Vermont 111111

It was 11/11/11.  You know where I've never been?  Vermont.  Fortunately, I live only 2 states away, which made a trip possible.  A trip to Vermont might make you think of hiking or cheese.  While we did both of those things (we definitely did cheese), the surprising aspect of Vermont was its food.  I've tried to avoid this evolving into a food blog.  So, to get that out of the way, check out Vermont part 2 for the foodie in you.

I wasn't sure we were going to make this trip.  We had talked about Vermont this weekend for the past couple of months but we've been traveling a lot.  I finally threw a fit about planning too much.  When Mike realized I expected him to plan our Vermont trip, he immediately, instead, began looking for plane tickets to Puerto Rico.  Of course, tickets to Puerto Rico with 3 days notice are not affordable for anyone.  When you type that search into Kayak, the computer just starts laughing at you.  Once he realized smaller Caribbean Islands had the same problem, as did Miami, he begrudgingly began to look for things to do in Vermont.

Fortunately, once the searching started, the planning became fun.  Who knew Vermont had so many awesome bed and breakfasts?  (everyone)?  Mike picked two cities in the south of Vermont and went with it.  We really lucked out and I would recommend this trip to anyone!

The itinerary in each city consisted of
-Breakfast
-Dinner
-Hike

Brattleboro


We arrived at the Meadowlark Inn in Brattleboro in the pitch black at 4:30 in the afternoon.  A property 1.5 miles from a main road, this Inn is not for anyone who has seen too many scary movies or who doesn't like to use their highbeams.  The Inn Keeper welcomed us into the cozy living room with hot apple cider and cookies, which I devoured.  Our room was a converted farm attic, so we had to duck under beams to get to the toilet, which only had a curtain covering it.  Somehow, it was the coziest, quaintest, farmiest room I had ever been in.  I loved it.

After having one of the top 5 meals of my life (seriously, read the next post), we fell asleep in our little loft, content with the best 11/11/11 ever.

Waking the next morning to an amazing breakfast (post #2), we were ready for some adventure!  People in Brattleboro, and Vermont in general, tend to give directions almost as bad as people in Hawaii.  Typical Hawaii directions: turn left by where the old McDonalds used to be and then take a right where there used to be a red balloon tied to the fence post.  While Vermontans don't require your knowledge of the area from long before you were ever there, they do use "miles" very liberally.  "Drive about a mile and you'll see a gate on your left, turn left and drive another couple miles and then take a right.  You can't miss it"  Really?  Because I think I can miss it.  I did miss it.  Every time.


While looking for an infamous "gate" about a mile from a mile down the road, we came across what we thought could be a path to a tree-lined lake.  We were told this lake was called the stream of consciousness and we couldn't wait to ponder at the pond.  We parked on the side of the road and cautiously began to make our way down a path.  We hadn't gone 50 feet before a truck with two men pulled up along side.  The men stared us down in our dark coats.  "You don't want to go back there dressed like that."  They said.  We looked at their full camo suits and trunk full of guns.  "Hunting season started today and this is private property."  We turned around and began to walk back to the car.  We were jogging by the time we reached the road.

Our next attempt at nature was much more successful.  We hiked Mt. Winnepoopooh or something like that.  We were told the hike was only about 45 minutes each way.  We either did not realize were were crawling up the mountain, or that person was a liar.  Nevertheless, our hike was filled with waterfalls, which were sometimes under our feet, crunchy Autumn leaves, and quiet.  I've never felt so secluded on a trail.

 
 

 

 


I promised you that we did cheese!  Leaving Brattleboro, we stopped at the Grafton Cheese Market and made ourselves sick on samples.

 

Embarassed, we'd say things to each other like, "I think I'll try this one," knowing that the woman behind the counter knew that we had already tried that exact one about 3 or 4 times.

Manchester


Manchester, VT is the home of Robert Todd Lincoln's home called Hildene.  We visited the property and got to see one of (Abraham) Lincoln's actual hats!!!

This is me wearing it!

This is Mike wearing it!  (I thought I did a better job taking this picture).

Also on the estate was a refurbished Pulman car.  These sleeper cars were one of the most luxurious methods of travel back in the day as many presidents traveled on the exact car I was standing in.  The 1920's version of "luxury" travel was basically converting a tight space where you sat all day into a bunked dormitory with beds smaller than current day twin size that included light curtains for privacy.  I'm sure Air Force One is pretty much the same nowadays.

The next day in Manchester (after an amazing dinner and breakfast - no joke, read blog #2), we planned the 5 mile drive up Mount Equinox.  When we got there, the road was closed because of black ice on the numerous hairpin turns of the drive.  Just as we were about to give up, we got the all clear and managed to be the first car of the day to drive up this steep mountain.

At the top we decided to do the hike to "lookout rock."  We hoped this meant a rock with a beautiful view rather than a place where we constantly needed to scream, "Lookout!  ROCK!"

We took another eerie and desolate path.  There was snow up on these peaks and the wind was whipping through the trees with a moaning and ominous hum.  Once again, all alone in the mountains, we came across a grave stone of a beloved dog who had been accidentally shot by a hunter in the 50's.  Oh yeah, his name was Mr. Barbo.

We also ran into a hiker who had walked all the way up the mountain.  We chatted as he ate his tuna fish and ketchup sandwich for lunch.  We surprisingly met a lot of nice, smart, and interesting people in Vermont.  It's almost as if the state has more to it than just hiking and cheddar.

 

 

 


As we descended down the mountain, we slowly realized that the "woodsy fire" smell was not a campfire in the woods - it was our breaks burning.  After making numerous stops on the 80 degree incline to allow our brakes to cool off, we finally were motivated to search for what the "B" gear meant on the prius.  It means low gear.  Who knew?  That helped us get to the bottom of the hill without dying in a brake pad fire.

As we drove home, we could not stop going over all the awesome experiences Vermont had to offer.  We will definitely be back... probably as soon as we run out of cheese.