Vermont: Our Extra-Special Super-Size Entry

Downtown Burlington
see all photos »

Hilarity ensues:

Before I can tell you about our adventures in Vermont, I must tell you about the crazy convoluted way that we reached it.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream

First off, here is Public Service Announcement #1: Although GPS systems always ask you if you would like to avoid toll roads, they do NOT ask you if you would like to avoid a FERRY. This is a particularly important deficiency, I should specify, when you are traveling at night and the last ferry stops running at 10pm! Here’s how it went down: Eric and I left Lake Placid around 9pm, and saw that - per the GPS - it would take us about 2 hours to reach Burlington, VT. Up until now I’ve been leaving out most of our “on the road” stories about stuff like Canadian border guards, crazy backwoods dirt roads, giant racoon/procupine/possum things in the middle of the road (seriously, no idea what that thing was -- it was probably a red panda recently escaped from a local zoo), but in this instance I must tell that the GPS had us driving through pitch black woods seemingly in the middle of nowhere when we finally (much to our relief) reached the town of Essex, NY. We noticed some kind of boat sign with an arrow on it and speculated what it might be for. When we figured out that it was for a ferry we joked about how funny it would be if the GPS had us taking the ferry. Then, much to our horror, the GPS directed us to “take the ferry.” Now, this actually would have been an okay scenario, except that (to our further horror) it was 10:10pm and the sign said that the last ferry had left at 10pm! So we drove around in circles and tried to get the GPS to recalculate but it kept repeating over and over again,”take the ferry, take the ferry” until Eric and I chorused in unison,” Shut up!”

Covered Bridge
see all photos »

This all brings me to Public Service Announcement #2: It is REALLY hard to get from New York to Vermont without taking a ferry! Lake Champlain (which makes up much of the Vermont border) is very thin but very long. After MUCH cajoling of the GPS (it tried to take us to 3 other ferries before we could convince it to search for a bridge) we found what is apparently the ONLY bridge to Vermont, which added a full two hours to our already late night. And so, two hours later, we pulled up on the Vermont side of the Essex ferry, openly cursing Lake Champlain. :)

Eric and I
see all photos »

Now to the real entry:

Vermont is, in a word, picturesque. From the lush green mountains in every direction to the small but cosmopolitan cities to the charming covered bridges and corner creameries, Vermont is just delightful.

We started our day at the Shelburne Museum, an outdoor museum filled with well-preserved or restored relics of old New England. I loved the 1920s carousel (interesting trivia: most carousels made at the turn of the century were in New York, which is why we’ve encountered two of them so recently) and the Ticonderoga steam paddle-boat, a luxury cruise-ship of sorts from 1906. (Yeah I definitely pretended that I was on the “Titanic” the whole time J) To my great surprise, the museum was actually worth the $16 (after AAA discount) admission fee. Chalk another one up to our “Let’s Go” guide book!

see all photos »

Then we took off for downtown Burlington, where we walked around College, Church, and Main Street areas. If you’re ever there, you must check out Zappy and Elf’s Stone Soup café -- absolutely fabulous and extremely reasonably-priced soups, sandwiches, teas and desserts made with all organic ingredients and served with huge chunks of freshly baked bread. Delicious!

We also took an hour and a half boat tour around Lake Champlain (a nice way to spend the afternoon, especially in the gorgeous weather, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must by any means) and made a quick drive around the University of Vermont.

Zappy and Elf's Stone Soup
see all photos »

Then we left Burlington and headed to the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury! The half hour tour was really cute and ended with a sample of their new John Lennon ice cream flavor. :) Eric and I couldn’t be more in love with the Ben & Jerry business philosophies of social and environmental responsibility. If all business was like Ben & Jerry’s, the world would absolutely be a better place.

Not ready to quit, we took off to find some of the charming covered bridges (think Bridges of Madison Country) in Vermont that are still in use! (Big thanks to the covered bridge conservation group that has not only beautifully preserved the bridges but has also created a website mapping them out all over the state. (more interesting trivia: “covering” or enclosing a bridge serves three purposes: 1) it protects the bridge from harsh weather, therefore reducing maintenance 2) the roof reinforces the bridge structure 3) back in the days of horses, the walls kept the horses from seeing potentially frightening views.)

see all photos »

And because we just hadn’t had enough (and we were pretty close to it anyway), we took off to see the smallest capital in the US: Montpelier. Very neat capital building.

Then, finally, we took off for Montreal.

PS - I don't get maple sugar candy. Maple sugar candy tastes a lot like marscapone...just sugar packed together into shapes. It's okay, but certainly not a "can't miss." No one will be receiving any maple sugar candy souveniers from us!