Balloons, Woodstock Vermont

Dave Hilbert's
www.SoftSeatTravel.com

Twice a day the balloons rise from the 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 you 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, 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 kilts.
The villagers have preserved the old houses and three
covered bridges two date to the mid 1800s.

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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.

You can change your perspective of the classic
Autumn Vermont farm scene where golden
Maples frame the road to the red barn and
smoke twists skyward from the farmhouse
chimney. You can soar 200 feet above it while
gliding in a wicker basket hung from a
multi-colored balloon. Balloon Vermont's
foliage and bring excitement to an old theme as
you sail over Woodstock Vermont's crimson
hills and covered bridges and make your
autumn in Vermont something special.

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