As I drive through central Vermont on an October morning, the Green Mountains are blanketed in a thick layer of mist, which occasionally opens to provide a glimpse of the passing valleys and villages. It’s not until I descend into the Mad River Valley that the fog lifts, a dramatic act that is positively startling. Suddenly, the forests come alive in an explosion of impossibly bright reds, oranges, and yellows.

“Hoo boy!” says Rotarian Jack Miner, by way of greeting, as we meet at the farmers’ market in Waitsfield, Vt., USA. “You sure know how to pick your weekends.” The forecast today calls for sunny skies and temperatures hitting the unseasonably warm mid-80s.

Cradled by some of the highest peaks of the Green Mountains, the valley lures visitors with woodlands and year-round mountain resorts, picturesque villages, and well-preserved farms. The market is in full swing today, during the high season for “leaf-peepers.” Vermont is one of the best places on earth to see fall colors, mostly because of an abundance of maples and other deciduous trees, plus warm autumn days and cool nights.

At the market, fruits and vegetables pour in by the minute from fields and orchards, and celebration bounces through the air as a 10-piece orchestra plays Glenn Miller tunes. The band lowers the volume, and the director of the local chamber of commerce, Susan Klein, begins the countdown to the valley’s “peak foliage moment,” a “completely unscientific” tribute.

“You might have noticed that we have to make a holiday out of just about everything,” says Miner, the 2007-08 president of the Rotary Club of the Mad River Valley in Waitsfield, which also serves the three other valley towns of Fayston, Moretown, and Warren. That spirit also applies to club fundraisers. The annual You Bet Your Ice contest – in which contestants guess the day and minute that an outhouse perched atop a frozen pond will fall through the melting ice – brought in $11,000 in 2007. “People have gotten pretty good at predicting it,” Miner says, “to the minute.”

The fun and food might be local, but the valley’s Rotarians have connections all over the world. Several members have traveled to India to help eradicate polio, and the club has supported a water project in Ghana. Recently, members funded ShelterBox kits for disaster victims, and avoidable blindness projects, in cooperation with District 3270 (Afghanistan and Pakistan).

A few minutes later, we run into John Hoogenboom of the Rotary Club of Waterbury, just up the road, and Rotarian Rodney Wimsett and his wife, Annette, of Napier, New Zealand, part of a Rotary Friendship Exchange between districts 9930 and 7850. “We didn’t want to get homesick, so we brought you some good weather,” Rodney Wimsett jokes.

On a day like this, it’s hard to believe that this place could have any problems at all. But as the valley transformed from a farming to resort to residential and retiree community, some locals have been left behind. The club funds a health center, which enables Waitsfield to keep a full-time doctor in town, as well as ambulance services, a senior center, and Meals on Wheels programs. The club also awards scholarships to local college students and donates to Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, which helps people with disabilities learn a variety of outdoor activities, including golf and skiing.

Like many in the valley, Miner first came here for the skiing. “We just loved the small-town life, where you know everyone. So after I retired, we decided to move up here full-time.”

Since 2000, the club has grown from 33 members to 65. Many are retired, so the club is actively recruiting younger members, like Jon Jamieson. At 40, he is young by club standards but has more history here than most. His family arrived in the valley in 1798 and farmed until a generation ago. Jamieson’s father, Richard, was a founding member of the club in 1976.

“This is an amazing place to raise kids,” he says, as we stop for coffee and homemade maple muffins. “The valley is full of talented people from other places, and there’s so much going on. At the same time, there’s an increased focus on preserving the natural beauty and cultural heritage. We’re seeing a whole lot of community-supported agriculture.”

Jamieson spent six years in the western United States before moving back to his hometown in 1992 to raise a family and work in his father’s insurance business, which he has since taken over. He and his wife, Amy, have two young children.

We drive over Waitsfield’s covered bridge and up into the hills for a rolling visit to some of the valley’s historic farms, including the old Jamieson homestead, now farmed by the von Trapp family of The Sound of Music fame. We also stop by the valley’s two ski areas, Sugarbush and Mad River Glen. The latter opened in 1948, and it retains an old-fashioned feel. “Skiing here,” says Jamieson, “is like stepping back in time.”

The ski area, which is run as a cooperative, doesn’t allow snowboarding. It also has one of the few remaining single-person chairlifts in the world. After much debate over whether to modernize the resort with a new multiperson high-speed lift, members decided instead to renovate the unique and proudly anachronistic lift.

After a quick stop at breathtaking Warren Falls, Jamieson and I hop on our mountain bikes and careen through the hills above his house, eventually connecting with an extensive trail system. I shower off at the Wilder Farm Inn, then join Jamieson for dinner at Sweet Wood Grill & Bar, owned by the family of Rotarian Suzee Lynn. Sweet Wood is one of 42 local restaurants that participate in the club’s annual Restaurant Raffle, which raised $4,000 last year for local charities.

My trip ends with a glider ride over the valley with Tim Larsen of Sugarbush Soaring. Towed behind a small plane, we ascend to 3,000 feet, then unhook and ride the air currents up and down over farms, ski areas, and those brilliant forests. Finally, we drift downward through the cooling air, landing as the last rays of sun stretch down into this idyllic Vermont valley.