Mars is pretty bright at this time of year. Check this out.

Heh. I am enjoying these jokes.

Here you go!

Yeah, I know that if I go back to Verizon, they have a higher cap before they start to slow things down. Last resort, I guess. There have been a few new cell towers put up in the last few years, so hopefully some of that coverage will improve. But for now, Verizon has had the best coverage around here. Looking forward to an updated driving test map!

Thanks, I am going to look into mint. I did try GoogleFi a few years ago but it was downright unusable in Brattleboro. It was fine if I went over the river into Keene, but I rarely need to go that way. I suppose it's possible they have improved since then, but it was completely useless here last time I tried. Thanks!

I live in Brattleboro, but work all over the region. I know there will be places that I will never get any service with anyone, but I just blaze through those 20 GB and get my speed throttled every month. I'll look into mint, thanks!

It makes me super salty, paying for something called unlimited that has a hard limit.

Scroll down to the section on off-season camping. Just keep in mind that you need to supply your own water and must pack out everything you bring in, including human waste.

Alternatively, you can probably find something on hipcamp.

I come across unleashed dogs fairly often. It's not like there is a lack of places to take your dog where that's allowed, but people do it anyway.

Quechee is a pretty big tourism hot spot this time of year. I was at the campground this weekend and there were a lot of people. One of my neighbors was flying a drone over our campsites while I sipped my coffee at like 9am. Sounded like a swarm of angry bees. Another neighbor was playing their music loudly enough for everyone to hear for hours. Tourists aren't always the most considerate people. Not out of malice necessarily, but they can act a little clueless sometimes.

All that aside, there are a few places in the state where you can hike that don't allow dogs at all. Look for places that are wildlife conservation areas.

Some people just think the rules don't apply to them. I think the campsite next to me had their dogs off-leash, but they left before it became an issue for me (I have a dog that stays on a leash - she's totally friendly but will get over-excited if she notices a dog running around that she wants to play with). Everyone I saw on the trails had their dogs on a leash. But it happens. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself when you come across something like this. Or if you don't feel safe approaching the dog owners, mention it to a park ranger. Leash laws exist for a reason and some people just don't seem to understand that the world doesn't revolve around them.

Thanks, I'll report back with a photo if I see it!

I’ll have to look for it when I go out there later this week. I never noticed it before though.

It depends on if we get some hard rain or not, sometimes it's still pretty orange/almost brown in southern VT and in the valleys by then. I love stick season though. No foliage but the air is crisp and the woods are totally different when there's no leaf cover/underbrush.

Oh for sure. I found some oysters though and within a day they went from solid mushroom to mushroom dust because of the bugs. Absolutely riddled with them. The dryad’s saddle I found were okay, but just a little old.

There’s a whole subreddit for people that want to trip on amanitas, but I think it’s the amanita muscaria mushrooms they are talking about. Fairly sure this is a flavaconia. Don’t quote me on that though. I’m not interested in tripping on anything, but maybe someday I’ll find some oysters or a cotw that will go in my dinner. Yum.

Touching mushrooms, even toxic ones, is perfectly safe. The danger is in eating them.

Every edible mushroom I've found so far has been riddled with bugs. Don't eat the amanitas, not a good idea. :P