Musicians Inspired | Champlain Area Trails

Dogwood Bakery (Image courtesy of Catherine Bahn)

One of the finalists in the Champlain Area TrailsTravel Writing Contest, Catherine Bahn’s “Musicians Inspired” shows us the stark contrast between life in the Champlain Valley compared to city life. Rural life certainly beats out the dreary cityscape Bahn describes, and the countryside and wilderness will always win the comparison for me. Here is an excerpt from Bahn’s essay:

“Hungry, and in need of stocking up supplies for the afternoon train back to NYC, we drove to a local bakery and coffee house in Wadhams called Dogwood Bread Company. At Dogwood, there was a small crowd of people in front of a cart. Salads from local CSA Juniper Hills Farm, delicious coffee and amazing chocolate cookies. But whom on Earth do we pay for this stuff? There was actually a box in place of the missing proprietor, who no doubt was off doing his or her own version of leaf peeping. An honor system? Antonio and I marveled in disbelief at the cart full of food, and the bin with money. In our lives in Barcelona and The Hague, the cart and all the contents would have been long gone. Suddenly, I heard Antonio speaking to someone. In the short five weeks he had been in New York, there he was chatting to someone he knew, one of his yoga teachers from the Brooklyn studio! The world suddenly seemed so small and honest. Imagine the scene: two classical musicians, one from Spain, the other a first generation American with parents from Korea who lives in Holland, talking to a yoga teacher in tiny Wadhams, NY, at a café with yummier food than almost anywhere back home.

Had we known that the Amtrak would be over an hour late, we could have stayed to chat a little longer. The pace, hospitality, and charm of this wonderful part of the world had rubbed off on us. The Westport train station is old and quaint and waiting there seemed to cap off our visit to the Champlain Valley. I had gotten some color back on my sun deprived skin, and my re-awakened past had reunited with the present moment…” [Read in full at Musicians Inspired | Champlain Area Trails.]

It’s Voting Time in the Travel Writing Contest (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Lake Champlain Region Heritage (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Adirondack Autumn (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
A Great Resolution
Wildlife, Connected in and out of Town
CATS Travel Writing Contest Winners

About Katie Shepard

Passionate about reading and writing stories, Katie Shepard enjoys discovering more about her home while writing and editing for Essex on Lake Champlain. Katie graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2011 where she studied English literature, philosophy, and Asian studies. Her first book Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide was published in 2015. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, or at Linked.in. Or email her at katie [@] essexeditions [dot] com.