I LOVERMONT!

Did you know that the last two letters of “love” and the first two letters of “Vermont” are the same?!? It was one of the cool things I saw this weekend when I was in Vermont. I even bought a t-shirt with “I LOVERMONT” written across the chest. My weekend in Vermont was probably one of the best weekends I have ever had. Britney and Baylea also joined me on this adventure and it was great to share the beauty of the Green Mountain state with them.

Our first stop Friday was an organic apple farm. I thought it was PYO (pick your own), but unfortunately it was not. Nevertheless, I bought some Honeycrisp apples, which were so sweet and delicious. We drove into the Green Mountain National Forest to Manchester, which was a medium-sized town with chain stores, such as The Gap and Ann Taylor. We also stopped at a country store, the first of many we went to throughout the weekend.

That night we stayed with a couple we found on CouchSurfing. Ashley and Justin were new to CouchSurfing, just like us. They have been living in Ashley’s mom’s cottage for the past few months after leaving their jobs in NYC and are embarking on a 12-18 month trip around the world in a few weeks. They were very generous and cooked chili for us, except I didn’t have any since it had meat. The house was very old (the doors had latches instead of door knobs!) and quaint, and since there were extra bedrooms I had my own room and Britney and Baylea stayed in the attic.

Saturday was a big day of driving, starting with a stop in Woodstock. It had a cute downtown including a covered bridge we could walk through, another country store, and a delicious ice cream shop, where we all had homemade pumpkin ice cream.

Next we stopped at a Sugarbush Farm, which was almost identical to one I visited with my mom in northern Vermont two summers ago. We went on a self-guided maple syrup walk, saw where they turn sap into maple syrup, then sampled cheeses and syrup. I ended buying a smoked cheese with onion, a small jug of maple syrup, and maple sugar butter, which when I tried immediately knew I needed to buy it.

Ashley and Justin told us about Quechee Gorge, which gave us an amazing view of the trees and a river. Unfortunately the trees in southern Vermont, where the gorge is located, have not all changed, so most of them were still green. We took a trail to the bottom of the gorge, part of which was destroyed from Hurricane Irene.

The last stop of the day was Middlebury, which was the largest city we had seen since arriving in Vermont. We arrived around 5:30pm, so most of the stores were closed and I was surprised by how the lack of people out and about compared to the places we had been.  After dinner we walked around Middlebury College, which was beautiful. Most of the buildings were made of stone, but one building, which we discovered was a dorm was really cool and stood out from the rest – it even had turrets!

That night, and the following night, we stayed with a family also from CouchSurfing. Jim and Kim, who had two kids, had lots of positive reviews from people who had stayed with them. They lived about 40 minutes north of Waterbury, which is about 35 minutes east of Burlington. We stayed in the furnished loft of their barn, which was really cool since there were horses right below us!

Sunday morning Kim cooked us pancakes, then we made our way to Burlington. During breakfast Jim told us of a really pretty drive that was a little out of our way, but would be worth the detour. I had never heard of the area, which is called Smugglers Notch. This was probably the most beautiful part of the weekend. Unlike southern Vermont, the majority of trees in the north had changed to a golden color. The twisting road offers spectacular views of the foliage and opportunities to get out and walk around.

Burlington was very busy, as Columbus Day weekend brings lots of tourists to this beautiful college town. We rented bikes from Local Motion and biked along the Burlington Bike Path for almost four hours. Parts of the ride offer views of Lake Champlain (the large lake that borders the city) and other parts make you feel like you are going though a tunnel of trees.

Next we visited Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory, less than a 10-minute drive from downtown. Unfortunately we were unable to see any chocolate being made since it was Sunday, but we did buy lots of chocolate!

We went back downtown to Church Street Marketplace, a pedestrian mall with shops, restaurants, street vendors, and street performers. It was very crowded, with most restaurants’ outdoor seating almost full since it was about 75 degrees and sunny. In fact, the entire weekend was beautiful and felt like summer! Luckily we were able to find a place outside to eat and I had delicious Vermont Mac and Cheese.

Monday (no school because of Columbus Day) we had ice cream for breakfast at the Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. But first we took the half hour tour, which for $3 includes a short video, view of the factory (they were making Carmel Sutra), and free sample (we had Late Night Snack, which was vanilla bean ice cream, caramel swirl, and chocolate covered potato chips). If you are interested in going, I recommend going in the morning. They open at 9am and we got our tickets at 9:50 and had to wait for the 10:10 tour. By the time we left the wait for the tour was about 40 minutes. If you do have to wait, you can visit the gift shop and flavor graveyard, which has headstones honoring some of the flavors they no longer make.

On our way back to Massachusetts we stopped at a PYO apple farm, where Britney and Baylea picked apples. I however didn’t pick any since I do not like to eat non-organic apples, but I did buy some apple cider.

I am so grateful I was able to go to Vermont because it is one of my favorite states. It is so unbelievably beautiful in every part of the state. We are quite lucky I didn’t drive off the road while looking at the valleys and mountains full of outstanding color!