Day 36

Because we had asked for a late check-out time, we did not hurry to get packed. First we got another wonderful breakfast. After that we started packing and we left soon afterwards.

It was a great day for riding. Only a few clouds dotted the sky from what I could see. The temperature was perfect, the scenery was great and we did not need to ride far at all.

We crossed the border into Vermont. The hills were covered with green trees. Mountains rose up out of the ground and the road was not all that straight. Soon we started to see houses that were hundreds of years old! We rode by the Hubbell Homestead and just had to turn around. Since our last name is Hubbell, we rode into the driveway and looked at the building. We later found that the door is said to have been shot with a bullet by a Hessian spy in the battle of Bennington. We stopped at a nearby store to see if the locals knew much about the building, but we did not get much information.

In the distance I saw a long, greyish looking structure that looked much like the Washington Monument. I wondered what it was and as we rode through an old town I realized we were riding toward it!

Finally I saw it from base to the top. The Bennington Battle Monument towered above us. The battle itself was a major turning point in the Revolutionary War with one of the first big victories for the States and it took place in 1777. The monument was built from 1887 to 1891 and was a total of 306 feet and 4 and a half inches tall. It was one of the biggest monuments I had ever seen! We drove around it on a circular road and I got to see it from all sides. Two statues surrounded it. As I was looking up at it I got kind of dizzy.

We parked and looked around. The gift shop sold tickets to go up into the structure and we both got to go in for three dollars. I wanted to walk up the stairs as far as they went, but it was closed off and I don't think Dad was too enthusiastic to go with me. So we got in the elevator. It took quite a while to get very high and there was still much more until the top--but visitors were only allowed so far.

Through slits I saw the huge hills and thousands of trees of Vermont. The town looked small under me and it was a great view. It was worth the three dollars and much more.

Eventually we had to go back down. After some more sight-seeing we stopped by the gift shop again. Dad had been told that someone knew more about the Hubbell Homestead and their involvement in the Bennington Battle. We found that five Hubbells had fought in the battle!

After this adventure we took off again. We stopped at a fast food restaurant and had lunch there, then got a room at a motel. Dad had planned on camping that night, but we just wanted to relax. So we spent the evening in the motel. We had pizza for dinner that evening and did nothing else but watch TV and relax.