Burlington was very lucky with tropical storm Irene. When she was a hurricane and the path was uncertain, we didn’t know if it was going to come up Lake Champlain and destroy cities along both sides of the water or if it was going to veer out to sea. Ultimately, Burlington received heavy rain for about 24 hours combined with some sustained winds.
The rest of Vermont has devastating flooding. There are covered bridges that have washed away; towns that are under water; roads that no longer exist; and significant damage to farmlands. We expect the rivers to swell over the next day or two, so I suspect the real extent of the damage is unknown at this point. Suffice to say, there will be a lot of people who need a lot of help over the coming days, weeks, and months.
Church St. in Burlington, VT during tropical storm Irene.
The extent of the damage I’ve seen in Burlington has been limited to a few small & medium sized branches, leaves covering many sidewalks, and a potted plant that fell from a second story porch.
It’s taken a while for me to get around to blogging this wedding. I think it’s because it has special meaning to me; or maybe it’s because I had a hard time picking just a handful of photos to share here.
Last fall, two of my good friends were married at Lareau Farm Inn in Waitsfield, Vermont. For those of you that are repeat readers, you may recognize them from an engagement session in Burlington last summer.
Peter proposed with his grandmother’s ring and that vintage act seemed to set the mood for the rest of the planning. Between the beautiful Vermont fall foliage, the comfortable, rustic atmosphere at the inn, handmade invitations and wedding favors, and a talented musical lineup, the day came together perfectly.
The flowers that The Blue Toad provided were beautiful and a perfect match for the venue and other decorations.
After a morning of getting the pavilion and ceremony site decorated, Peter was ushered back to his room to get ready with his best man.
The girls ran down to the hair salon to get their hair done (and, rumor has it, stop for a creemee on the way) before returning to change and apply any finishing touches.
Peter didn’t know it, but while he was outside chatting with his parents, Emily was just feet away peeking through the bathroom window at him.
One of the smartest things we did was to find a spot for their first look which was away from the arriving guests. Across the river, there’s an old road or driveway that looked back at the inn. While Peter was waiting for his bride, he got to watch as family and friends made their way to the ceremony.
Best. Reaction. Ever.
First looks are one of my favorite times during a wedding. As a photographer, you get to watch as two people that love each other take a few minutes to themselves. It’s a beautiful sight and almost as memorable for me as for the bride and groom.
We knew that most of the guests had arrived, though, so we had to scurry off to the upper field to make it legal!
Peter was obviously feeling good about the day!
And Emily was almost floating as she made her way up the long walk with her attendants.
Normally, group shots of family & wedding party are pretty cookie-cutter, but when you’ve got a bunch of performers together you can capture out of the ordinary attitude.
The rest of the night is a blur as family and friends celebrated by playing music & dancing the night away.
And when the music finally stopped, there was a fire outside to sit around as we all digested the day’s events.
What a beautiful, perfect wedding. If you’ve got a few more minutes, please take them to enjoy a slideshow of more photos set to two original pieces played by Peter’s band-mates in The Grift.
As I passed by, I casually wondered what would happen to it and where it would end up. Little did I know that I would be part of that process. Parks and Rec. put out the call for volunteers and I heard about it through Run Vermont and the #BTV Twitter hash tag. I regularly benefit from the bike path personally and professionally so I decided to head down to help clean up.
Burlington has a lot of pride in the lake, the waterfront, and our popular bike path and a number of people showed up to help clean it up.
While some folks went out to start collecting & sorting debris for transportation back to the dumpster, a bunch of us stayed behind to pick through the current big pile. The goal was to provide the McNeil generating station with a dumpster of clean driftwood ready for burning. To that end, we had to hand-pick through everything to remove any metal, plastic, glass, paint, or pressure-treated wood.
While we were working on the big pile, trucks came in with the driftwood that others had collected from along the rest of the bike path.
Given the size of the pile, I thought it would take the better part of the morning but after an hour or so we were down to little bits which would have to wait for the bucket loader. After some wandering around, looking for the best next project to dive into, a small team of us ended up near the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center and the fishing pier loading driftwood into a trailer for transportation back to the dumpster. We made about three runs, filling (and sometimes overfilling!) the trailer with water-logged wood. Adam would then drive the long way around because it was the only semi-dry path that the cart & trailer could make it through.
After a few hours of work, our dumpster was full and people were reporting that Perkin’s Pier was equally filled so our work was done for the day. There’s still a lot of cleanup to do, though, and a fair bit of standing water. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and some of the water will drain on its own before the marathon!
Lake Champlain has crested 103′ for the first time. We’re more than 3 feet above flood stage and about one foot over the previously highest recorded lake levels. And lake levels are expected to continue rising over the next day or so.
So, to continue with my flood-related photo activities, I went for a walk along the Burlington waterfront to see the sights. I saw a lot of people doing the same thing, nearly everyone with a camera in hand. The first thing I noticed was our buddy Champ. A few weeks ago, the water was high but I could walk next to him. Now, it looks like he’s been shifted by water that’s a foot or two higher. He’s now looking the other direction almost as if he can’t believe how high the water is either.
Continuing down the waterfront there are some signs that spring is making an appearance, but mostly there’s just a lot of water. Even in places where the lake hasn’t swallowed up the land, there are standing puddles of water. The breakwater is nowhere to be seen; the coast guard launch is non-existant; the pier just north of the waterfront is at lake level, if not a bit submerged.
I was in Washington D.C. early this week and was supposed to travel home to Vermont during the thunderstorms Tuesday evening. The flight was delayed and eventually cancelled which meant I flew up over Lake Champlain at around noon on Wednesday. I was greeted with sights that I’ve only seen in photos from other flooded areas. Silt and debris flowed out of every river and stream into Lake Champlain creating plumes of muddy water. The photo below is of the mouth of the Winooski river with the silt streaming north past Colchester point and towards the mouth of Malletts Bay. Usually I travel with a decent camera, but this was a quick trip and all I had on me was my iPhone.
After dinner, Tawny and I decided to walk over to the farmer’s field near our house to see what the flooding had done. Earlier in the day Route 128 was closed right here, but the waters had receded enough to re-open by early evening. The flood waters had eroded large parts of the shoulder but the traveled lanes still looked structurally sound.
I can’t imagine this truck is going to move for a few days. Earlier this morning, Tawny informed me, there was a tractor in the middle of the field across the road. The tractor made its way out, but there were some serious ruts that indicated where it had been.
We walked around for a few more minutes as the sun set, enjoying the near 80 degree weather. It’s hard to believe that this is a farmer’s field. Usually photos like this are down at the lake shore looking over at the Adirondack mountains.
It’s been an exciting year for weather in Burlington. What’s mother nature got in store for us next?
