I arrived at Yestermorrow Design/Build School late one evening in mid-September. Upon entering the main campus building, I found a kind student who was willing to show me where I could set up my tent in the woods. After doing so in the dark, I slept well after a long day's drive. I awoke the next morning, left the shelter of my tent, walked to the edge of the forest line and then through the grass to my car, taking in my new surroundings. The Yestermorrow campus is located between the towns of Waitsfield and Warren, Vermont in the Mad River Valley. It's a spectacular place to be, especially in the fall. The leaves had already started to change when I arrived and I would witness fall in full bloom followed by its wane when I left a month later. This was my first time traveling in New England, and it will not be my last.
I had heard about Yestermorrow several years ago when I wanted to learn more about design/build. I kept looking at the class schedule for courses that interested me and with timing that worked for my schedule. Finally, I saw the Tiny House Design/Build Course which started about a month after I was laid off from my last job. To help pay for the cost of the class, I arrived early so I could participate in work-trade, which included staining, cleaning tools and digging a trench. Luckily, there was another student in my class doing work-trade as well so we were able to share the work load and get to know each other. Some other benefits of getting there early were exploring the area, campus, utilizing the library full of design and building books, talking to other students, listening to certificate presentations and enjoying a jam session.
Finally, the first day of class arrived. We shared dinner, introduced ourselves and did a quick design project with a partner. Over the next 12 days, we saw small houses in the area via field trips, framed and sheathed a tiny house on wheels, and worked on our own tiny house designs. The class was intensive so we were kept busy from 9:00am on the build site until around 2:00am in studio. We had a couple of free time slots which enabled us to do as we wanted. One day, I chose a 35 mile bike ride to Middlesex, Waterbury and back. I also took time to go on several hikes which were spectacular and a refreshing break from campus.
The last day was full of presentations and dinner before people took off. It was interesting to see the variety of designs our class came up with and the excitement to build. I lingered on campus for part of the weekend, taking advantage of the library and lounging in my hammock. Then I packed up, reluctant to leave. I met a new friend in Montpelier and then drove to her mom's home where I spent the night. I left the following day, driving through Vermont and into New Hampshire and the White Mountains. Camping after Columbus day weekend in colder climates proved to be difficult with many campgrounds closed, so I ended up sleeping in my car a few nights. I drove up to the top of Mt. Washington, then hiked down a couple of miles to two alpine lakes and then back up. After the Whites, I drove through Maine to Mt. Desert Island where I wandered around Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I talked to a couple who recommended an inexpensive place to stay the night so I set up home base there for a couple of days.
Then I drove down to Portland where I met up with a friend who I knew from the other Portland. After work, we went out to eat sushi and wandered around the Old Port, grabbing a drink at a bar before heading back to his apartment. The following day, I drove to Portsmouth, NH and wandered around, marveling at the historic character of the buildings. Then I was off to Boston where a friend toured me around the city to the commons, public garden, Harvard square, etc. via the T. I met up with another new friend from my class and spent the night at her house. In the morning, we grabbed coffee and these amazing scones, and then walked around the neighborhood and lake. We said our farewells and I began my journey back west.
In Part 1, I wrote about my travel accommodations. In Part 2, I will be writing about some of the places I explored as I traveled from California to Vermont.
After staying with my friend in Sacramento for about a week, we decided to go hiking at Lake Tahoe on my way out. This was in early September so the weather was perfect and the scenery a wonderful escape from the city. I was somewhat surprised by the amount of development around the lake as well as the campground rates (around $40!) as it was my first time there, so after we parted, I continued to drive around the lake, through Reno at night, eventually sleeping in my car at a rest stop somewhere in Nevada.
I spent the next day driving through the desert in northern Nevada and Utah, passing through Salt Lake City and watching a spectacular sunset at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming where I camped that night. I drove through the rolling hills of southern Wyoming the following day near the route of the Oregon Trail, stopping for a break at Independence Rock. As I neared the Black Hills area that evening, I found a place to park my car and slept inside once again, wrapped in my cozy 20 degree down sleeping bag.
In the morning, I watched the Bison roam through Custer State Park and saw Mt. Rushmore from a distance. It was my third time in the area so I didn't check on the progress of Crazy Horse, hike down into the caves or drive on the Needles Highway, all of which I recommend checking out if you haven't been there before. Since I was traveling with a limited budget, I decided to spend my money on things I hadn't yet experienced. I had purchased a National Park Pass earlier this year (a great investment), so I decided to check out some of the Badlands before heading east.
The remainder of the day I drove through fields of corn in South Dakota and southern Minnesota until I reached my parent's house late that evening. In that following week, I spent time catching up with family, eating lots of home cooked food, going to a car show, and learning about the Minnesota wine development at a winery in the area. Apparently there are cold season grapes native to Minnesota that they cross with European grapes to make varieties unique to the area. Wineries have been popping up all over the state in the last 10 years with a current number around 50.
Heading north from my parent's farm in southern MN, I drove through Minneapolis, the downtown skyline and U of M exits still familiar. I decided to take my route through Duluth and the UP where I had yet to travel and was treated with forests and spectacular views of Lake Superior. Fall was at it's beginning with the leaves just starting to turn. I can only imagine what it looked like a few weeks after I passed through. I crossed the border at Sault Ste. Marie and after a few questions about who I was, where I was from, where I was going, and why I was in Canada, I continued on my way.
Canada was beautiful. Most of the landscape I drove through in Ontario and Quebec was full of forests and lakes with scattered towns and cities. There is a large Amish community up there and the shoulders of the freeway are extra wide to accommodate their horses and wagons. I stayed the night at a hotel in North Bay and drove through the cities of Ottawa and Montreal the following day before crossing the border back into the States in New York. At some point, I would like to go back and spend more time up there.
Soon after I crossed the border, I refueled since I had tested my luck with the size of my gas tank due to the high cost of gas in Canada. I found that my tank actually holds at least 14.2 gallons, possibly even more since my gas light didn't come on. I did also consider that it may not be working. After I filled my tank, I drove on a narrow two lane highway across the islands of Lake Champlain, catching the sunset and then driving the remainder of the way in the dark to my destination: Yestermorrow Design/Build School near Waitsfield, VT where I would be taking the Tiny House Workshop.
