24. Vermont

    The drive through Vermont was absolutely picturesque. I felt like I was driving through the clouds. The amber glow on the mountains from the sun setting was so peaceful and tranquil. I can only imagine how beautiful it is during the changing of the colors. The one thing we noticed about Vermont and New Hampshire was the lack of billboards. There were no billboards to take way from the natural beauty of these two states. Once dark had set in we continued our drive. There were moose, deer, and bear crossing / caution signs. I’m not quite sure what I would have done if I had seen a bear. I would have liked to have seen a moose but only in the daylight and not along a dark highway. Fortunately none crossed our paths. With no billboards, it is a little difficult to know where the gas stations are. We decided to try the Montpelier exit. Montpelier is the capital of Vermont so we knew we would find something. The Vermont State House was lit up and gave us a perfect photo opportunity. We decided to drive on to Burlington since it borders Lake Champlain and I wanted to see another Great Lake. No visit to Vermont would be complete without waffles and Vermont maple syrup for breakfast. After a filling breakfast we checked out and began a fun-filled day.

      The Burlington waterfront still showed signs of the recent flooding but was gradually beginning to show some life. Unfortunately there was not a place for me to put my feet in the lake. North Beach, right pass the high school, was closed. Can you imagine having a beach so close to your high school? I wonder what the absentee rate is on a sunny day? Hopefully they play their baseball games during the daytime since if a batter hit a homerun, it would probably end up in the cemetery that borders the baseball field. I’m not going after that ball at nighttime.

     Driving back towards New Hampshire we had a few stops to make. Waterbury, between Burlington and Montpelier, is home to the famous Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory and we had to make a pit spot. We toured the factory and were offered a sample of the flavor of the day, Americone Dream. It would have been rude for us to turn down the sample so of course we graciously accepted and enjoyed the refreshing snack. A walk up the hill brought us to the flavor graveyard where we could pay our last respects to flavors that are no longer with us.

     Our adventure continued and we traveled through one of Vermont’s covered bridges to our next stop, Sugarbush Maple and Cheese Farm. This is a working farm and we were greeted with the friendliness that you would expect when entering a close friend’s home. During the summer the work room is busy wrapping and waxing different varieties of cheeses. The ladies are more than happy to have you sample the different cheeses and choose your favorite. We had many favorites but the sharp cheddars were at the top. We also sampled the four grades of maple syrup. We toured the sugarhouse and watched a video on how they tap 6000 maple trees and make maple syrup. Do you know how many gallons of sap it takes to make one gallon of maple syrup?
    We walked along the trail to observe examples of tapped maple trees. We made friends with the farm animals and enjoyed the fantastic view. Let me not forget about the gift shop with more samples to enjoy. While we shopped they even allowed us to plug in our camera battery for a much needed charge.

    Before we left Vermont we made a quick stop at Queche Gorge, Vermont’s own version of a Grand Canyon. The gorge was formed over 13,000

years ago and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to cross the bridge and look down at this natural beauty.  It also gave us the opportunity to partake of some of the snacks we had just purchased.

Vermont is a beautiful state and one I would like to visit again.

http://www.benandjerrys.com/

http://www.sugarbushfarm.com/default.aspx

The answer: 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup