Scattered Thoughts . . .

The day after our cruise on Lake Champlain, we did some typical tourist sightseeing around Waterbury with Lukey and Kenzie.  It was a quiet weekday morning so we beat the tourist crowd.   We started at Cold Hollow Cider Mill... Tasting the apple cider...   I found it to be a little bitter on this day but the taste does vary from season to season. After tasting the apple cider, we roamed around the store looking for things to purchase.  (We found plenty and went home with plenty.) Making the cider donuts... The kids and Gee had planned on getting some apple cider slushies but the slushie machine was being cleaned so they had no slushies available.  We did, however, get a dozen freshly made apple cider donuts instead of the slushies...  oh...  and quite a few other products that would have been purchased regardless of whether we got slushies or not. This is a view from out behind the cider mill looking toward the Worcester Range (and our house)... After the cider mill, we went to Lake Ch

A few evenings ago, we visited the Waterbury train station with Lukey and Kenzie.  It was a day when I was not feeling all that well so I kept things simple in the hopes of an uneventful quick trip downtown.  I didn't bring a heavy camera bag.  I put some emergency medications in my pockets, I grabbed one camera body with one lens, and I grabbed a scanner so we could listen to the chatter on the radio as the Amtrak train approached and departed the station. Both Lukey and Kenzie were happy to be at the train station waiting for the train.  I think we all preferred to be getting on the train to head out-of-town but watching the train arrive and depart would be enough to create some smiling faces and some nice photos... The Amtrak Vermonter from Penn Station in Manhattan was running a little late this night so we had some down time.  There is a park across the street from the train station so the kids wanted to go over to the swings while we waited for the delayed Amtrak train to ar

Sheila and I started our weekend (last weekend) by doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday morning.  Then we headed to lunch at The Longhorn restaurant.  We sat at the bar, had a few drinks and appetizers, and then ate lunch while we watched a Florida Gators basketball game.  It was a nice morning and afternoon!   We headed back to Waterbury in mid-afternoon because Lukey and Kenzie were marching in a parade after dark.   This parade was Waterbury's 10th annual "River of Light" parade.  The parade started 10 years ago as a one-time art project for the local primary school.  The community loved the idea so, over the years, this parade of light has grown and become a large annual community event.  As a matter of fact, we overheard surprised and excited tourists who were staying in Waterbury express their delight at learning of this rather unusual annual community event so I'd say this is a successful tourist event as well as a community event. For the event thi