Vermont Woods

Dear Henry Albert,

We (Jeanine and Robby and me), hiked around a lake. We were in a forest. Vermont is very beautiful; they have a lot of woods and hiking trails. Hiking is fun and good exercise. Robby and Jeanine are your second cousins.

One trail had an ancient Indian carving in wood. What does it mean?

You must be careful in the woods. If you hear or see an animal, the animals can probably see and hear you too. And they smell you also.

Some animals are nice. There are bunnies and giraffes and mommy bears and baby bears and Bambi.

Some animals are not very nice. Mostly, you should avoid wild animals. Skunks smell bad. Toads can give you warts. Bears are big and furry with a lot of teeth and claws. Bears can run very fast, climb trees and sometimes eat people.
If you go hiking in the woods it is good to take pots and pans. If you see hear or hear a bear, you can bang two pots or pans together. It makes a clanging noise that bears don’t like.

You should make a lot of noise so the animals hear you and run away. Warning! You should never make sounds like a chicken! And you probably won’t have to worry much about giraffes. If you do meet a giraffe, it is good to have figs. Giraffes like figs.

When you are older, you and Mommy and Daddy and me will go to Vermont to visit Robby and Jenine. We will hike in the woods and meet the giraffes and other nice animals.