Saturday, July 21, 2007

The day after the fair was a little like the day after Christmas. Certainly, the whole atmosphere of the barn was much more relaxed, but you do miss the energy and excitement of the day before. Blake and I were up early, as usual, to bring donuts to the fair. Since the show was over, there was very little to do. Everyone else in the barn was suddenly free to socialize. It's not that people were unfriendly before the show, just that nobody had any time to spare between getting their animals clipped and keeping them clean. Two people from other farms came over and chatted with Blake and I for a little while. They were Connie Gerow and Mel(vin) Irwin. I really enjoyed talking with them because it made me feel like a part of the community. I also spent some quality time with Cricket.I mentioned to Blake and Anna that mom and dad were going to Burlington and they both said I should go, so I did. We took the ferry from Port Kent, NY to Burlington. We went as foot passengers because we just wanted to walk around Burlington.

It was a beautiful day and there were boats all over the lake.
It was the day after the new Harry Potter book came out, and I saw at least 5 people reading it over the course of the day. Two girls on the ferry were sitting right next to each other reading it.
Burlington from the ferry.

This is the top of Church Street, which is the pedestrian-only street with all the shops. I assume this is the church after which the street is named.
This guy was riding a unicycle on a slack line. He was pretty funny. He got all the people clapping and then he kept saying louder, louder, but people just clapped faster until he said, Louder, not faster!
I showed them City Market, where Claire took us, and they got just as big a kick out of it as I did. Mom said it was very similar to a co-op they were members of in CT before I was born. There was a farmer’s market and this local artist, Dug Nap was there selling his prints and Mom got me one that has 2 cows and at the top it says “Girls not gone wild.” I got a T-shirt with Holsteins on it from Ben and Jerry’s, and a couple of post cards and a mug with cow art by the same artist (Woody Jackson).
Some nice Vermont scenery from the ferry on the way back to New York.


The Port Kent ferry terminal.
The Port Kent Amtrack Station. That's all there is to it.

Saturday night at the fair was the tractor pull. There is a huge range of “tractors.” There are regular old tractors, which are called farm stock, there are tractors that just have souped up engines, then there are tractors that look like drag race cars. I liked the farm stock tractors best.