Two mountain passes in one day

Our ride out of Albany was interesting as we dodged construction sights and then bad roads. We cycled over the Hudson River and then into a short tunnel. That was a first for me. Another first was having a sag stop at a Dunkin Donuts. What a great incentive to get to the sag!

After the sag we cycled a few more miles and hit the Vermont state line. But right before crossing the next state line, I saw a billboard that I just couldn't pass up taking a picture of, need I say more!!!!

Unfortunately the state sign of Vermont was a very tall sign and I was too short to get my picture taken under it. I guess I could have just had my hands showing in the picture, I always liked doing "jazz hands".

Following the ceremonial picture taking of the "Vermont State" sign, we rode into Bennington where we began our first up hill climb, the que sheet said it was 7.1 miles up to Green Mountain, but I think it was much longer, it took forever! While riding through Bennington, we also saw a lot of "local moose art".

Our second sag had a big surprise today, strudel pastries made by Stu and Sandy's very good friend and excellent pastry chef. I think it was that strudel that helped me climb up Hogback Mountain, a climb of about 4 miles. Then it was into Brattleboro had lunch and on to the hotel.
The ride today was 76 miles that took 5 hours and 55 minutes at an average speed of 13.6....I told you we did a lot of climbing today!!!

Sorry nothing to report on for snake sightings so it's a big fat ZERO for today!!!