QUECHEE BALLOON FESTI VAL

The QUECHEE BALLOON FESTIVAL was held this past Sunday(and Saturday) which I attended in the afternoon after eating at the Weather Vane Restaurant in West Lebanon, where I also shopped in Borders. The festival is in Quechee Vermont and although I had know of it for a long,long time and had passed by it on occasion when I was unable to attend it, I enjoyed for the first time this event, although it costs some bucks, especially if you want to take a trip in a balloon! "Up,Up, and Away'-"my balloon's maroon"(know where that song comes from on a Broadway Musical?). I told them that for a few million bucks more(than the $2000 plus fee for 9 flights, I could go on a Russian shuttle into space and maybe visit the space station,etc. The festival had some chances at 25 bucks a ticket for a trip and the person announcing the thing gave a brief rundown on the State of Vermont for out-of-staters and other assorted flatlanders and any possible 'illegals' which seems to be on a number of minds these days as talk show hosts rev up fears and frenzy on this topic,blaming the poor economy on all those 'wet=backs'! Anyway, she, the announcer of the facts on VT forgot to mention that Vermont was a REPUBLIC and I reminded her of this fact that still stirs my independent blood, namely because I was born in Windsor, the birthplace of Vermont, and some of my ancestors fought in the American Revolution in Vermont!

TRAVELS IN NEW ENGLAND

As a native New Englander, born in Windsor,Vermont, the birthplace of Vermont(which was,at one time, a Republic) and residing since babyhood in New Hampsire,mostly in Claremont, The Heart of the Twin State Valley, and for a while in Cornish, NH, I intend to discuss my experiences in mostly NH-VT in past and recent years when it comes to travel around the area for various reasons. This travelogue will be filled with my personal observations, notions, comments, and interests for the most part.