Route 7

Route 7 is a scenic two-lane road from Massachusetts to Vermont that in the southwestern part of the Green State runs along the western edge of the Green Mountain National Forest. The scenery was, indeed, an almost neon lime color of new spring leaves, with picturesque rolling hills, red barns, and an occasional farm animal grazing by the roadside. A short walk in a state park took us to this lovely little lake.

After posing for a selfie, we completed our drive to Middlebury, where we'll stay through the weekend for Hannah's graduation festivities. Dinner at American Flatbread took us past Middlebury's amazing falls, running hard and fast with ice melt and spring rains.

Stockbridge sites

It may seem like we're covering a lot of ground here, but we've slowed down so much that we feel like we're relaxing. Or maybe we were moving so fast before that the way we're moving now just feels like slow motion. Either way, we're having a great time on the road again.

Today's adventure took us first to the Norman Rockwell Museum and Studio, which houses the largest collections of his paintings in the world, as well as all 323 Saturday Evening Post covers published from 1916 to 1963.

Rockwell's studio, where he typically worked 10 hours/day, 

both from live models and photographs. 

His recruited his models from the local townspeople.

In Stockbridge, we also visited the Sedgwick family plot of the local cemetery, where we found the tombstone for Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, who was the first freed slave in the United States, having sued for and won her freedom in a Massachusetts court in 1781.