Our arrival in Vermont

This is a sunset on Lake Erie near Janeen’s house which Dad took on Wednesday night. It was so beautiful and truly amazing. You can’t believe the size of it and it’s the smallest of the Great Lakes. While we were at Janeen’s we saw an incredible (can’t think of a better word) bronze sculptures display. The artist’s name is Angela Johnson and her website is http://www.ajsculptures.com/. It’s called The Healing Power of Jesus Christ. It moved us both to tears. Of course, you weren’t allowed to take pictures. We had a wonderful time at Janeen’s.

Thursday morning we left at 6. We crossed just a tiny corner of Pennsylvania and got to New York. The toll roads are rather interesting because there aren’t many exits but every 30 miles or so there’s a service area. You can buy gas, eat at a McDonald’s or some other restaurant and shop at a gift shop. There’s also usually some historical information about the area. The toll roads are the best roads. The rest of the roads are abominable!
After the toll roads came Bennington, VT. My favorite place so far. I can't wait to go back one p day to check it out. First we saw this monument to a Revolutionary War hero's wife--Molly Stark. You can see it for miles.


Here is the Colonel. He's famous for saying to his troops: "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" A little old lady with a thick Massachuesetts accent insisted on taking our picture for us. We had been traveling for nearly ten hours.
Molly Stark is a real hero around NH and VT. For miles between Bennington and Manchester, we saw signs for another obelisk for Molly, but turned off before we got to it. She has churches, schools, taverns etc. etc. named after her. We followed the Molly Stark Trail over the "mountain" but turned off before we got to another monument to her. When we got gas, this is what we saw:



They have full service gas in Bennington and the attendant was a real character. He told us to be careful of going over the "mountain" because there might be snow. It had been closed the weekend before because of a big storm. He also said he didn't know what was on the other side because he'd never been over there!

We've spent the last two days getting an apartment and getting acquainted with this area. We're both a little turned around. It's beautiful here--everywhere you look is a photo op. It will be prettier in a couple of weeks when the deciduous trees have gotten their green leaves. I want to take many, many more photos. This is typical:


This was taken after we left Sharon, VT.
We're going to church today at the Montpelier Ward which is just around the corner and up a very steep hill. All Garth can say is "I should have brought the four-wheel drive!" Everyone has alluded to the snow and hard winters. Our landlords winter in Florida. I can't wait!
We're anxious to get started on our work. We've been told that there is much to do here. We'll start our work tomorrow. We love and miss each and every one of you.