Today, I would like to publicly thank all the folks who made an afternoon of biking in Pine Hill Park with my son so enjoyable. What I find so interesting about Vermont in general is how different people come up with different visions for different parts of it. Last night, the boys and I enjoyed a night of magic at the Paramount theater, the result of a lot of people having a vision for saving and restoring a hundred year old theater (originally vaudeville, a place where Harry Houdini once performed) and today Sim and I got to enjoy a whole warren of biking paths in an area of a local community that was almost entirely woods when I was a kid.
The neat thing about it is that when I was a kid, I had a few memories of this same woods that are still important to me. Once when I was in elementary school, I got lost while on a hike with a group of scouts and my friend, Doug and I, being guys, just figured the best way to get unlost was to simply keep hiking AHEAD of the group faster. It was only when we arived at Rockey Pond that I realized where we were and managed to get home and call my poor, probably worried sick, scout leader. I suspect that I do that a lot in life ... just charge on into the unknown when I am lost assuming that I will find some place that I recognize if I do.
Another memory I have of this woods is grackers. Apparently, there used to be some quarry up there where rations were stored in case the Ruskies attacked the city of Rutland. When they finally decided that it probably wasn't going to happen, they let people come up and get tins of cracker-rations for free. So my mom did ... and we ate crackers in everything for weeks as I recall.
Another memory I have of this same woods has to do with a day that I ran away from home as a kid. I went up to Rocky Pond and found a rock outcropping with a cave in it and I filled it with moss, intending to stay over night only to hear a pack of wild dogs or coyotes around ten that night. at which time I flew down the mountain in the pitch black and decided my beef with my folks wasn't quite important enough to get eaten by dogs for.
Sim and I hiked all over those same rocks today looking for the cave, a relic of some thirty years ago in my own life. We stopped from time to time to play harmonica and share some stories and some laughs and take in the Fall foliage and sunshine. Just an all around great day.
And that is what I like about Vermont, different people having a vision for a place that other people can discover and enjoy. If you get enough people with such visions, the state begins to fill up with opportunities and alternatives to chose from. And what makes every place better is having layers of memories to associate with it. I love the fact that this place that once was associated with the fear of being lost and the fear of being eaten and the fear of eating nothing but crackers the rest of my life is now associated with the joy of time with my son.
Incidentally, I have a few memories of the paramount theater from my youth as well. I went to see the Disney movie FANTASIA there when I was in third grade. The place was FULL of third graders and I swear the popcorn rained out of the balconies like rain. I also had a memorable date or two there. Memories become the spice of a place.
Question for Comment: What is a vision you have for a part of your world?
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