Virtual Hike to the Trapp Family Lodge

The next destination on my Virtual Hike was the Trapp Family Lodge near Stowe, Vermont.

Trapp Family Resort, Stowe Vermont, Green Mountains, virtual hike, covered bridge, barnThe previous destination on my virtual hike was Eden, Vermont.

The virtual hike from Eden to the Trapp Family Lodge went through the foothills of the Green Mountains in Northern Vermont.

Trapp Family Resort, Stowe Vermont, Green Mountains, virtual hike, covered bridge, barnWhich way should I go? The road to the right looks like a better road, but is a dead end.

There were warnings in Google Maps that some of the roads were closed in wintertime and you can see here that the roads are narrow and don’t have a good surface.

Could you imagine these roads in the wintertime?

Trapp Family Resort, Stowe Vermont, Green Mountains, virtual hike, covered bridge, barnThe route was also very scenic as it went through rural areas. There were also some small populated areas that it went through.

Trapp Family Resort, Stowe Vermont, Green Mountains, virtual hike, covered bridge, barnThere was also a covered bridge to pass through along the route. I have some memories of visiting covered bridges in Iowa while growing up. We had some iconic ones there.

Trapp Family Resort, Stowe Vermont, Green Mountains, virtual hike, covered bridge, barnI finally made it to the Trapp Family Lodge after passing by Stowe, Vermont.  The lodge is in a ski area and is very busy in wintertime.

You can probably figure out by the name, that this was started by the von Trapp family from The Sound of Music. When they came to the US in 1942 they settled in Vermont. The lodge is still owned by members of the Trapp family.

I have some great memories of The Sound of Music. My older sister was in the musical when I was a sophomore in High School, and some of the students from my class played the children. I went to all the performances and it inspired me to participate the following years in Oklahoma and The Music Man. I also went to a performance of The Sound of Music a couple years later in a neighboring town with one of my friends. Her older sister also was in the musical with my sister.

I also have memories of the 2013 NBC production. One of our neighbors from when I was in school back in Kansas had his family featured in the Wal-Mart commercials that aired during the show.

I still sing along with the songs whenever I hear them, as long as no one is there to hear me 🙂

I have been setting shorter distances between destinations for better motivation for my daily walking and so far it has been working. I have been walking more each day and have made good progress on my Virtual Hike. I am still a few stops behind on my posts.

Next up is to continue across Vermont to New York, before heading down through the Hudson River Valley. I took a short detour to the south to this destination, but will now head north again where I will cross Lake Champlain on a ferry.

Once I am in New York there will be an interesting literary stop before heading south.

Steven

Images in this post are from Google Maps and Street View.

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To the Stores following Thanksgiving

Did you know that there is historical precedence to digging into the stores after Thanksgiving?

First Thanksgiving - 1621 or 1623 - Plymouth Colony - Pilgrims - Brownists - Thanksgiving FeastThere is of course much debate about when the first true Thanksgiving was. Was it in November of 1621, or was it just simply a spontaneous harvest festival? Was it in July 1623 when they set a feast of Thanksgiving in anticipation of the arrival of the Anne and the Little James?

I will not go into the details of the argument in this post. However, I will focus on 1623 and the arrival of the Anne and the Little James.

The two ships were bringing much needed supplies to the colony as well as additional settlers. Supplies were running very low and when they heard that the ships would soon arrive they held a fast for several days and then a feast of Thanksgiving.

You may wonder how they knew that the ships were arriving. They had been spotted out to sea and a small craft brought the news to the colony. It took the ships a bit longer to arrive than anticipated and the feast was held before they arrived. Therefore, several of my ancestors were late for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day - Pilgrims - Feast - Plymouth Plantation - Plymouth ColonyAt least three of my ancestors were on the Anne which arrived the day after the Thanksgiving feast. The Little James arrived about a week or so later.

Mary Becket later married George Soule who is my Mayflower ancestor.

Francis Sprague and his daughter Mercy Sprague were also my ancestors. Mercy later married William Tubbs.

Thanksgiving Plate, Turkey and Fixings, ThanksgivingEven though they missed the feast, I am sure that there were leftovers just like today. They were probably glad to finally eat something different than what they had on the ship.

Black Friday, Thanksgiving, ads, wrapperMost likely the colonists were digging into the stores on the Anne that same day as they were really anticipating the supplies that were sent.

Today, the stores have big sales to draw people through the doors and into the stores.

Ads, newspaper, Black Friday, Stores, salesHere you can see how many ads can show up for Black Friday in a newspaper from several years ago. By volume they were about 75-80% of the bundle.

Black Friday Ads, ThanksgivingYou can see that there were quite a few ads and lots of specials. Unfortunately, many stores opened up on Thursday afternoon. I remember when stores did not open until a regular time on Friday, then they started opening early, then at midnight, now today they close for just long enough to get ready for the big rush.

Me, I stay home. I like to unwind from Thanksgiving and just have a day of rest.

If only shoppers would go back to the historical precedent and wait until the day after Thanksgiving. Let the workers have a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families.

Now, Black Friday extends to on-line deals that start earlier in the week. You may think that this frees up workers to be with their families on Thanksgiving, but you need to remember that this only further extends the hours of people working in order fulfillment, warehouse and delivery jobs. If you order something during the days before Thanksgiving, you expect to have it by early next week.

Steven

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