Balloons, Woodstock Vermont,Quechee

Dave Hilbert's
SoftSeatTravel

Twice a day the balloons rise from
Vermont's Village Green near Quechee's
Simon Pierce Glass Works and float off
towards the Ottauquechee River and the
chasm called the Quechee Gorge.
The pilots know the winds as they ascend
and descend to catch the air currents that
course through the valley. Moving silently,
the balloon settles down on the river's
surface and hovers as you gasp to see
water creep into the wicker basket towards
your shoes.
Suddenly a throaty howl with a tongue of
blue flame ends your baptism as the
expanding air lifts the balloon from the
water and takes you soaring over the
treetops only to settle down again between
vermilion hillsides and into the Quechee
Gorge.
You lift again and soar high above the
farms of Woodstock and then into a field
rimmed by sugar maples to meet the
chase team as it arrives for the traditional
Champaign toast.

October brings the changing of the leaves to
Woodstock. From the Village Green beside the
river, balloons fly passengers all season down the
river and into the Quechee Gorge. Morning
flights usually follow the river southeast then fly up
over route 4 and descend into the mile-long
water-cut canyon billed locally as Vermont's
Grand Canyon. Morning flights fly above the
Gorge giving passengers a great view. Afternoon
flights will follow the river through farm country
and over the ski mountain to the northwest.
Colonial Woodstock with a population of 3,500
spends fall decked out in harvest time splendor
with pumpkins and chrysanthemums lining the
sidewalks in a village center that anchors farm
country of rolling hills. Still supplying milk,
cheese, and Maple syrup to nearby cities, the
region will as often host crafts artists, equine
eventing, mock fox hunts, and elegant shops.
Antique covered bridges and postcard-like farms
attract artists and photographers, others come for
the golf, tennis, and museums
Equestrian events attract horse owners to
Woodstock. May and July see the Green
Mountain Horse Association's Hunter Jumper
shows in South Woodstock and weekends bring
equestrian events.
The end of August brings the Annual Scottish
Festival with bagpipe music, Scottish fiddles,
Celtic harp, and Scottish dancing along with
sheep herding dogs and a road race that requires
the wearing of kilts.
The villagers have preserved the old houses and
three covered bridges, two date to the mid 1800s.

North Rim View

The Billings Farm Museum built in 1878 still
operates as a dairy while celebrating the farm life
once so integral to Vermont life.
The Raptor Center of the Vermont Institute of
Natural Science rescues and rehabilitates birds,
particularly hawks and eagles. They have two Bald
Eagles, two Golden Eagles and many hawks and
owls that came to them too damaged for release to
the wild.
In Quechee Gorge Village an old diner is one of
only three of its type left in the country and shares
space with the Vermont Toy and Train Museum
displaying toys, dolls, and lunch boxes dating from
the 40s

The Simon Pierce Glassworks gives you a
close-up look at the skills of glass artisans and
potters creating artworks for sale in the showrooms.
The building was once a water-powered mill with an
electric generator within a sluice channel which
architects saved for viewing when they remodeled
the old building in the 70s. While dining at the
Glassworks you overlook a waterfall and a covered
bridge and might just see a balloon lift off from the
green and glide by as it follows the river.

The rolling hills and cleared fields make for such
great hot air balloon country that Woodstock hosts
the annual Quechee Balloon Festival in mid June
bringing live music to the green, craft shows and a
host of micro-brews strutting their wares. Vermont
farm country presents few wires, no tall buildings,
and lots of room to land. Morning flights are the
best but during the summer the riders will have to
be ready by 6 am.
Although the changing of the leaves is as fickle
as the winds that push balloons through the valley,
usually the foliage season ends by the fourth week
in October. Balloons fly year-round but the rush of
visitors tapers in November as Vermont settles in for
a long snowy winter.

Oh the classic Autumn Vermont farm
scene: golden Maples framing the road to
the red barn, Jersey cows munching lush
grass in the meadow, smoke twisting
skyward from the farmhouse chimney, and
pumpkins strewn along the fence line.
Classic, yes but this one is different; you
are soaring 200 feet above it, gliding in a
wicker basket hung from a multi-colored
envelope of heated air.
You are ballooning Vermont's foliage and
bringing excitement to an old theme as
you sail over Woodstock's crimson hills
and covered bridges making autumn in
Vermont something special.