Sunday, May 14, 2006

On the Road with the Beak

I set out this morning in search of carnivourous plants and a rare species of bird that is common in the NE Kingdom. The NE Kingdom is the rugged part of VT and marks the begining of the Tundra. I have been in elevated forrests in NY State but this promised to be a new adventure.

Route 105 starts in the Champlain Valley and the area is mild in climate compared to the rest of the state. Lake Champlain keeps the temperature from plumeting in the winter. The landscape is filled with Maple and Willows with an odd evergreen tossed about.The route follows the Missisquio river to Richford. The lanscape is a lush green with yellow dandilions as far as the eye can see. In the distance loom the rounded Green Mountains of VT.

Now traveling in this region is fun if the weather is damp or you own a gasmask like Mr Beamish. Today the area was damp and the smell not so bad. However as I tell the locals if a Staten Islander is complaining about foul odors believe it. The smell of the dairy farms is far worse then the Fresh Kills landfill. The locals tell you that you get used to it but the is a load of %$#%$#% much like the source of the horrible smell.

Enosburg Falls is a nice little town one can get gas and shop at the local Hanafords supermarket. The next town Richford is the butt of every joke in the area. There isn't much there but it is a small town with a border crossing. I made a wrong turn and almost ended in Canada.

From Richford to Jay we start entering the Green Mountains. My trips have been North and South . One doesn't really think about how hard it was to travel east west. Even with the luxury of a car and a paved road it is a steep climb. There are much fewer maples and evergreens are more prominent.

The trip down the eastern side is not breath taking .I follow Route 105 back into another plain. The plain area is much like the Champlain plain . For those of you who like farm land the landscape seems like a more colorful Wyeth painting. I do not care for the horible odors eminating from the cows. Thislandscape is unbroken until one comes to Newport. Newport is on the shores of a huge lake Memphragog that is mostly in Canada. It is a huge lake but much smaller then Champlain. In the distance I saw what looked to be a moving stone but with the trusty binoculars it was a large snaping Turlte.

From there I drove along 105 into the famed North East Kingdom. In the distancte the White mountains loom. The White mountains are more interesting to look at from a distance. The Green Mountains are similar to the Catskills and Poconos everthing is smooth and rounded. The White Mountains are angular and the landscape is now filled with evergreens.

I stopped my car at a resting area and entered the a bog. Always test the ground with a stick as you will sink a long way. There were signs of Moose everywhere trees with bark chewed off in a circle around shoulder high. Even some utility poles seemed to have been damaged by Moose. I ventured in looking for some pitcher plants
and did not find any or Muhlenburgs Bog Turtle . I did see a rare Wood Turle and around some good sized Bullfrogs.

I decided to continue to New Hampshire and the scenery was awesome. Route 3 follows the Connecticut river to a nice sized regional town Colebrook. Colebrook. I followed
route 26 to Upton Maine. The top of New Hampshire is narrow but roads follow streams through the Mountains. The highlihgt of the trip is Dixville Notch . Route 26 cuts in between two huge stone formations . I stopped the car in the rest area and inspected the rocks. It was an odd mix of shale , limesone and there looked to be some othrs tossed in. The wind is magnified through the crevice and a one has to account for it while driving.

I continued driving until I had reached Lake Umbagog which borders Maine. The lake is crystal clear and known as a hotspot for fishing trout and suposedly a species of land locked Salmon. I took out my binoculars and observed a great blue heron in the distace. I continued driving unil I had reached Maine and if you blink you will miss the town of Upton.

I may repeat this in a month or so and try the east west pass to the South that my coworkers swear by route 2. The scenery along Route 2 is said to be nicer and it is closer to Portland and lobster rolls.

Mr Beamish in 08, Ducky to be smoked with Cheech and Chong, 167 keeps changing venue, Hank Snow clueless as well as bogus and Socrates aborted yet again he posts I abort life is good.

16 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Beak,
An excellent write-up! Adds some variety to your blog. My composition students could take a lesson from your usage of imagery.

The smell of the dairy farms is far worse then the Fresh Kills landfill. The locals tell you that you get used to it but the is a load of %$#%$#% much like the source of the horrible smell.

Oh, I dunno. People can get used to almost anything.

Maybe the locals don't notice the smell because their olfactory nerve and that portion of the brain have adapted over a period of many years.

beakerkin said...

The locals are not used to my NYC sense of humor. Around E Charleston a tiny hamlet I just missed a calf. The farmer ran out and thanked me . I told him I left the barbeque sauce at home anyway. He sat there perplexed scratching his head.

The local dairy farm smell is dreadfull . I have only experienced one odor far worse . The burning fiery smell of roting death after 9-11 will last with me for the remainder of my days.

Dan Zaremba said...

Great writing Beak.
Enjoyed it a lot.
Be gentle with the natives, they are not used to the NYC riff-roughs.

beakerkin said...

Felis you do have a point as my accent was ammusing to the locals.
One person kept asking me to say How are you doing and Bada Bing. I guess to rural folks Jews and Italians look alike.

nanc said...

what was the rare bird you were in search of?

i followed a pileated woodpecker around the better part of a day last year thinking it was the endangered ivory-billed woodpecker - have nearly an entire roll of film to prove it!

there are upwards of 21 varieties of birds i feed in my yard and i've taken up birding only in the last two or three years. we have feeders at nearly every window at our house.

i've learned their songs and some we never see, like the whippoorwill - they're everywhere, but not in my yard!

nanc said...

and you are a foolish little person! we have had our avatars custom made to fit our personalities. substance is far more important than looks - especially when dealing with extremely good looking people such as ourselves - i'm personally a FOX! why, just imagine trying to keep your mind on the content of the blog if you knew i looked like this:

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/he/photo/movie_pix/oscars/77th_academy_awards_red_carpet_arrivals_photos/halle_berry/oscars4.jpg

or if you knew beak looked like this:

http://www.michellerowen.com/blog/images/matthewmcconaghy4.jpg

who would take us seriously? so we've naturally had to disguise ourselves - get a grip anon - not everybody is ugly like you!

but, if you decide you need an avatar to say "ANONYMOUS" - i know just how you can get your very own...and i have a couple in mind as we speak...

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

If I posted my actual photograph I'd have to resign from several secret organizations bent on world conquest.

beakerkin said...

Well here we go again more unwanted posts. If you do not have the courage to leave a name annonymous posts go in the toilet. This policy will be strictly enforced due to the presence of the serial pedophile Socrates who posts under a series of aliases.

As owner I have determined that criminals are not wanted. Posting under multiple aliases also underminrs board integrity.

Drummaster hit the shop vac.

Rzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

More unwanted talentless and cowardly posts eliminated. Life is good

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful drive Beaker. To bad you didn't take pictures! Next time, okay? The only heights we have here in Fls. are either the condos or the sand dune you climb to get to the beach! A change is as good as a vacation! When we lived inland, we would go to a sanctuary that had pileated woodpeckers, then the city passed an ordinance about dead trees. The idiots applied it to the sanctuary, so bye-bye woodpeckers! I was furious! If you've got them Nanc, I hope some of ours are there!
Good morning!

tmw

Always On Watch said...

Mr. Beamish,
If I posted my actual photograph I'd have to resign from several secret organizations bent on world conquest.

I wonder if the same is true for others of us.

nanc said...

oh great - now it looks like i'm talking to myself - again!

a good morning to all!

beakerkin said...

That critique was dumb. A person wants my picture but post annonymously can we say hypocrite.

Correction the debarked trees were not caused by Moose but by Porcupines who frequent the NE Kingdom. Amazingly I have seen only one so far and they are common.

beakerkin said...

There are plenty of swamps in VT. The smell of a swamp is not nearly as bad as that of a dairy farm. Swamps are great places to search for wildlife. The correct term for Jersey is Marsh as they are mostly saltwater areas.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

That's no swamp, that's Howard Dean's campaign HQ...

Freedomnow said...

I would have to say that Beak is racist against cows.

Shame on you...

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I noticed that too, FreedomNow.

Why you be hatin' on cows, Beak? Without cows there could be no ground beef sandwiches. And with no Louisiana Hot Sauce no ground beef sandwich can honestly be called a hamburger. But I digress. You got me all flustered Beak. You hate cows? COWS?

Cows smell so bad you just want to brain them with an air hammer and dissect their carcass into delectible dinner time portions suitable for any backyard grilling. That's the point.

Direct your anger positively, Beak. Go out and get yourself a 64 oz. prime rib steak at a real steakhouse (T.G.I.Fridays is not a steakhouse due to the fact that they do not serve baked potatoes and any place that claims to be a steakhouse that does not serve baked potatoes should be sued for false adverstisement, but again I digress). Anyway, lock down on some genuine cow flesh. Get the primal burn from eating that enemy.

It is then that you can appreciate the smell of cow. It is the smell of their fear. The knowledge that at anytime they're going to be a porterhouse.

Do you cows feel lucky? Well, do ya, punks?