Tree down on the front lawn at the Birch Ridge Inn

Tree down on the front lawn at the Birch Ridge Inn

With everyone on a heightened state of readiness, and memories of last years catastrophe called Irene, the Killington region and the state of Vermont for the most part dodged a bullet with Hurricane Sandy. Numerous trees are down in the area, and there have been sporadic power outages, but in general Hurricane Sandy presented itself to Vermont as a mild rain storm with some gusty winds.

At the inn we lost 3 trees to the wind. A small tree momentarily blocked our driveway, until it was removed by a guest coming to stay the night with us during the storm. In the morning, we found a large tree behind the building and another tree across our front lawn that had both succumbed to the wind gusts of Sandy. The wind gusts during the evening were also strong enough to break the line holding the flag on the flag pole in front of the inn. But in comparison to other storms we have experienced at Killington during the last 15 years operating the inn, Sandy was relatively benign to us in Killington.

However, the images we are seeing on television about the devastation that took place along the Atlantic sea coast are truly disturbing. Many family members, friends and good guests of the inn live in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. While we have started to hear from many of them, through various means, we know from our experience last year that the images we see on TV probably don't tell the half of it in terms of what people are really experiencing on the ground. Our thoughts are with all of those who were in the middle of the storm, and who are just now struggling to make sense of what has happened to their homes.

The storm that was Hurricane Sandy is still causing intermittent rain across the Killington region. Throughout Killington has been on the warm side of the storm. Once it passes, we can hope that cold air gets pulled down across the region; and with the cold air that we see a little snow.

Where ever you may be, stay safe.