Dog Mountain - St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Last Thursday, we packed up our hatchback and went on a road trip to Vermont. In many ways, this road trip was a first for us - a first to Vermont, a first with Lady and a first in our new hatchback. 

We had planned on going to Vermont last year around August, shortly after when Lady joined our family but we thought it would be too hot to go then and decided to postpone the trip (and going this time in early June wasn't unbearably hot - there was a nice breeze when we got there late afternoon and evenings get chilly since it's up in the mountains). Unfortunately when we postpone things, sometimes it falls completely off of our radar. But since we already had a trip to New York planned (we go up once a year around Memorial Day weekend to visit his parents resting place), we decided to piggy back off of our visit to New York and drive up to Vermont as well. 

Why Vermont?

Well, there is a place called Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury and it is a beautiful and wonderful place for dogs and dog lovers. It was founded by artist Stephen Huneck and his wife Gwen when they bought the property back in 1995. There, on 150 acres, you'll find hiking trails, dog ponds, an art gallery and also the Dog Chapel, where people leave photos and letters to their dogs who have crossed the rainbow bridge. The Dog Chapel was actually the primary reason why I wanted to go there. I was so compelled to leave something for my boys - letters, photos and paper cranes. And that's exactly what we did, along with a letter and a crane for all our friends' pups who had passed.

It may sound a bit silly, but the months leading up to this trip was such an emotional roller coaster for me. I went from being giddy and excited to sad and anxious. All the while, I was anticipating the moment of walking into the chapel because it felt as though I would be given an opportunity to have visiting hours with Piri and Bartles. And walking into the chapel and seeing the walls of remembrance filled with photos and letters was everything I imagined it to be and more. I would truly say that Dog Mountain is a must visit for anyone who has ever had dog in their life.

In the car, as we got closer to Dog Mountain, we quickly changed our music to "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede (Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack - which proved to be our theme song over the course of the trip), and we also made up stories of Piri and Bartles and the rest of the sunflower gang who were riding inside Despereaux on their way to meet us (Despereaux is our old Matrix, which now has been so unbelievably souped up from when we were driving it and is able to navigate and drive on its own and fly and do other awesome things). Doing this felt like we were all still a part of the same story, the same narrative, and I loved that.

And as soon as we got out of the car, Lady welcomed the place, and perhaps said hello to Piri and Bartles and the rest of the sunshine gang, by rolling in dirt. Twice. And got her new cooling jacket all dirty. How wonderfully awesome, no?

After spending some time inside the chapel, the three of us decided to go on the hiking trails. We didn't plan on having Lady go leashless because we had never done that with her and wasn't sure if she'd run away (she also doesn't hear well so it would be hard for us to call her back to us if she got far away). And it just so happened that on Thursday morning after we had loaded our car, I opened our door for Lady to trot over to the car where Yangkyu was waiting to put her inside, only she happened to notice a squirrel across the street and bolted after it. She only stopped when the squirrel went up a tree. That was when I realized that Lady was still super fast and that she would bolt, not trot, after critters (I noticed that she did during walks but never in my imagination did I think that she would run so fast). But seeing how mellow she was we decided to try and let her roam free and she was completely fine. She even waited for me to catch up. Lady smelled endlessly, trotted and was so immensely happy that it made me happy, too. And that's when I thought, "I would love to come here every year."

After exploring parts of the trails, we headed back down to check out the gallery and the gift shop, where we bought a magnet, welcome mat and a dog prayer banner. Dog Mountain is solely supported on donations and proceeds from the gift shop so it's sorely appreciated when people make purchases or make a donation at the chapel (or online).

Before leaving we made one more stop at the chapel because I wanted to say my good-byes.

It was so bittersweet to leave this wonderful place. But I am hoping that we will be back. If not next year then some time later. 

There are a few lodging choices in St. Johnsbury and we ended up choosing the Comfort Inn. In all honesty, we didn't have high expectations but it ended up being a great place to stay the night. They have amazing green space out in the front which was ideal to walk Lady and while they put us on the first floor, which we didn't mind, the room was clean. Sometimes it's a hit and miss for us at these types of lodgings as sometimes the rooms seem more unkempt than ones that are probably not designated for travelers with pets (whereas when we were traveling to Key West, we decided to stay at pricer places, where rooms always felt clean).

After checking in, we ended up having dinner at Riley's Fish Shack, right near Dog Mountain and is dog friendly as well. Their seating area, which is outdoors, allows for people to bring their dogs, and there is also a large patch of grass for dogs and kids to play. Unfortunately some of the gift shop places - The Farmer's Daughter and Maple Grove Farms were closed by the time we ventured back out again and so we decided to head about 20 or so miles to the town of Danville to check out The Forgotten Village at Greenbank Hollow. After riding a bit and then turning on to a dirt road for a little over a mile, we got to the bridge that marks the start of the forgotten village. There we snapped a few photos and trekked a little inside after crossing the bridge, but then decided to turn back because we were nearing sunset and there are no street lights and we didn't want to be caught out there in complete darkness. I have a wild imagination and wild imaginations and dark places don't go well together.

We stayed just one night in St. Johnsbury and headed out early the next day to stop at Brattleboro, Vermont, for a bite to eat before heading down to New Jersey to meet a few friends for dinner. 

While a short road trip, we enjoyed it throughly. And while it seems like a long drive from Virginia to Long Island, Long Island to St. Johnsbury, St. Johnsbury to Brattleboro to Fort Lee back to Centreville - it actually didn't feel all that bad. The only time we hit traffic was coming back home in Maryland and because we had downloaded lots of new songs and podcasts, we were entertained throughout the trip. And as much as we drove and went sightseeing, we did get a good amount of time to rest and sleep.

We're not sure where our next road trip with Lady will take us but we're looking forward to it. There are still a few things we are learning about Lady but we now know that she does incredibly well during long car rides, is ok leashless in areas that doesn't have critters and she still gets a bit iffy with dogs who get in her face but we are now more adept at handling the situation so that she doesn't growl and get grumpy. She is otherwise so friendly with people and loves it when they come to her and pet her. Lady also is calm and does well just chilling next to us while we eat. She doesn't fuss and just lets us enjoy our time. She is an incredibly good girl. I hope she enjoyed her trip as much as we did. And I hope Piri, Bartles and the sunshine gang enjoyed it as well.