Off the Leash: Subversive Journeys Around Vermont

Presuming that readers are sensible enough to figure out the cumbersome particulars of food and lodging for themselves, Husher applies her ferocious curiosity and opinions to other facets of Vermont travel. While she does offer basic directions and phone numbers, she's more interested in exploring and enjoying free and inexpensive pleasures. Each chapter focuses on a place that holds some mystery and fascination for Husher. She takes the reader to a cemetery in Barre, where graves are decorated with ""a whimsicality you don't normally associate with burial,"" offering a unique history of those interred there. Another chapter describes the breakdown and rebuilding of her Vermont hometown, Randolph, after a number of fires gutted the downtown area. Husher visits a series of concrete sculptures along Interstate 89 and follows with a thoughtful essay on the intention and effectiveness of public art. Throughout, she includes little-known historical digressions, such as one about the Fenian Raids, which occurred between 1866 and 1870, when a group of Irish soldiers attempted to invade Canada from Vermont and establish an Irish republic. ""It's fun to know a few things, however sloppily the knowledge is acquired,"" writes Husher, encouraging travelers to pick up bits of information along the way--and her tour is bound to stir up curiosity not only about Vermont but also about all the places lost in the daze of hotels and gift shops. Illus. (Sept.)