Vermont

26 Sept - Travel Day

     Breaking down in the rain is one of the most dreaded chores of this kind of travel. I woke up early and listened to the rain on the camper (this makes for good sleeping) and it seemed to stop around 6:30 or so. I took advantage of this break in the rain to do the outside chores - breaking down equipment and getting it packed into the truck. I hate putting gear up wet but no choice at this point. We managed to get everything ready to go fairly early and still make some coffee and enjoy that and read another couple chapters in our books.

     We pulled out around 9:00, in no hurry to get to Vermont where we have reservations at a campground in Waterbury, Vermont called Little River State Park - we were only a few hours away but could not check in until 2:00.  Luckily it did not rain much on the travels (as predicted) but was also forecast that evening.

Stowe Vermont Chapel

     One of the things I was interested in seeing in this part of the country was how they harvest the maple syrup - just what that process entails. So we stopped (as usual) at the welcome center for Vermont and picked up a ton of brochures and maps and asked about one of the "sugar houses" that we could visit. There was one not far into our journey called "Maple Grove Farms of Vermont". It was an interesting stop and of course we ended up buying some of their products. The syrup is actually harvested in the spring so we could only watch videos to learn about it and see some of the equipment on display in their museum - still a good stop!

     The campground ended up being off the main road and three miles into the woods on a dirt road. We thought for sure there would be no cell service but to our surprise there was....and a pretty good signal at that. Still no TV reception, haven't had any TV in a very long time but that is good for the reading plan. With rain predicted we very hurriedly get set up before it starts....and luckily we got done just in time. Then the remainder of the evening was spent resting and enjoying the rain on the roof!

27 Sept

     After a restful  night we set out for some exploring in the Waterbury and Stowe areas of Vermont. First stop is a late breakfast out at a local restaurant called Maxi's - good way to start the day. From there we visited the Cabot (cheese fame) farm store....having just had breakfast we weren't even hungry enough to try any of the free samples - but we vowed to return on the way back as we had no way (with us) to keep anything we bought refrigerated all day.

     One interesting thing I learned there at the Cabot Farm Store - I asked the question "why is the Cabot cheddar cheese white and not orange like I am used to seeing"? They told me that the cheese that is orange has an additive specifically for making it that color...that begs the question why then - the lady told me that back in the revolutionary war period the American cheese had to look different than the British cheese to avoid being taxed by the British so they colored it orange to differentiate....that became the norm and many (most that I know of) cheese companies continue to do that.

     We pass by the Ben & Jerry's ice cream plant but decide that tour will either need to be later that day or possibly even the next depending on time.

     Next stop was in Stowe - not quite as big a town as I'd expected but pretty nice. We found public parking near a recreational trail where we decided to take a walk before looking around the town. We enjoyed a couple hours walk that wound it's way through a valley area next to a river - interestingly enough it was close enough to businesses that there were exit paths from the trail to restaurants, etc.... it was really nice and well maintained.

Recreational Trail Bridge

     After our walk on the trail we walked around the town - it is a quaint little ski town with all the typical tourist shops that sell all the little touristy stuff that we don't either want or need as downsizing and decluttering are on our minds lately. There were also plenty of people there as a tour bus or two had dropped off passengers to mill around. Didn't take us long to see all we needed to see there.

     From there we just drove north on highway 100 to the next town (Morristown) just looking at the pretty country side and also took a detour to one of many covered bridges - I haven't seen one yet that looks as well maintained as the ones in the pictures.

     We then plugged in the GPS for Smugglers Notch state park and headed that way - by the ski resorts and all the business that goes along with that. The park was not what we expected - it is "only" a campground but the attendant let us ride through and give it a look - pretty nice but very small campground.

Heading up the mountain - a little more color

     Leaving the  park we continued on up and through Smugglers Notch which proved to be a very interesting ride. The fall colors are not at peak here either but up near the notch they are beginning to show more. It was a really cool drive and we stopped at the top to look around and watch some young people doing some rock climbing.

Young person just thinking about rock climbing

      On our way back to camp we did stop again at the Cabot store to get some cheese, salami, crackers and, oh yeah, another bottle of wine. We are ready for an evening in the camp.

28 Sept

     We set out this day with it being our last day in the Stowe/Waterbury Vermont  area and expect it to be a pretty short touring day....that didn't turn out to be the case at all. We first headed to the Stowe Mountain Auto Road where for $33 we could drive up the mountain (Mount Mansfield) on a gravel road that is also a ski trail in the winter. It is only about 4.5 miles of pretty steep hair pin turns but offers some pretty good views.

     The weather for the day was perfect (for a change) and the colors in Vermont are starting to come in nicely, although in patches and not throughout the forest. Especially nice at some of the higher elevations.  A lady in the visitor center told me it would not be "peak" until the Columbus Day week-end and we will be gone by then. I somehow had it in my head that the colors would peak sooner in the northeast.

Stowe Mountain Road

     The drive up the mountain was nice but we didn't know that there was also some hiking trails at the top....from the top parking lot you could hike to the peak (called the "chin") on a trail called the long trail that offered some beautiful views. The chin is 4395 feet and the tallest point in Vermont. There was some pretty serious fog rolling in and out and the trail at times turned from hiking to climbing....we made it most of the way, but in the end, we decided to be safe and turn back - besides the view could not have been any better.

Long Trail View

Long Trail Hikers

Lead Hiker - long trail

     By the time we finished that we were pretty deep into our "short" touring day - on the way down we stopped for pizza and caught a little bit of the Ryder Cup news on TV (that was a treat) before heading off to the Moss Glenn Falls. It was a short hike to the falls but pretty steep and our knees were starting to scream from the long trail hike. For such a short hike, these falls were well worth the effort. We didn't spend much time there as we needed to get to Ben & Jerry's before the last tour.

Moss Glen Falls

     The Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury runs their last tour at 6:00 and we managed to get on the 5:20 tour....time for the tour, a small sample and then purchase a small cone. That was a well executed plan - both for us and for Ben & Jerry and a good way to end our day.