Pastoral Vermont

Pastoral Vermont - that tag fits perfectly.
Had the chance to visit the farms and countryside of Vermont a couple of weekends back as I visited the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Quechee.
I was able to dig up some information about the famous barns that are a must do for photographers.
What I saw certainly lived up to the hype and I most certainly am going back during fall to cover these places again and also cover some new barns and farms.

One of the most famous farms I visited was the Jenne Farms in Reading. It is supposed to be the most photographed barn in Vermont and has also featured in 2 movies, one of them being the famous Forrest Gump!
As mentioned in my prev blog it was overcast and raining at times which made for fog and great atmosphere.

Some pics from there.


Quechee Gorge was Gorge-ous :)
Its known as the Grand Canyon of Vermont and again the foggy atmosphere added so much to the ambiance.
Quechee Gorge and the surrounding area pics.

Quechee Hot Air Balloon festival

I had heard of Hot Air Balloon festivals (HABF) around the New England area and was curious to see how they would be.
After some searching on the net, I found a few promising links and marked my Calendar to remind me of the various events.
The first HABF of the season was in Quechee, Vermont.
I had seen some pics from there of the HABF as well as the Gorge-ous Quechee Gorge.
After making some tentative plans, it turned out that the same weekend some friends were heading out to Martha's Vineyard.
That posed a conundrum as I was not sure what to do.
After much dilly-dallying, decided it was Sat in MVY and Sunday in Quechee.
That didnt go according to plan and unfortunately or fortunately, we headed back from MVY by noon of Saturday.
Headed directly to Vermont and reached there early evening to find the place under dark clouds and intermittent rains.
That was a mixed blessing too.
Because of the weather conditions, it was not great for Ballooning, but it did mean that the already green hillside of Vermont was looking even more Lush and fog and mist enveloped the countryside making it magical.

Headed out early on Sunday morning to catch the Balloon festival and the weather delayed the start.
It finally took off by around 7-ish and it was a sight to behold.
Colorful balloons dotted the hillside and skies and brightened a gloomy morning.
Of course it was not ideal conditions for photography, but we had a great time.
The good thing about HABF is tha they get over pretty early in the day and you have the rest of the day to explore the surrounding regions, in my case, the beautiful farms of Vermont.
I was lucky to see the famous Jenne Farm, Cloudland farm, Lee Farms, Grandma Moses scene all under the magical veil of fog that enhanced the experience a 100 times.
Pics from there soon.

Coming back to HABF, if you liked what you saw in the pics and are curious to visit such an event, there are quite a few around here.
See below for the list that I know of.

1) July 11-13 - Hillsborough HABF, NH
2) July 11-13 - Stoweflake HABF, Stowe, NH
3) July 17-19 - Green River HABF, Greenfield, MA
4) Aug 1-3 - Pittsfield HABF, Pittsfield, NH
5) Aug 15-17 - Great Falls HABF, Great Falls, ME
6) Sept 18-21 - Adirondack HABF, Adirondack, NY

If you need more information, search for these items, else you can contact me and I could share the url's for these events.