Exploring

Last week, we headed out with an idea of an outline of a plan, and here's where we ended up:

LOTS of addition/renovation going on here. The cooking/baking
school seems to be growing pretty fast.

Lots of yummy pastries and coffee, and more baking trinkets
than Martha Stewart could use in a lifetime. I wish we could
have Christmas shopped here.

These are some shots of the road to Vermont, which is about ten minutes away. The pictures do very little justice to the landscape. Beautiful mountains capped with snow, wide valleys with frozen lakes. I'm really glad we came here in the winter because everything probably looks very different in the fall.

Waterbury, VT. This place makes it's own fresh apple cider every day, as well as a huge variety of cider-based jams, compotes, mustards, syrups, and dipping sauces. We sampled a bit of everything, and ate a breakfast of cider donuts, apple cider, apple turnover, and pumpkin bread. 

You'd think they'd never been to Krispy Kreme before (I guess they were
too young to remember), but they were fascinated with the donut machine.

We wandered over the gift shop where they had a hard cider tasting (YES). I happened to notice some CD's by "Elizabeth Trapp" on the shelf by the register. Elizabeth Trapp is actually Elizabeth Von Trapp, the grandchild of Captain Georg Ludwig and Maria Von Trapp, of Sound of Music fame. Having grown up on a steady diet of this movie, visited some of the movie and historic sites as a teen in Austria, and given my undying admiration of Julie Andrews and the whole Von Trapp story, I ashed the clerk if Elizabeth actually lived nearby. Turns out, the Von Trapp family farm (now lodge/resort) was about 30 minutes up the road. Apparently, the family retired to Stowe, VT after touring the states for a few years following their dramatic escape from the Nazis. We headed up the mountain.

 

The main lodge. Though the children portrayed in the film have all
passed away, the children and grandchildren still own this property
and live somewhere on the grounds. 

In an effort not to be all stalk-ish and creepy, we took some pics
of the vista and moved on. The cabins all looked like the little
chalets I used to see in Austria and Germany. It really
felt like Europe there for a few moments.

Back in Waterbury, we hit the Ben & Jerry's Factory. It looks just like you'd imagine. A really cool hippie/farm vibe with lots of funky colors.

The short tour was lots of fun, but no hands on ice cream making that day. 

We all had ice cream at the end of the tour. We all sampled the new Late Night
Snack which features chocolate covered potato chips. It was...interesting.

Daylight hours are short here at the top of the world, so we drove back to Lebanon and ate at a local place called Jesse's. Doesn't it look cozy? The meal was INCREDIBLE. Very surprised at how good it was and we'll definitely be going back. Plus, it was the first time we ate out since arriving that didn't end in an ER visit for Dad.