WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Fall Foliage Tour With The 251 Club-Orange County

In spite of the somewhat lousy weather, photographer Scott Waterman and I had a great time exploring the fall colors in Orange County, winding up at Floyds General Store in Randolph.

This season, we are going to the experts for our fall foliage tour, the members of the 251 club. These are the folks with the goal to visit each of the 251 towns of Vermont. We met up with our tour guide this morning, Brenda Greika, at the floating bridge in Brookfield.

"So, this road doesn't come down next to the lake, we'd be staying away on that side?"

"I believe so. I've never actually gone down this road so this would be a new experience for me which is always fun to try a new road."

Brenda has visited 230 of the 251 towns in the state of Vermont. She's got a lot of experience planning and executing day trips in Vermont. She suggests making some plans, but don't get stuck on a particular route.

"It's helpful to get a little bit of a handle on where you want to head out before you head out, but getting lost is fun too. So even though you have something in mind it's ok to kind of go off that route and kind of discover new and wonderful things."

Our route today took us from the Floating bridge in Brookfield, south through Randolph visiting farm stands and enjoying the vistas across the valley, to East Bethel, stopping at the Octagon Community Library.

"This is the sort of thing that you just have to stop and take a look at, because you just don't see many things like this."

The weather wasn't cooperating with us much today. But, if it's raining for several days in a row, waiting for better weather isn't always a good idea.

"It is what it is, and it's still a great state, and there's still plenty to do inside and out."

In spite of the rain, the fall colors a brightening on schedule.

Some members of the 251 club have walked in every town, others have biked in every town, but Brenda likes to explore Vermont her way.

"Personally, I like to eat and shop. So what I like to do is go around and find all of the little general stores, and little restaurants and eating places and craft shops and that sort of thing. It's amazing how many of them there are in places where you wouldn't think they'd be."

Eatons Sugarhouse in Royalton is the best of both worlds for her then, with a gift shop and a restaurant along our route.

"I'm going to make it this years goal to finish up my list. There are just so many ways to do it."