Riders in Killington Classic Parade to Rutland 

It is truly hard to tell how many motorcycle enthusiasts have traveled to attend the Killington Classic. Newspaper and TV reports indicate that somewhere between 1000 and 2000 have made the trek to the mountains, but I am assuming that these are guesses at best. What ever the number, there are clearly a lot of motorcycle riders in the area.

Last night, many cyclists took part in the grand parade to Rutland. In front of the inn, the parade lasted about 9 minutes, with a constant flow of motorcycles during that time. It was quite impressive on a warm late summer evening.

Killington Classic Banner 

The fourth annual Killington Classic Motorcycle Touring Rally rolled into town last night for 4 days of events throughout the region. While it is too early to tell how many participants this years rally will bring to the area, historically there have been several thousand motorcycle enthusiasts who have attended the event each year.

The Killington Classic features a collection of organized rides through out the Green Mountains. Today's activities feature a motorcycle tour of scenic Route 100, followed by a Caribbean Fiesta with Cuban Pork Roast at the Killington Grand Hotel. Friday's events include a guided covered bridge tour, and the Grand Parade in the evening to downtown Rutland and the Vermont State Fair.

Killington and Skye Peak, Killington VT 

The Labor Day weekend in Killington is always an interesting holiday. Like most holidays, the weather, economy, and national mood have an influence on the number of people who visit the area. In years when people are upbeat, the area surges with activity. In years when people are down... well suffice to say we would be better off going away for weekends like that. This year, the mood was decidedly middle of the road. It is very obvious that people who are doing well, are doing very well. But it is also obvious that there are a whole lot of people who are just getting by, trying to make do.

In the Great Room on Sunday night, I was speaking to an inn guest about the state of the world outside of the Killington resort. The guest was having a nice weekend, but was very concerned. He felt that people where he lived just needed to work harder, and they would be ok. But he was concerned, because he felt that the local work ethic had suffered in the last few years.

Without knowing much about the guest, of where they lived, I won't make any grand philosophical judgments, or political commentary. But it did get me thinking how lucky Mary and I are living in Killington. The joke with our staff this weekend, is for that Labor Day we gave the staff double shifts. And in fact, everyone worked at least one double shift over the weekend, being the nature of a holiday in a resort. We even were able to have one of our former employees come in and help out in the kitchen to wash dishes. But the interesting part is that they all did it gladly, without complaint, in a very professional manner, and they all stayed focused on making sure guests at our inn were having a great holiday weekend.

So as Labor Day winds down, I would like say thank-you to our staff for their labors at our inn this weekend. Thank you Steve, Michalyn, John, Karl, and Ryan!

Birch Ridge Inn
Killington Vermontt
August 30, 2006 

We still have a few more days of summer left at Killington, but Mary and I are starting the process of figuring out the best picture spots around the inn for the "Fall Foliage Picture of the Day". Sometime around the middle of next month, we will change the "Flower of the Day" picture to focus in on the changing colors of the trees around the inn.

The whole process of finding the right spot for the fall foliage picture is actually harder than it seems. For instance, do we just shot one spot, like last winters snow stake? or do we take shots of different scenes around the inn, like the flower gallery? Then there are the main actors in the tableau of nature that is fall foliage season...the trees!

Around the inn, there are trees that change color early. The birch tree in the driveway I showed in the last blog entry is an example. Some of the poplar and oak trees around the inn are slow to change. That would not represent what is going on around Killington.

So today, we spent some time outside, walking around the inn, trying to frame some pictures and guessing where a good spot would be to keep a running record of the progress of fall foliage. We have a little more work to do..for instance, what time of day should we shoot the picture and how will it effect the lighting.. before we decide on the spot. In the process, we are adding to our photo library of scenes around the inn, and getting out in the fresh air. And that is always a good thing.

Fall is coming!
Tree's starting to turn at Birch Ridge Inn. 

In case you missed it while watching Tiger Woods win the WGC-Bridgestone Classic at the Firestone course in Ohio, a hint of fall has crept into the mountains around Killington. Trees around the inn are noticeably starting to change, with the early ones already starting to display some color.

The damp weather and cool temperatures of the last couple of weeks are definitely changing the landscape. In addition to the trees starting to change, every day we are starting to hear and see flocks of geese starting their southward migration.

What does this all mean for fall foliage color. In reality, it is way too early to tell. The last couple of years, due to warm weather in late August and September, the onset of the fall foliage change was later than what we have been used too. Each year, the leaves begin their transition from green to multicolored about this time. Over the next couple of weeks, if we have normally cool nights, they trees would follow their normal schedule, yielding peak colors in the Killington area in early October. Of course, if we get a warm spell like the last couple of years, the pattern of fall foliage holding off till mid October could take hold.

In any case, over the next few weeks, we will keep you updated with pictures of the Killington area as summer transitions into fall.

Logo for KillingtonLinks.com 

As some of you may already know, I write a little software almost every day. Usually it has something to do with a web site, some html (although some may dispute that that is really software), some Java or Javascript, some PHP, with the occasional C program thrown in for good measure. If you looked at the blog yesterday, you would have seen the latest incarnation of software I have produced that got released into the public, the web site aptly named KillingtonLinks.com

KillingtonLinks.com is, very simply, a web site designed to display to the site visitor information about relevant Killington entities in a categorized list fashion, preferably including a link to the entities web site if available.

Why do this you may ask? It's actually very simple. At the inn, we are answering questions all day long about the Killington area. There are hundreds of businesses in Killington. Try remembering them all. Try searching Google for them (Google lists 2,170,000 pages on Killington alone). Try bookmarking them all in your browser of choice...try sharing the information quickly with a friend... you see where this is going...KillingtonLinks.com was designed to cut through the clutter so we could find specific references about Killington quickly.

Now, here is where I need your help. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working to capture as much information about web sites that are relevant to Killington and categorizing them in KillingtonLinks.com. I am sure that there are interesting sites that I have missed. If you can identify a site that you think should be added, drop me a line by using the suggestion form on KillingtonLinks.com. I will review the site, and if it is relevant to Killington, I will categorize it and add it. If you are a business owner in the area, and I have missed your site, use the same process and I will add in a listing. If you run a website, and you would like to put a link to KillingtonLinks.com on your web site, you can visit the Link Instructions page on KillingtonLinks.com to find the necessary html to add to your website.

Hopefully you will find KillingtonLinks.com to be a useful tool.

The Berts 

Last night, Mary and I had a chance to step away from the inn and attend a surprise birthday party for our long time friend, Roberta Lynch.

Roberta is hitting the milestone of 60 in a few weeks, but her friends decided to get her good with a surprise party at the home of Dave and Diane Rosenblum. Bert was lured to the party under the excuse that the hosts were having an end of summer season party on Monday evening. The ruse worked. Roberta was totally surprised.

Roberta and friend at surprise 60th birthday party

Live entertainment arranged by Bert's girlfriends, a huge potluck buffet dinner, a beautiful birthday cake laid out as the 16th hole at Green Mountain National, and the traditional opening of gifts appropriate for a girl of 6 decades were the highlights of the evening. Bert's husband, Pete, along with Bill Barbieri, manned the grill. I served as Bert's personal bartender for the evening, making sure she had a proper dry gin martini, shaken not stirred, with olives, accessible throughout the festivities. Happy Birthday Bert!