Burlington and into Canada July 17, 2016

 Sunday, July 17

62 degrees this morning.  After a leisurely breakfast, we head back to Middlebury and the Lake Champlain Byway north.  We have seen many solar fields, some very large, as well as some wind turbines.

Solar field

We have noticed several Vermont State Troopers watching for speeders, and note that Vermonters will flash their headlights at oncoming cars to let them know the police are ahead.  Used to see this a lot, but haven’t seen it for quite some time now.

We take a little side tour to visit the  UVM Morgan Horse Farm.  The UVM stands for latin for university of green mountains, not university of Vermont M……..   We arrive at their posted opening time, but no one is in the office, so we wonder around.  There are workers feeding and mucking stalls and in a little while our tour guide Zach appears.  (He was cleaning stables but doesn’t smell too bad J.)   We chat for a bit because the tour doesn’t start for 10 minutes.  He tells us about  “Figure” who is the father of all Morgans. 

He was a very strong, fast, exceptional horse with a strange gene mutation where all of his genes were dominant.  So no matter who he was bred with, out came little Morgans!  Born in 1789, he sired many animals and his lineage is how the first American breed, the Morgan horse, came to be.  They are still well know, still award-winning and a colt will sell for up to $25,000. 

Zach introduces us to about a dozen or so animals – they have 49 – and lists the accomplishments of the most well known. 

UVM Promise is a 4 time world champion and perhaps best known.  During the 1800’s this was known as the US Government Morgan Horse Breeding Farm and bred horses for the Cavalry. In 1951 the University of Vermont took ownership and continues to breed and raise Morgan horses.

We check out the colts area where young horses stay till they are 1 ½ or 2.  And the Remount Barn which houses mares with their colts. 

It is interesting how some horses stand opposite each other and use their tails to chase away flies for the other horse.

We watch a short film and then are on our way.

Giddiup!  We head for Burlington, passing by Vermont Teddy Bear and several other spots we remember from a family reunion in Vermont a few years ago.  We go downtown Burlington to Church Street Marketplace, which is a pedestrian street with many shops, restaurants, boutiques, etc. 

  It  is a beautiful day and there are many folks strolling, eating and shopping.   We check out a few shops and have lunch outside at Ken’s Pub. 

  Enjoy watching many street performers, a few beggars and lots of just folks.  This mural was pretty awesome, as was the one on the front of the LLBean store.

We drive a few blocks to the Waterfront,

and then head north and west to Grand Isle, a collection of islands.

We notice many osprey in their nests atop poles in Sand Bar State Park as we wind our way north.

On our map, we notice Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge to the north, so call and chat with them and get an OK to boondock at one of their parking pullouts.  It takes a little while to find the place and check out possibilities, but we find a nice spot well off the main road at the Stephen Young Marsh Trail parking area.

We talk with AT&T and sign up for a Canada International Plan so that we will have internet access.  Even with the plan, phone calls cost $1 a minute, so we don’t plan on making calls for a few days.

Good night’s sleep.  This far north it stays daylight for a long time, with darkness falling close to 10:00.   And of course, sunrise comes early, so we generally are up by 6:00-7:00.