Thanks to a comment from Hudson, we went into, rather than bypassing, Montpelier and were delighted that we did – what a lovely city! There are some remarkable buildings, beautiful spires and covetable homes in lovely colours. We had coffee and a warm cinnamon bun in a community cafe called Bagito’s that had painted light shades and walls and live music. Painting things seems a local thing to do; we saw concrete barriers painted by local children and a charming street mural.
We followed a painted truck out of the city, found a couple more old covered bridges at Northfield Falls and saw yet more pumpkins decorating people’s porches. It’s lovely how Autumn is celebrated here right from the beginning of October all the way to Hallowe’en.