Mary watering flower gardens at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

It does not seem possible. Where did the summer go?

It has been a pretty good summer at Killington. On the wet side for sure, but even that has corrected itself over the last 2 weeks. The rain that deluged Killington during late July and early August has given way to sunny dry days and cool nights as we head into fall. So dry in fact that Mary is out this weekend watering flower gardens around the inn.

The benefits of all that early rain are all around. Flower gardens have gone crazy. The flower pots on the light poles along the Killington Road look the best that they have ever been. Golf courses in Killington are all in great shape. For those of you down country who have been following my game, I did win my quarter final match last week in the Presidents Cup at Green Mountain National, beating my friend, Ken Lee, 5 and 4. I have a week off from competitive golf before the President's Cup finals next Sunday morning. Of course the fact that I am even writing about the President's Cup finals is another sure sign that summer is coming to a close.

Around the mountain, rumors and other controversies have been very quiet. Killington Pico Skl Resort Partners, the operators of the Killington Resort, are clearly working to improve the ski product for next winter. Grass mowing and brush cutting crews are out all over the mountain trimming trails to get them ready for the first snow of the year. Progress is being made, albeit slowly, on installing the new high speed quad at Bear Mountain to Skye Peak. And they also provided their lodging partners with package prices for lift tickets for the upcoming winter season, much earlier than in prior years. If you would like to price out a ski and stay package at the Birch Ridge Inn, you can go to our Ski Package Calculator on the inn's website to start planning your winter trips.

But before the first snows of winter, we (hopefully) have a few more weeks of nice weather to chase little white balls down manicured lawns, or commune with nature on hikes across mountain peaks and valley floors. Until the next time, keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sunscreen (and find your sweaters...fall is coming)!

Early color appearing in trees around Killington 

Finally the wet weather pattern has moved out. Weather around Killington over the last week has been very nice, although a little cool in the evenings.

The change to cool weather is but one sign that the seasons are getting ready to change at Killington. All through the mountains, while the predominate color of the leaves on the trees is still green, many trees have started their annual display of fall colors.

The tree in todays picture was taken this afternoon during one of our walks along back roads from the inn. More than a few trees are starting to show similar colors throughout the mountain. While I can not say with any precision that the season this year is early, I did check back to prior years on the blog. The first mention of leaves changing color last year was August 28. By coincidence, August 28 was the first mention of color also in 2006. So it would appear that, at least unscientifically, the change in seasons is running about a week ahead of the last 2 years at Killington.

It is way to early to tell about the quality or duration of this years fall foliage season in Vermont. Over the next week, I will begin providing a daily picture of the inn as a "Fall Foliage Cam", to document the annal pageant that is Autumn in the Green Mountains.

Until then, of course, keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sunscreen!

7th green at Green Mountain National Golf Course 

And no... the headline does not refer to some of the beverages served in local establishments!

For the last 2 days, Killington has not experienced torrential rains. Both the Green Mountain National and Killington Resort Golf Courses have been soaked over the last several weeks. But a couple of days of partly sunny skies combined with temps in the mid 70's are making a huge difference.

I was fortunate enough to play at Green Mountain National this morning. Course conditions were excellent The fairways had dried out enough to allow carts on them using the 90 degree rule. Earlier in the week the greenskeeper had the greens vericut and lightly top dressed with sand. The greens were in pretty good shape today. A couple of more cuts and a roll, and they will be in fabulous shape for next week (assuming we don't have any more torrential rain.) I played my quarter-final round in the Presidents Cup this morning versus Nick Chiarella from Dominick's Pizza (behind Cafe Toast at the rear of the parking lot with Choices. Good hand made pizza by the way... well worth a try) I had my low round of the year so far, which was a good thing because I was giving Nick 6 strokes. The match went to the 17th hole where I rolled in my par put to close out Nick 2 and 1.

With any luck, we are moving out of the very rainy pattern. With fall foliage season just around the corner, I would like to get a few more rounds of golf in sunny, warm, weather.

If you have a chance to get out on the course, keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sunscreen!

Cutting in ceiling trim in Room 5. 

The only good thing about the last several weeks is that I had planned on spending a lot of time in doors at the inn painting. Of course, I never would have guessed that watching paint dry would become a short term occupation.

Since mid July, the Killington area has been unusually wet. The mountains in Vermont are called the Green Mountains for a reason, but we have basically had thunderstorms and periods of torrential rain almost every day in Killington since the Wine Festival.

The good news in all of this is that I had planned on working indoors the last couple of weeks, catching up on inn renovations that got pushed aside by my volunteer work in June and July. The good news is that Mary and I got 2 rooms completely remodeled, and a third room refreshed with new ceiling paint. The bad news is that golf has been pushed aside, but that picks up again next week weather permitting.

Last week, Mary did get out on Green Mountain National for the Lady's Club Championship. Mary's play was "challenging", but so it goes. This years Lady's Champion at Green Mountain is Nina Tasi, a good friend of ours and former innkeeper. This coming week, it's my turn. In addition to the men's club championship, I also have a semi-final match to play for the club's presidents cup. As I have not played in over a week, it should be interesting.

Hopefully the weather pattern in New England will dry out in the next few weeks. If you have a chance to get out on the course, keep it in the fairway...and I hope you need to use sunscreen!

2008 Check Ceremony at the Birch Ridge Inn. Team Killington member Dr. George Lyons, Innkeepers Bill Vines and Mary Furlong, Team Killington organizers Dick and Noel Gluck, and team member Charlotte Lang. (L-R) 

Congratulations to all of the "Team Killington" members who participated in the VT-NH Race for the Cure to raise money for the Susan G Komen foundation this past weekend. Special thanks go out to team organizers Dick and Noel Gluck. For the last 10 years, Dick and Noel have been gathering their family and friends together each July to help raise money to fight breast cancer. Late Sunday afternoon, after the "race", team members joined Dick and Noel at their home for a post race barbeque. This year, Team Killington had over 100 members and raised close to $10K to support the Komen Foundation.

Mary and I are happy that we have been able to support Dick and Noel's effort for Team Killington over the years. Once again this year, we donated the proceeds from a special "Team Killington Brunch" to the effort. This years contribution, made possible by all those who attended the brunch at the end of June, came to $869.68

Around town, Killington is slowly drying out from last weeks heavy rains. I did have a chance to visit Green Mountain National Golf Course yesterday for a round of golf with some friends. The course was pretty soft from all the rain (read no run). But everything surely is green and lush! Until the next post, keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.

Sampling wine in the tent at the K1 Gondola Base 

Over the last several weeks, some times I have felt like I was trying to drink from a fire hose. I have spent the last 6 weeks working as the producer for the Killington Wine Festival as part of my duties as a member of the board of directors of the Killington Chamber of Commerce. It has been a wild ride...a lot of people got to enjoy Killington, and some very nice wine was consumed along the way.

While there were many events associated with the Killington Wine Festival over the weekend, the primary event was the "Grand Tasting at 4241". This year it was a split event between a tent at the base of the K1 gondola, and the restaurant at top of Killington Peak. 100 or so wines were set up for sampling in the tent. Almost 200 were available at the peak.

I arrived at the mountain in the early morning to coordinate setting up the days activities. At 1:00 PM, when the gates opened, over 300 people were queued in line to begin tasting. I had a great team of volunteers at the gate checking people in. Things were going great until around 1:45 when I got a message from Killington Operations that they would be shutting down the K1 Gondola at 2:00 PM for 15 minutes of so to let a thunderstorm pass.

Right on time at 2:00 PM, there was a clap of thunder and the gondola stopped running. By this time we had 200 people in the tent at the base of K1 and 250 people in the peak restaurant. Everybody was having a great time because we had lots of wine to sample, and some great food made by chamber volunteers and vendors participating in the festival. Then the rains came!

One of the reasons we selected the site at the K1 Gondola for the tent was because it offered good drainage. It has a slight downward slope that would not collect water...very important as the tent was installed on Wednesday afternoon. After all, we were trying to build a wine pavilion, not a coy pond. Then the rains kept coming!

At about 2:15, torrential rains blanketed Killington. In the tent, we did not think much of it...everyone was carrying on, drinking wine, eating cheese, listening to an ensemble of players from the Killington Music Festival. Then the rain came down harder!

By 3:00, the gondola has now been down for an hour. Chris Nyberg, the president of Killington, and I have a quick conversation about evacuating Killington Peak. We really did not want to truck 250 people down the mountain in a driving thunder storm. We decide we are going to hold everyone in place to ride the storm out at the peak, hoping for a break in the weather to allow the K1 Gondola to run again. Then the rain started to come down so hard, I was beginning to look for the ghost of Charlton Heston. It was raining so hard it seemed biblical...

Then the dam broke! The Red Sea parted...Literally!

The down hill grade of the tent funneled a nice river of water throughout the area. 1 to 2 inches of water swept down hill, mixing with the red clay under surface, producing a nice wine colored slurry as it passed through the tent. It was not enough to cause any damage, but enough to make everyones feet very wet. Ladies in stylish summer shoes were particularly hard hit. But by now, everyone had been tasting wine for 2 hours. The great mood of the crowd was not going to be defeated by a little water. Besides, everyone in the tent could head home....the people on the peak might be stuck for the night...

And then, just after 4:00, as if on queue, the skies broke, the rain stopped, the thunder storm had moved a safe distance away, and the peak evacuation could begin.

At about 4:20 the first survivors from Killington Peak arrived at the K1 Base. They were grinning from ear to ear! They had been trapped for almost 3 hours on the top of Killington for a spectacular natural light show with 200 different kinds of wine to sample, and stories to tell for years to come.

In running the event, I would have preferred a clear, sunny day...but then again that does not have quite the drama of a good Vermont thunderstorm.

I intend to head out for a few rounds of golf this week as I catch up on life. I will post picture out takes from the wine festival in the coming days as I process the photos. Until then, keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.