All Askew in White River Junction

White River Junction isn't a classically "Vermont" village. It has artists, but not the kind normally found nestled amidst white clapboard houses and overflowing flower gardens.


Maybe that's because it was always a place of transportation -- first by river, then train, and now by highway. Two rivers meet there; 50 passenger trains a day used to go through via eight railroads; and now two interstates cross on the edge of town.


There are still more trains going through the Junction than I am used to seeing, or hearing. They toot their horns and stop wherever they want to, blocking several streets completely.

White River Junction is a place where artists can still afford to live and work -- rather than a place where artists used to live, but can't afford to any more. It's also home to the Center for Cartoon Studies, which gives the place an off-beat feeling, since everywhere you look, there's a funky cartoon drawing pasted to the wall.

It does have a handful of arty shops, but I didn't get the feeling they were flush with cash:


Other businesses are decidedly last century:


And the Polka Dot restaurant, near the train depot, has food from another century as well:


If tripe isn't what you have in mind, there are free raspberries to be had:


All this and two food co-ops (Upper Valley Co-op selling natural foods and a satellite store of New Hampshire's venerable Hanover Consumer Cooperative, selling mainline groceries).


Finally, this poster, which I saw in the train station. A quick scan gives the wrong impression of the poster's intent ("Don't destroy the things you love: kill trees"). There's actually a bunch of text in there that says "Moving firewood can spread insects and diseases that KILL TREES," but it's set in a smaller size and therefore isn't easily read.