Everything Vermont

Route 100 in Vermont from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border. About 250 miles.

Only on Route 100 could you drive 20 miles into Vermont from Massachusetts and still be two miles from the Bay State. That's because this road wanders so much that it practically wanders back to its beginning. It would take a whole weekend to travel this entire two-lane blacktop, which makes its way through some 50 towns and exposes everything Vermont has to offer: farms, forests, mountains, ski resorts, country inns, craft shops, general stores, mini-malls, antique emporiums, and - if you're lucky - moose.

We covered only the first 100 miles or so as we traveled northward from Massachusetts, which meant we missed some of the nicer twisties of the Green Mountain National Forest between Stockbridge and Waitsfield. But we weren't cheated. We encountered plenty of curves, dips, and straightaways. And with our top down, we could smell the farms before we saw them.

There are plenty of places to stop along Route 100 in the southern part of the state, although the road is considerably more sparse up north. In the hamlet of South Londonderry, we read our morning newspaper on the front porch of the Village Store, watching the traffic (such as it was) come directly toward us across the West River before turning left and skittering north.

Fair warning: The road signs here are small, and if you don't pay attention you may take an unexpected trip to New York.

Published in the Boston Globe Calendar's 1999 Wandering New England issue.