Walter on the 3rd hole at Green Mountain National 

This summer went fast....

It is amazing... we are already at Labor Day. 2/3rds of the year 2010 are behind us. It seemed to go very quickly.

At lunch yesterday after a round of golf, several of us were marveling at how quickly summer has gone bye. In 10 weeks, if not sooner, we will all be talking about the approaching ski season. If mother nature is in our favor, we might already be skiing...Just look at the snow storm that covered parts of the Alps 2 days ago.

Snow will come soon enough to the mountains (we hope!). For the next few weeks, we look forward to the prettiest non-snow season of the year... Fall Foliage. The heat wave we are experiencing this week will be pushed aside. The eastern slopes of the mountains are starting to cool down as the hours of sunshine striking them continues decreasing with the approaching Autumnal Equinox on September 23rd. A few weeks later, Killington usually experiences peak fall colors, as not enough sunlight is falling on the leaves of the trees to allow sufficient photosynthesis to take place. When that occurs, the maple trees turn red, birch and poplar trees turn yellow, and oak trees turn orange. The mountainsides erupt in a brilliant display of color, forming the perfect backdrop for a hike in the woods, or a few more rounds of golf.

In the mountains, Mother Nature always puts on a show... it's our responsibility to get outside and enjoy it!

Where ever you may be this Labor Day Weekend, stay well, keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Birch Ridge Inn at Killington. 

Although the temps are in the low 90's today, the calendar does say it's September 1.

The Fall Foliage season in Vermont is just around the corner. Once again this year we will be covering the natural progression of the changing foliage colors at Killington with a daily picture of the forest behind the inn. Currently there are some nascent signs of the fall change in a few of the trees, but green is still the predominant color. You can check back daily to see the progression of color over the next 8 weeks, as we go from green to multicolored and ultimately to twig.

Also with the Fall Foliage Gallery, you will find fall foliage pictures all the way back to 2006, so you can track how 2010 differs from past history. When peak fall foliage color this year will happen in Killington is anyone's guess. But Mother Nature always puts on a beautiful show.

Where ever you may find yourself, stay cool, keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Hacking and slashing... Mary tackles a tight lie in the junk approaching the 18th green on Green Mountain National. 

Who needs the Mayan Calendar when you have 80's pop... Buster Poindexter predicted the feeling for today perfectly...

Me mind on fire
Me soul on fire
Feeling hot hot hot
Party people
All around me
Feeling hot hot hot

So we go rum-bum-bum-bum
Yeah we rum-bum-bum-bum
Feeling hot hot hot
Feeling hot hot hot

We walked 18 holes today on Green Mountain National. Temps when we started at 8:30 were hovering around the 80 mark. By the time we finished, the car read a toasty 89. For readers to the south, that may not sound like a lot, but for the Green Mountains of Vermont in late August, that is blistering heat.

If the weathermen are reading their tea leaves right, the heat will continue at Killington thru Friday after which a cool down to the comfortable 60's will take place next week...right on queue after Labor Day to start the fall season.

Where ever you may find yourself, stay cool, keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Quechee Gorge looking back towards the Quechee Gorge bridge. 

While cool temperatures have been the norm in Vermont the last week or so, today temperatures spiked in the region to the mid 90's. Summer is back in the north country.... at least for a few more days.

Having a rare day to ourselves, we played like tourists for a few hours and hiked down the Quechee Gorge on our way to do some shopping in Lebanon New Hampshire. Even though we have been across the Quechee Gorge bridge hundreds of times, and have sent guests down to hike the gorge, we never had the opportunity to do it ourselves. It was a nice diversion for a few minutes during our day.

The trip down the gorge is very simple. In one direction (south), it is about a half mile walk from the bridge to the gorge floor down a well marked trail. The walk was simple and straight forward and the views at the bottom were classic Vermont.

Once we were done hiking back up to the bridge, we headed in the opposite direction (north) to the Quechee Dam. The dam is a concrete structure with wooden slats on its top to control the flow of water into the gorge. A small power plant takes water from the pond behind the dam and converts it into electricity. The whole operation was "green" before "green" was in style.

The whole walk in both directions took a little over an hour. It was a nice diversion in the middle of a warm summer day. Where ever you may find yourself, keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Looking east from the restaurant atop Killington Peak 

Temperatures today at Killington are barely cracking the mid 70's. With bright sunshine and a few puffy clouds, it made for a great day to begin our late summer hikes to the top of Killington Peak.

Being the first real hike of the summer (most of our recreation time has been spent at the golf course) we took the easy route to the peak. We followed the dirt road that winter visitors to Killington would know as the old Snowshed Crossover. Climbing 2000 feet in the process, the road winds around the eastern side of the resort up Skye Peak towards Bear Mountain before turning up the southeast flank of Killington Peak.

At the peak, there was definitely a hint of fall in the air. Temperatures were in the upper 50's with a light breeze. Even in full sunshine, it was cool if you were not in a sheltered spot. We brought a picnic lunch, found a nice place to sit, and enjoyed the scenery as the reward for our hike. It also reminded us that we need to begin the process to strengthen the legs for next winters ski season. A few more hikes over the next couple of months will do the trick.

Changing subjects -- last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Cape Cod to attend my fathers 85th birthday celebration. His "true" birthday will be coming up in a few days...Happy Birthday Dad!

Where ever you may find yourself, keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Bear claw marks at Birch Ridge 

Since my last post, it has been a strange couple of weeks.

The town of Killington has been in a Camelot weather pattern. Generally we have had nice sunny days accompanied by plenty of rain many nights. As a result, the greenery of the "Green Mountains" is on full display. Gardens around the inn are very happy at the combination of abundant sunshine and plenty of water.

While the gardens are doing well, we have also had some weirdness at the inn. It started a few weeks ago with a very aggressive black bear tearing at the doors to the shed that surrounds our dumpster. Our trash service, Casella, had replaced most of the dumpsters in town at the start of last winter to make the pick up process more automated. Unfortunately, the new dumpsters were a tempting buffet table for a family of black bears patrolling the Killington Road in the early evening hours. Every open restaurant in Killington has at least one bear story from the last few weeks. At it now stands, the problem seems to be solved at the inn. Casella has installed a "Bear Bar" on the dumpster and reinforced the covers with some serious steel cross members to prevent bears from gaining access. We have not been visited by the bear in the last week, since the newly modified dumpster has arrived.

The "Camelot" weather has also created its own problems.

Early last week, a thunderstorm rumbled through Killington. At about 9:15 at night last Tuesday, the well at the inn was struck by lightning. The pump in our well is about 600 feet underground, fed by a 4 conductor 4 gauge cable. The lightning fused the cable together, shorting out the well. In the process, it also did something to the connection between the well and the well casing, resulting in the 2 being "welded" together. 2 days of plumbers, an excavator with a back hoe, 600 feet of new cable, a new 5 horsepower motor and pump, some sanitizing chemicals, and a box of water filters later, we had water back at the inn by dinner time on Thursday.

Plumbers getting ready to drop a new pump 600 feet down the inn's well. Click to enlarge..

All the while this was happening, we had a group of golfers staying at the inn associated with the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). They were playing at a tournament at Green Mountain National Golf Course. We supplied all of our guests plenty of bottled water for personal use, and got minimal water service back at the inn late Wednesday afternoon to allow showers and toilets to function. It could have been a lot worse, but we got great response time from our contractors to take care of the excavation and plumbing work quickly.

From a golf standpoint, both Mary and I won our preliminary matches in Green Mountain National's Presidents Cup tournament. Mary made it to the finals of the women's division, where she lost on the 18th hole to our friend Nina. I made it through 2 preliminary matches, before loosing in the semi-finals on the 17th hole to a new pass holder at Green Mountain, Vito. With everything happening at the inn, the few rounds of golf we had a chance to play were great diversions.

The rest of August looks like it will be relatively busy at the inn. Vacationers seem to be responding to the call of the mountains this summer. And that's a good thing for Killington.

Where ever you may find yourself, remember to keep it in the fairway and don't forget the sunscreen.

Tight Lies - ball plugged in fairway off 10th tee at Green Mountain National 

it has been a great week to play golf in Killington.

Summer has finally settled down with comfortable weather; not the steam heat we had in early July. The golf courses are a resplendent green, the result of a mild winter and sufficient summer rainfall (mostly at night no less!). And with the town getting ready to host the American Junior Golf Association with tournaments on both the Killington Resort and Green Mountain National Golf Courses, the greens keepers and their teams have been primping their courses to perfection.

On the links, both Mary and I have had a good week so far. We both won our scheduled matches this week in the Presidents Cup Tournament at Green Mountain National, which allows us to advance to the next round in the elimination tournament. I had a tough match against the head greens keeper at Green Mountain, Peter. Our match went down to the 18th hole where I nearly sunk at 60 footer for a birdie, finishing up with par and taking the match 2-0. Mary had a little easier time, finishing her match on the 12th hole. I am enjoying having some "serious" rounds of golf, after sitting on the sidelines all last summer doing shoulder re-hab. Golf is such a great game.

Next week at Killington the AJGA is in town with juniors 12 to 18 competing in the Killington Junior Golf Championship at Green Mountain National. At the same time, the Killington Resort Course will be hosting the Vermont Junior Open. If you want to get a snapshot of the future of the PGA and LPGA tours, visit Killington next week to watch the Juniors play. If you are in the mood to play yourself next week, give us a call. In addition to the two Killington courses, we can get you out on many of the other courses in the Killington area.

It's Cooler in the Mountains at Killington in August....it really is! But where ever you may be...keep the ball in the fairway and don't forget your sunscreen.