The annual Dandelion Run was today. A glorious, sun-filled half marathon featuring our hills and mountains replete with golden dandelions in full bloom. For our third year, we’ve been thrilled here at Little Gnesta to host several of the runners for this super fun event.
Karen, a delightful guest from the great state of Washington made her annual trek to Newport again this year. While she primarily visited with her family, she also had time to take some drop dead gorgeous pictures of Newport including the Independence Day fireworks from her room, Umea, at Little Gnesta. Enjoy!
…When you’re sure it’s going to rain because the wind is whipping around; and the thunder clouds, with all their shades of grey and white and in between are rolling across the sky. But then the next thing you know, there’s bright blue sky and the sun shining brightly. So, it’s back and forth, all day today and what makes it particularly wonderful is that the air is crisp and relatively cool even as the sun warms everything.
Cyclists are in their second day of riding the Tour de Kingdom and staying
at Little Gnesta B & B we have riders from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Montreal.
We’ve had three glorious days here at Little Gnesta B & B with warm sunny (enough) days and cool nights. The flowers are popping out all over the place encouraging hummingbirds and butterflies to do their things. The colors and light have been fantastic. Sheets are now being dried on the line, picking up the fresh scent of the air here in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.
We’ve had lots of people passing through, staying at Little Gnesta on their way to Montreal and Quebec City from as far south as Texas and then points between like Boston and NYC.
In a few days, we’ll have riders entered in the Tour de Kingdom 5-day, bicycle event here in our beautiful valleys, lakeside and mountains.
Whether you’re walking up the steps to Little Gnesta’s front door or cruising along the Lake Memphremagog bike trail, there are flowers in full bloom. That includes dandelions!
The hyacinths are filling the air with their delicious perfume. One gets a whiff when coming to Little Gnesta’s front door. Along with them are the daffodils, some of which are fragrant. If the dewpoint is just right, you’ll even get a whiff of the violas which are in pots.
Along the bike trail, the trilliums are blooming along with the dog-tooth violets, spring beauties and wild strawberries. The fiddlheads are showing themselves, all curled up before they finally spread their fronds to full length.
This week, we’ve had guests from Maryland and California. All loved our little corner of Vermont and want to return soon.
Spring is sneaking up on us here at Little Gnesta B & B. While the daffodils have barely shown any green at all, the crocuses, pansies and scilla are in full bloom. Along the Lake Memphremagog bike trail, the red winged blackbirds are back with their noisy calls, swooping over the adjacent wetlands there. While one can ride along the dry path, under bright sun and in crisp air, views of snowy trails at Jay Peak are in full view.
While the days of skiing this season are past, and have been since around the 11th of March, there was glorious snow for the two weeks preceding the demise of the white stuff at Mt. Horr, which is about a 30-minute drive from Little Gnesta. Not only was the snow quality magnificent, the grooming, done by Stan, was superb. Views from Mt. Horr over Lake Willoughby are an added bonus. Put this on your calendar for next snow season, it’s only nine months away!
The skiing over the last two weeks has been wonderful, both at our local mstf.net trail system for xc (only 5 minutes from LG) and also at Jay Peak. While the 50-degree temps will have surely ruined our trails down here by the lake, there is still skiable snow up on Mt. Horr at the south end of Lake Willoughby (only 25 minutes away). Stan, who tirelessly and devotedly keeps those trails in pristine condition, reports that the skiing should be good at least for today. Tomorrow, we’re looking at 50 degrees again and possible ruination of the existing snow, even there.
I guess what this all means is that spring is on the way (actually, it’s felt like April most of this winter-too bad that’s the most unpleasant month of the year in these parts!)
Phillip hasn’t needed his sweater for the past week and it looks like his winter coat will soon be shorn off. Once can sense more activity from the birds and there’s a softness to the air, even when it’s cold outside.
Yes, the seasons are changing and soon the ice shanties will be off the lake and the open water will appear again.
The snow finally came a couple of days ago, enough so that they were able to groom the xc ski trails at the Memphremagog Ski Touring Foundation (MSTF). MSTF is only a short five-minute drive from Little Gnesta.
On our way to the trails, we saw skaters on the ice at Gardner Park. This little gem is a seven-minute walk from Little Gnesta. It is maintained by the city which also offers rental skates.
Out on Lake Memphremagog, the ice fishermen were starting to put up their shacks. There was open water just a few weeks ago so it seems funny that the North Country Chamber of Commerce is already selling “Ice Out” raffle tickets. This is a contest every year to see who can come closest to the exact date when the ice opens to open water on Lake Memphremagog. Last year, it happened when newly elected Governor Shumlin was visiting the city, looking out over the water from the dining room at the Eastside Restaurant!
Recently, we hosted travelers who were on their way home to Boston from Quebec City. Newport seemed like the tropics by comparison, they said!
When you stay at Little Gnesta B & B, you never know who will be playing music just across the border or right in Newport’s own downtown. And just last weekend, at the Music Box in Craftsbury, the Flat Top Trio played their own brand of blue grass to a mostly full house. The Music Box is only about 35 minutes from Little Gnesta. It is a cozy/homey venue where you can get up close and personal with the musicians. Locals come out for the concerts which happen every few weeks or so.
