You know what? I really don’t feel like driving into Rutland
this morning to workout . So I think I’ll
skip it today and get an early start on a drive I’ve been considering since it’s
such a nice sunny and rather cool day.

Route 100 runs north-south through Vermont for the entire
length of the state and is widely considered to be its most scenic drive. The road
runs through quite isolated areas and small towns zigging and zagging its way
between the ranges of the Green Mountains past many of what are considered to
be Vermont’s most beautiful villages, including Warren and Waitsfield on this
stretch of the road roughly through the middle third of the state between Route
4 at Killington and I-89 at Waterbury.

I drove Route 100 once before from Killington north, but
that was way back in 1990 on the way to Canada and I don’t think we made many
stops on the route, so it’s essentially new country for me. And beautiful it is
– more mountainous and more heavily forested than the western and eastern parts
of the state I’ve mostly been in except around Killington . The road passes
through river valleys most of the time, though, and where it crosses between drainages
it does so in think woodland, so no great western style high pass scenery here.

Warren and Waitsfield are two very cute towns a short
distance from Sugarbush Ski Resort that cater to people who want more of a
traditional New England town feel than a resort for their vacations. Both make
it onto lists of Vermont’s prettiest towns, but I have to say, though, what’s
notable is just how small their town centers are. For some reason I was
expecting slightly bigger places like I know Stowe and Waterbury to be from my
last visit to the state. Without any notable sights and no need to have lunch
or do any shopping, they’re essentially both 20 minute walk-arounds with photo
stops.

To mix things up I took a different way back south on Route
12 through Northfield, Randolph, and Bethel with some similar scenery. Northfield
is known for having a particularly dense concentration of traditional New
England covered bridges. Overall it was a good day’s scenic drive.