June 15, 2024, Sutton, VT
Bill & Glen started their day by having breakfast at Glen’s favorite weekend breakfast spot, the Busy Bee Diner in Glover, VT. The fifteen mile drive brought us to a tiny, eleven seat diner where everyone knew your name. It was a two person operation, the cook and the greeter/cashier/dishwasher. There wasn’t anything fancy about the menu but the food was delicious.
On the way back to the house we stopped at a local building supply place for materials to make a small drywall repair for Glen. The unfortunate thing about drywall repair is that the materials don’t generally come in small packages. At least we didn’t have to buy a full sheet of drywall. They actually just gave us a small cut piece from a previous order. In any event we installed the patch and applied tape and round one of the drywall compound.
Glen is a gun enthusiast who has two large gun safes in his living room. One of his favorite pastimes is skeet shooting and he is active in a local club that caters to that interest. That afternoon we visited his club, the Northeast Kingdom Skeet & Sporting Clay Club. It turns out that the club is one of the preeminent shooting clubs in Vermont.
It is a very cool place with a nice clubhouse with a large, attached pavilion for protection from the elements. There are nice facilities for each type of shooting event, the star being the sporting clay course that winds up and down the mountainside. We drove the course and Glen showed us how it works, stopping at several stands and “pulled” several clay birds at one of the stands so we could see how they flew and what directions they came from. It would present a huge shooting challenge and gave us a real appreciation for those who master the sport. A normal shoot would have a person shoot at 100 birds from about ten different stands. Although a select few have come close, no one has ever had a perfect score.
Bill prepared one of his standard chicken stir fries for dinner.
June 16, 2024, Sutton, VT
If it was good Saturday it would probably be good Sunday. So, along with Sandy this time, we returned for breakfast at The Busy Bee.
Today we visited Burke Mountain Ski Resort. Glen drove us up the toll road to the top of the mountain. The road is steep, of course, with some really hairy grades and switchbacks. Glen used to drive a school bus and halfway up the road is a small meadow with a pavilion and trellis to which Glen occasionally delivered wedding parties in a full sized school bus. It’s hard to imagine making some of those turns in a bus! The views are beautiful from both the top and the wedding venue. Returning to the bottom of the hill, we toured a lovely campground operated by the resort. It’s one we’ll keep in mind next time we’re here.
Next stop was Kingdom Trails. This is the 100+ mile mountain bike trail system that the Canadian couple we met a couple of days ago was here to ride. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and there we lots of bikers on the trails and in the center enjoying post ride beverages. The center is in a beautiful area and there are upscale lodges and restaurants nearby. And both the center and the nearby village of East Burke have an attractive, hip sports vibe.
That evening we had dinner at the Lyndonville House of Pizza. Like everywhere we stopped in the area, Glen was known by name by both the proprietors and at least some of the customers. And, of course, our pizzas and Glen’s calzone were delicious.
Returning to the house we took part in our weekly Sunday evening Zoom session with the six Stine siblings.