I woke Mollie up at around 0900 and, after she got ready, we drove across the Connecticut River into Vermont. I took her to visit the Quechee Gorge, the VINS Center (we checked out the ticketing process but didn't try to enter) and the Rockefeller Billings NPS site in Woodstock. At the latter place, we encountered some COVID-19 restrictions and Mollie wasn’t able to get an NPS Passport stamp for her book. Instead, we walked around the grounds for about an hour and saw some animals and pretty gardens. Their gardens had been fenced in what must have been an effort to repel visitors - we just ignored them and got some steps in before continuing on our mildly bitter way. It’s just another place to visit once the pandemic is over, I guess. Other people must be thinking the same thing because there were hardly ANY visitors. I didn't have any plans for the rest of the day but Mollie apparently did: we’d taken a picture of a Justin Morgan historical marker in Woodstock and this made her want to visit some related sites in the area. After a quick search online, I figured out that we'd need to head north. We left Woodstock on VT-12 and drove to Barnard (1125), where we got some lunch (sandwiches, chips, soda and a whoopie pie). After eating lunch in the car, we drove north to Bethel and then to Randolph. At the latter town, we found more historical markers and the gravestone of Justin Morgan. We continued north (on gravel roads) in search of the site of the Morgan Farm. Navigation became an issue due to the spotty cell signal, but we made it! It’s located just past a dairy farm ("Neighborly Farm"), where we ran into an annoyed little calf. The historical marker had only been placed in July 2020, so it was a treat to see something so new. The last stop of the day in Vermont was at the grave site of Justin Morgan’s horse, Figure, which was located a few miles away in Tunbridge, VT. Once again, our navigation capabilities were limited, and the worn out signs didn’t help much. We initially drove about a half mile past Figure’s grave stone because it was tucked behind some trees. That mistake allowed us to see the plot of Lippitt Mandate, though, who we now know ("according to Mollie") is part of a subcategory of Morgan horses known as Lippitt Morgans that are more closely related to Figure than most of the breed. Having seen our fill, we headed back toward our side of the river. After that, we drove back towards White River Junction on VT-110 and VT-14. After crossing back into New Hampshire, we went shopping at Walmart (1410) and Price Chopper (1510), where we picked up groceries to prepare for a possible winter storm). We also stopped to explore inside a big thrift store ("Listen") that interested Mollie. We made it home just before 1600. Mollie told me that she'd had a fun day and liked the land in Vermont - she added that she'd like to return for some more exploring when she visits next Summer.
