Out-Doors On the Web
by Elizabeth Bassett

“Do you remember the name of that bike path (skating rink, garden, pastry shop) in Montreal you wrote about a few years back?” Sometimes I don’t remember what I did yesterday.
Now you can look it up on the website of The Charlotte News: thecharlottenews.org. I’m in the process of transmitting several years of Out-Doors columns to Robbie Stanley, who waves her magic wand and puts them on the site.
Reviewing these columns has been fun (remember when the U.S. dollar was strong in Canada?), interesting and sometimes thrilling. The number of resources, on the ground and in cyberspace, has expanded significantly over the years. Hinesburg, for example, has created and preserved a number of venues for walking, biking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. New on-line inventories, like Local Motion and Champlain Bikeways, put ideas and maps at your fingertips.
Explore The Charlotte News website as you search for outdoor ideas. You can also read the current issue, find the name of a house painter or landscaper, discover how much your neighbor paid for her house, and who is engaged to be married.

Here are some excerpts from columns past:

Inspiration
In the summer of 2001, then 75-year-old Dick Reid of Shelburne set a goal of hiking Camel’s Hump every month for a year. “I summited on September 12, 2001. It was eerily quiet with no planes in the sky.”

Resources
Flatland Biking: An ancient lakebed, the Champlain Valley is prime territory for bikers of modest muscle and big thirst for scenery. Not all bikers yearn for thigh-burning gap rides. If you prefer to savor local sights while actually breathing, go to champlainbikeways.org. Click on Vermont Theme Loops and choose either Rebel’s Retreat, in Vergennes and Addison, or Lake Champlain Islands. Happy pedaling!
June Riddle: What dots the state of Vermont, costs the same as a jumbo creemee and you own it? Where can you camp, paddle, hike and picnic? Name a lakeside or hilltop venue with spectacular views for a party or wedding. Answer: Vermont State Parks at vtstateparks.com.

Chill
Visitors to Vermont want to slow down, relax and savor our mountains, lake, and villages. Maybe we should try this too.
“You don’t need to be from out of town to turn off the cell phone, savor afternoon tea, and snuggle up with a book,” says Bobbe Maynes, former owner of the Heart of the Village Inn of Shelburne. Every afternoon the inn serves tea in its living room amongst books, magazines and cozy sofas.

Wisdom
I channeled my grandmother the other day for help with the Health and Fitness Issue.
“Before you went to kindergarten,” Nannie said, “you knew everything that’s important.”
Until a stroke felled her at age 86, Nannie walked several miles each day — briskly! Decades before it was fashionable, my Scandinavian grandparents toasted whole wheat bread for breakfast and Papa scooped honey from a gallon can. Nannie spooned cream from the neck of the milk bottle as a lump of brown sugar melted into the tiny pool of butter on my oatmeal. We savored grapefruit shipped from Texas or Nannie’s applesauce. After breakfast — and making my bed of course, I shadowed Papa in the enchanted world of his garden. On St. Patrick’s Day we planted peas and, when oak leaves were as big as a squirrel’s ear, we sowed beans. That’s about all you need to know.

Surviving November (and other gray months)
What’s missing in November? Just about everything — light, warmth, flowers, colorful foliage, snow. In The Vermont Weather Book, Robert Ludlum remarks that in November, “cloudiness reaches a maximum for the year, sunshine is at a minimum, and general gloomy conditions pervade atmospheric Vermont.” Temperatures trend downward from October through November, decreasing about 12 degrees to the mid-30s.
What’s to do? I can’t promise roses, fresh-picked strawberries or a crimson maple tree, but heat and light are available outside your door. Vermont still has between ten and eleven hours of possible sunlight each day (yes, the worst is yet to come) and you can generate your own heat by taking a brisk walk. Consider moving your desk or workspace in front of a bright window. Try light or phototherapy, spending 20 to 60 minutes each day in front of a light box. Don’t mess with serious depression — it should be treated by a health care professional. But if you’re just a little grumpy, get outdoors!
A fascinating walk, but often too buggy in summer, is Sunny Hollow, fast-by Costco and Shaw’s near Interstate Exit 16. The sand plains of Colchester were once covered with pitch pine, black oak, and wild blueberry, plants more common to Cape Cod than Vermont. Adjacent ravines host more typical Vermont flora and the contrast makes an interesting walk. A tangle of trails loops through this natural area bounded by industrial buildings, Camp Johnson and Sunderland Brook. Consider dropping breadcrumbs to find your way out.
Go north, to a city that shuns winter’s dark and gloom. Montreal celebrates Christmas exuberantly: shop windows sparkle with lights, snowflakes and ribbons, and carols warm the chill air. Thanks to a strong U.S. dollar, [remember, this is from an earlier column!] bargains abound as do gastronomic temptations: French pastries, Quebecois meat pies, Chinese dim sum, Greek olives, kosher smoked meat and Lebanese mezze. And while we still dream of frozen ponds, our northern neighbors are busy skating.

Local treasures
Check it out! The book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, includes the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Masai Mara Game Reserve and the religious pilgrimage site of Vezelay in France. But one entry lies just down the road, Shelburne Farms.
In the mood for Monet or Degas? How about Grandma Moses or Mary Cassatt? How long has it been since you glided up and down on a carousel or paced the decks of a paddlewheel steamboat? A mere mile from the edge of Charlotte, scattered over 45 hilly acres, the Shelburne Museum unfolds its treasure.
The entire village of Essex, New York, merits the National Register of Historic Places. The tiny hamlet contains one of the most intact collections of pre-Civil War village architecture in America. Gracious Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival homes stand proudly beside humble cottages. Wharves, docks and warehouses cluster around the natural harbor where enormous trade once flourished. Churches, schools, inns and a tavern are among the ghosts of Essex past. For a brochure and map from Essex Community Heritage Organization at (518) 963-7088, or see essexny.org.

Enjoy the new resource of thecharlottenews.org, and get Out-Doors!