Treehouse Trails: What is the protocol for Vermont bulls in the middle of the road?

Just can't get enough of this spectacular sunshine. Pretty drives like this make sitting in the car well worth it. Especially when you're the sleepy head girl in the backseat and this is your view as you wake up from a nap. You could get lost for hours just staring out the window at these Vermont mountainsides.

Everyone knows that stacking firewood for the winter builds good character.

But why not build character and creativity?

Every year this homestead chooses a different style to stack their wood in the form of. This year's theme was apparently an Egyptian inspired pyramid one nestled among this great state's luscious green hills.

Driving down further south of the state we pulled off at the Vermont Country store. And let me tell you, this place really has all their priorities straight.

Pancakes, Syrup, Bread, Cheese, Gun Powder & Eggs.

The bare necessities of life. What more could one need?

"Because I can!"

So far we've been pretty lucky and blessed to have some really good smooth driving through our travels (save for a minor pit-stop in Parsippany). But even Sarah and Jeanette's driving experience and Jennifer's drivers ed manual couldn't prepare us for what happened next. And so we'd like to know:

What is protocol for coming across a bull in the middle of the road?

Which door do you choose?

Do you keep driving and hope it moves out of the way?

Do you get out of the car and run away fast and far?

Is it okay to subtly roll down the window and take pictures as quietly as possible?

Or do you make like the other car on the road and pull off to the side and hope it doesn't see you?

We chose the "Patiently Wait while Large Mammal with Horns Crosses the Road Safely and Happily" door, and pretty soon we were on the road once more.

After getting our things settled, our host family gave us a tour of their town. First stop: the Town Office, where all the magic happens.

"Because I can."

"Because it seems to be the right thing to do."

Tucked gently into the town, the library was a magnificently built building with stark white and bluish gray colors. Inside, surrounded by shelves and shelves of classics, a cozy little window seat overlooked the rest of the area.

"I get up in the morning to live life to it's fullest!"

"I get up in the morning eager to see what happens!"

Brookline, Vermont is home to the country's only recorded round schoolhouse. As a condition to his agreement for teaching the first semester, Dr. John Wilson designed this rather in-ordinary circular brick classroom. The first semester he taught 60 pupils.

What the school children didn't know until quite some time later was that their instructor, Dr. John "Thunderbolt" Wilson, was a wanted highwayman with a price of 500 pounds of British Sterling. His seemingly odd request for the shape of the schoolhouse was a safety net for him.

By standing in the middle of the room, he could see all around the schoolyard, and no one could hide from him; not even the police.

He later died, there in Brookline, where his identity was discovered by the undertaker, and light was shed on the truth behind America's only round schoolhouse.

Thank you so much to our lovely Vermont Family who fed us yummy food, toured us around their town, and gave us a little taste of their culture!

"Because there is so much life in the day. Why waste time in bed? The Lord has each day planned, so I get on the plan."

"Because there is so much to learn, to help other people, and to enjoy what God has given us to enjoy."

Walking into the schoolhouse, everything fell silent. Chairs were set out. Books were neatly stacked on the shelves by the windows. The sunlight floated in from the wide open windows. It was as if nothing had been touched since it was last a classroom. You half expected to hear the bell ring, and sixty school age children to come filing in through the door for the afternoon.