New England Vacation – Day 5
If you’d like to catch up, here are the earlier posts from our vacation:
Day 5 of our vacation started in Plattsburgh, NY. When we had driven into town the night before and noticed a tall church spire, so the next morning we went to investigate.
Turns out it was a huge old Catholic church by the name of St. Peter’s. We took a peek inside. There were no lights on and it was kinda dark, but I rested my camera on a solid surface and got a few decent shots.
View from the balcony
View from the front looking towards the back
Really beautiful old church.
Next we took the ferry across Lake Champlain as our goal for the day was northern Vermont.
We waited for our turn and then drove onto the ferry..
and parked where we were told to:
Wasn’t too long before we were off across the lake. It was a really foggy morning so I didn’t get any shots of the crossing.
Back on dry land, we headed into Vermont. We drove across the northern part of the state and marveled at how beautiful a state it is with all the quaint old farms with huge old barns. Looks like there used to be a lot of dairies there.
By 10am we had reached a little town by the name of Johnson. We stopped at a store that’s been making and selling woolen products since 1842, Johnson Woolen Mills.
We tried on a few hats,
and decided on a couple Elmer Fudd hats, his and hers.
We also bought some insulated socks and gloves. This winter when the brutally cold winds blow, we’ll be ready.
After we paid for our purchases, we took a look around the back of the store where a river runs.
We lunched in Johnson and afterwards we took some pics of a little waterfall on the Gihon River:
Below is a pic showing a view of the Gihon with an old abandoned hydroelectric generating station. (the red building)
We headed on down the road again and by mid-afternoon we had found a covered bridge out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road.
It’s called the River Road Covered bridge.
Here we were just a stone’s throw from Canada. The bridge is located south of the town of North Troy on Veilleux Road. The bridge spans the Missisquoi River, and is 66 feet long. The age of bridge is unknown.
Here’s a little video of the bridge:
We stayed at the bridge for a while enjoying the day. I waded around in the river like I did when I was a kid. The water riffled over the rocks and was nice and cool that warm afternoon.
Up the road north a few miles we came to a big waterfall with an unimaginative name, Big Falls:
Big Falls is also on the Missisquoi River. The total drop of the falls is 40 feet with the tallest drop being 25 feet.
We viewed the falls from atop an 80 foot high cliff. It didn’t seem that high at the time but I found this old postcard online when we got back home showing the cliff where we were standing.
Crap that’s high….
Anyway, here’s a short video I took walking out onto the cliff:
Here’s a look upriver above the Big Falls:
While taking the above pics, I noticed a little toad catching the last sun-rays of the afternoon.
After the sun set, we packed up our gear and headed out to find lodging for the night.
Up Next: We venture into New Hampshire where we see more lovely old covered bridges, an old resort hotel, drive the scariest road we’ve ever seen to the top of Mount Washington, and visit another rushing waterfall.
Stay tuned….
Woohoo! Can’t wait for the next installment!
Love the hats! The photos are stunning, how long did it take to plan your trip? I have not heard of any of these places in the many years I have lived in New England! I appreciate seeing everything through your lens Suzanne, thanks !
Not much planning. We knew we wanted to explore NY, VT, NH, and ME. The Amtrak tickets probably took more planning then the rest of the trip. Once we got in the rental car in Rochester, we just headed east and kept going.
Beautiful! Was that a big hike to the top of that overlook at Big Falls? Very pretty waterfall. I liked the covered bridge, too. We always love driving through the ones we have here in western Oregon!
I’m going to be watching to see those new hats in future pictures taken at home during the winter!! They’re cute!
Nope, just a short walk from the parking area.
Thanks Jeanne!
P.S. Oops! Forgot to say that I’m really glad you included the pictures of the inside of the old church – that one is really beautiful.
I want to go on vacation with you & Harland. I love all your pictures, videos and stories make me feel like I went with you. LOL! =)
I’m so enjoying your trip – thanks for sharing. I could hardly watch the footage of you going out on the edge of the rock to look down. I found myself backing away from the screen. 🙂
What a beautiful Church. Loved the woolen mill…I would have loaded up my car with lots of unecessary objects just from excitement! All that plaid!!! The bridge was so pretty…I was wondering why you all didn’t take a dip while watching the video, and was glad to see that you did when i read further!
That church is really beautiful! Do they ever use it?
I loved driving around Vermont several years ago! Wish I could go back!
Thanks for the travelogue!
Sure, it’s a parish church. Looks like a pretty active community too: http://www.saintpeterschurch.org/