there it is up there. see it? the catch-it-while-you-can-summer? summer vacation that seems like it was oh-so-many weeks ago, and yet it wasn't really that long ago at all, was it? summer 2012, when the air at 3800 feet was clear, and the warmish/coolish wind naughtily whipped our hair into little tangles and it looked like those steely low-flying clouds might somehow be menacing, but they weren't—thunder storms blew by overnight heading east toward the ocean—as they inched near us and then away from us.
the tram at jay peak in vermont delivered the nine of us, plus a dozen others, smoothly and quietly to the top. and when i say quietly i mean it—not a squeal, scrape or grind from the engine or cables, or from wind teasing the cables, or from the compartment's shifting glass or metal or anything. no sign of gravity, just floating straight up the mountainside surrounded by silence. even the people inside the tram, when they spoke at all, used hushed, unmodulated tones, their voices as well-oiled and precisely maintained as the austrian-made mountain riding machinery.
once at the top we surveyed the vistas in every direction. we looked southwest toward big jay—connected to jay peak by a ridge—where back woods skiers can make their own way down the mountain without the hindrance, the nuisance, of trails. (a few years ago two brilliant, local guys were arrested and charged with clear-cutting a section of big jay in an attempt to secretly carve a ski trail on private land without anyone's knowledge, let alone permission. i ask you in all sincerity, how dumb can people be?)
after viewing some of my summer photos i wondered where did summer go? i know, i know, you're right—summer's not technically over yet so stop acting like it is. go enjoy what's left.
5 comments:
Your first photo looks like a painting...what a beauty. I share your lament; the trees are turning a dingy yellow here, and we're getting pounded by winds and rain. Much easier to enjoy it when the sun is out.
ah Jay, you hold a special place in my heart....
Gorgeous views! The effect is dizzying even from a photograph.
Where did summer go... It flew by, but it was so hot and humid I feel like I suffered through it rather than enjoyed it. I'll have to go back and view some photos too. Then I'll remember the good parts of summer.
Autumn's on it's way here too! I have a post scheduled on this very subject! :D Beautiful photographs, can't believe people would be so stupid as to cut down trees for a ski path!!
It felt like fall today on that soccer field. There was no denying that summer is leaving us--and what a summer it was. There wasn't one night that was as cool as this afternoon!
Of all the mountains I've skied in N. E., Jay Peak is not one of them. :( I'm going to have to rectify that soon. We often speak of skiing in Canada where the ticket prices are more affordable, but it's kind of a shame to cross the border w/out seeing Jay. And there of plenty of Canadians who know that tram and trails. I really ought to plan to join them.
Gorgeous photos, Mignon. How I love the top of the mountain, the sweeping vistas, hiking or skiing through a cloud. I'm suddenly hungry for all this now. :)
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