dgolds.com Photos: A Long Weekend in Vermont and Quebec

A Long Weekend in Vermont and Quebec, October, 2001

When I went to Miami to visit my Mom last June, I took a "bump" - I gave up my seat on the plane in exchange for a voucher that I could use for a future flight. Shortly after I got home, I found a cheap fare on a flight from San Jose to Burlington, Vermont in October. The fare was so low that the bump voucher covered it, and I bought the ticket with visions of fall colors in my head.

I love New England in the fall. It had been several years since I had seen the change of colors. And I have friends in Burlington and Montreal, 90 miles north, whom I wanted to visit. So I got on a plane on October 4 and headed for Vermont. The trip takes all day, with a connection in either Chicago, Detroit, Newark, or Cleveland. My flight passed through Detroit Metro, currently one of the worst, most chaotic airports in the U.S. but soon to become a lot better (we hope) when a new terminal opens. Service on Northwest Airlines to and from Burlington was just fine except for a mishap in Burlington, which I won't go into here.

Here are some pictures from my trip:


Burlington is right on Lake Champlain: the shore is a short walk from downtown. Battery Park sits up on a bluff overlooking the lake. Here's a view of Lake Champlain from Battery Park.	I was in Burlington several weeks after the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was therefore especially poignant when I came across this marker in Battery Park, which reads "Towards the death of war and boundaries between countries."

Driving north on the back roads from Burlington towards Canada, I came across Mallett's Bay, an arm of Lake Champlain. The Lake is not immune from the same kinds of infestations we have in San Francisco Bay.	Boats in Mallett's Bay.

I stopped in St. Albans, Vermont, for a cup of coffee. St. Albans is a pretty little town just south of the Canadian border. I took a short walk in a pretty little park there.	Fountain in the same park.

Another pretty tree in the same park. As you can see, the change of colors was just starting in Vermont. A cold front came through over the weekend, and by Monday, the colors were a lot more spectacular.	In St. Albans, the street signs have leaves. Fall change of colors is big business throughout Vermont. Tourists like me, with the somewhat derisive monicker of "leaf peepers" flock through the countryside looking at the pretty colors.

St. Albans City Hall is a beautiful Victorian structure.	I took a walk around Old Montreal with my freind Rick. We walked by Notre Dame and I took a couple of pictures of the gorgeous square across the street from the Cathedral. The round building that looks like the Roman Pantheon is the original Bank of Montreal. It's fronted by a statue of Maisonneuve, founder of the city.

Another view of the square, with horse drawn carraiges in front of it.	The impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Another view of Notre Dame.	My friends Rick and Brigitte had me over to their condo for lunch. Rick took a couple of pictures of me and Brigitte from the second story loft in their place.

Another picture of me and Brigitte.