up Mount Tom. Great tour - and an easy, 3.5 mile hike. The views down onto the town of Woodstock are great. Highly recommend this!

We stopped for sandwiches at Maplesfields (skip it - the food is fast and bad) and headed home.

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