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Monday, May 22, 2017

Wandering Vermont and New Hampshire

After leaving Dover, we headed to Vermont and New Hampshire before going to Acadia.  We wanted to spend time in the Green Mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  What beautiful country.  We spent our first night in Vermont in Jamaica State Park outside, you guessed it, Jamaica, VT.  We basically had our choice of camp sites.  We rolled in late so we set up in the dark side of dusk with the mosquitos out in force.  Luckily we finished setting up just as the skies opened up and poured for the next several hours.  We heard sirens whale in the distance multiple times through the night and realized later in the morning when we went into town that the storm was quite severe dropping multiple trees through the area that blocked many roads.  We both agree we have a knack for camping out in the rain (yes Katie - I remember your immortal words when I asked if you had any advice re: tent camping because of your vast experience and you had a simple one word reply "Don't").  We broke camp and put away a soaked tent!

The next couple days we wandered through Vermont seeing all sorts of fun things and learning more about this beautiful state.  Some quick trivia:  Montpelier is Vermont's capital!  Montpelier is the maple syrup production leader for the whole state.  Montpelier is the ONLY state capital that does not have a McDonald's, and they're pretty proud of it!  We had a chance to visit lots of different places in and around the Green Mountains.  Some memorable ones were the bed and breakfast that we stayed at outside Stowe (great host with a horse farm). We set up our tent in the host's back yard to dry out - not sleep - more rain and cold were in the forecast that night.  The Hunger Mountain COOP in Montpelier is worth a stop as they offer such a great selection of locally produced foods.  The King Arthur Flour's Vermont campus is definitely worth a stop as it has their store, bakery and school all together.  No trip to Vermont would be complete without a stop at the iconic Ben & Jerry's for a tour and a sample of their great ice cream (trivia - whats there number one selling flavor?  No - not the former Cherry Garcia but the new champ - Half Baked!).  They even have a flavor graveyard! We also had to stop at the Cabot Creamery for a tour and samples in where else but Cabot, VT - great cheddars!

We drove through New Hampshire and the White Mountain National Forest - quite beautiful.  I'll admit we were hustling to get to Acadia because the weather forecast was predicting a sunny day followed several days of by rain so we limited our stops to scenic vistas, cheap outlet stores (L.L.Beans) and to sample some award winning chicken wings at Delaney's Hole in the Wall (how could we not stop with a name like that).

So many covered bridges - beautiful!

Butler's Pantry breakfast in Stowe, VT - best pancakes!!

Our B&B - a working horse farm

The cows have it so tough!

For bakers - Mecca!

Try not to act to excited.

King for a moment!

We saw those cows earlier!

What a history of great ice cream!

Say CHEESE!

The White Mountains were gorgeous!

Beautiful vistas!

Still playing on train tracks!

A bourbon wall at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury, VT

















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