Holy cow, you guys, I literally blinked, and it’s Columbus Day Weekend in a few days, and the leaf-peepers are here! 🍂 🍁
Last year, during the pandemic, we didn’t see one tour bus on the roads. The hotels were on the empty side; anyone crossing over into Vermont stayed at Airbnb homes and cottages. The visitors were supposed to quarantine themselves when they arrived or before they came, which most didn’t.
Yesterday and today, Marty and I saw multiple tour buses packed with leaf-peeping people. It’s actually a relief to see the buses this year; our tourist-driven economy needs it here in Vermont.
It seems like this year the visitors will get to see what they came for…beautiful foliage. We’ve seen a few photos from up in the northern part of the state, and the color is spectacular! Reds everywhere! The few trees that have started turning here are red also. I swear more leaves changed on Route 7 in just a few short hours.
Back in the early nineties, I used to work in the retail industry in the tourist town of Manchester; things were bat-shit crazy! I mean crazy-ass busy. People rented out rooms in their homes to accommodate visitors. There were no available rooms; reservations needed to be made far in advance. Long lines of traffic, packed stores, long waits at restaurants and bars were the norm. Everywhere was bustling.
Manchester’s hay day as an outlet store town came and went; no one “needed” to come up for amazing sales at the outlets anymore; outlet stores started popping up right outside big cities and were conveniently located right off the NY Thruway. Online shopping also killed outlet towns as well…in my opinion.
People still travel to VT to ski, hike, sightsee, camp, kayak, and weddings. Vermont is a beautiful wedding destination for city couples and their guests. It can be picture perfect, a storybook wedding, especially if the weather cooperates.
If the weather cooperates…Ugh, when I worked in retail, I remember how miserable, cranky, and bitchy people came to see the foliage and were sorely disappointed. Either the leaves already did their thing early, and they missed it, or it was a crummy foliage year. The same thing happens when there isn’t any snow or sun.
Cranky, disappointed people took it out on everyone who worked and lived here. I remember telling one woman she must have really pissed off Mother Nature or God…they were the only ones who could control such a thing. I don’t take shit from people; my Jersey comes out. I have found I can put someone in their place if I smile and say it jokingly. It worked! She smiled and realized what a bitch she was being. She would now be called a “Karen” or an asshole guy with the same attitude is known as a “Ken.”
Yesterday, I got out my Halloween decorations. The decorations I put up when the boys were young are packed away in the basement crawl space. Someday, if I have any grandkids, I’ll go nuts again decorating. For now, I have more subtle, grown-up decorations.
I’m sure I’ll talk about Halloween more this month. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Why? It’s the only holiday where I could be whoever I wanted to be, and the only thing people wanted from me was candy. No nagging, no manipulative behavior from family, no guilt trips, I get dressed up and have fun, fun, fun!
I still have as much fun on Halloween as an adult as I had as a kid; I love it and getting dressed up. I think about it for months. When the kids dressed up, I was more excited than they were. We played actors in a haunted house for years, and it was always the best night ever! I love being scary characters.
I better keep my eyes open for the next couple of weeks; I don’t want to miss any more of October…my favorite month of the year. In October, we even got married, the third Saturday of the month, which is called the sweetest day of the year. 🤗