The Distracted Wanderer

A few weeks back, my youngest daughter Jamie and I had the chance to travel to the small town of Chester, Vermont which touts itself as "The Vermont you've been hoping to find. The town with a heart located in the heart of Vermont. " Honestly? They're right! I was just as enchanted with the town I was in as I was of the Bed & Breakfast where we spent the weekend - the Inn Victoria . Located directly on Main Street, USA, er, Main Street in Chester, the Inn Victoria was built circa 1850 as the private residence of Doctor Abram Lowell whose name graces a nearby lake and State Park. Dr. Lowell conducted his medical practice in a small building next to the main house which is now known as Dr. Brown's cottage .  The building is currently being used as a bicycle rental shop but is undergoing renovations to become a cozy family retreat that should be available for use towards the end of this year. Located just steps away from the main house you can just see it...

I had signed up to be on the list to receive emails from a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Vermont called the Inn Victoria and about a month ago I received an email from them that said they were looking for volunteers for a "Work Weekend" wherein they'd exchange lodging and board for a little elbow grease in getting the inn fixed up for the season.  It sounded like an excellent deal to me so I immediately fired off an email and was fortunate to be amongst the first to do so and secure a spot. On Friday morning Jamie and I set off from Connecticut around 10:00 a.m. to make the roughly 160-mile drive north to Chester , a small town in southeast Vermont.  For a change the weather seemed downright spring-like and the traffic was light as we made our past Connecticut's Capitol city of Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts into the less populated area of Massachusetts north of Holyoke.  I'd only driven to Vermont once before myself and that was in February 2009 when...