We left and headed oh…south-ish to one of our favorite Vermont towns, Bristol. Nestled in some hills and mountains, it is quite picturesque.
We had snow shoed up a mountain there back in February over President’s Day.
This time we were ready to tackle it with just our hiking boots, which surprisingly was more of a challenge than in snowshoes. This time, I also brought my camera.
We had breakfast at the village bakery (a cute bagel, yes, “cute” as in “oh your steak-and-shake fries are so cute” and locally roasted ice coffee is the perfect way to begin any Saturday morning)
Beth and I began our ascent, which involved walking out of town and through an adorable residential neighborhood. The trailhead was, you know, in the back of the residential area. (totally normal) We hiked up, hike, hike, hike…it was lovely! We hiked down…down…down…down.
We get to the base, and there was a middle-aged woman standing at the bottom with a dog on a leash; thus begins another totally normal day in my life:
Lady: I need your help…I was hiking and heard a “purr” and looked up in the tree and noticed it was my cat that ran away 2 weeks ago. I’m going to go get my car…would you ladies be able to stay here?
ME/BW: Sure! (at this point, beth and I are thinking “what is a car going to do?” and “please fat cat, don’t jump out of the tree”)
Lady comes back with car, and you know, random neighbor that was house sitting for woman when cat ran away, who she just happened to pass while driving back to the site. She also brought a beach bag, towel, leash and a four foot plank of wood. We didn’t have the heart to tell her the plank of wood wasn’t going to do much, when the cat was at least 12 feet up there. But who am I to speak up, the cat lover and experienced cat rescuer that I am. (I’m more of a Great Dane person than anything)
Lady yells for cat for a while, we encourage someone to ask a neighbor for a ladder, so that introduces the owner of the ladder, and kindergarten age son to the mix.
Lady climbs into tree, cat climbs higher, she’s eventually able to secure the leash, cat freaks out, looses it’s grip flies off the tree and it’s fall is broken by the branches it is momentarily “hung” in as the fat cat with affixed leash fall to the ground…at this point twenty something daughter and mother are walking to the trailhead and see the whole thing unfold. (what a sight) and of course they know woman in tree and cat (small town life, I heart it). So neighbor who lent a ladder to the cat rescue effort says, let me go get a cat carry box thing, my wife used to run a rescue center for cats, we’ve got some extra ones.
That was that. Cat is seamlessly placed in carry box. Beth and I the world changers that we are, head into town for a bite of lunch, and are thanked several times for our efforts.
We wrapped up our day with lunch at a deli/ general store/ wine shop. I had a turkey sandwich, amazing iced tea, and Beth and I split a piece of raspberry cake!
We did a spot of shopping; I bought 2 silver rings, Sarah B. There was a dangerous sale, buy one get one ½ off!
2 comments:
I love the pictures. Especially the cat.
And according to my mom, these pictures made her homesick for Autumn on the East Coast. It is a much more subtle season change in San Diego.
you lived a charmed life, you know?
i always loved your reasoning behind why steak n shake fries are so good (they're CUTE!). i told that one to my dad once and he thinks you're cra-zay.
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