VERMONT IS ALL ABOUT THE ...?



MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #2 - STOP #42

"The Green Mountain State"
is our 21st visited state



When I say Vermont,

what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

For me, I think of three things and oddly enough you can eat every one of them.


First thing that comes to mind is what most people think of, Vermont Pure Maple Syrup. There are dozens of places making and selling their own brand of syrup and we picked up a sample pack of the three most popular flavors. Each syrup is made during a different period of the maple harvesting season and is graded by the color and taste. I can't wait to try them all!

If you want to know more you can check out this LINK.


Second thing that comes to mind is cheese, specifically Cabot Cheddar Cheese. I was hoping to taste a slice of Cheddar Apple Pie before leaving the state, since it is the Official State Pie, only to find out none of the bakeries near the city of Waterbury (where we are staying) makes them. Plenty of places were willing to melt a slice of cheddar cheese over the top of an ordinary apple pie, but I read that a true cheddar apple pie has grated cheddar cheese baked into the entire crust, so I took a pass on sampling any pie here. The good news is Tricia said if I purchased all the ingredients and found her a recipe she would try to make us one.


The third thing that comes to mind, which happens to be my personal favorite, may not be on too many of your lists. While we were driving across the state of Vermont to get to our new campsite Tricia surprised me and mentioned that she would like to get some ice cream at this stop. Not just any ice cream, but specifically Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Does anybody know where Ben and Jerry's is produced? One of their three production plants in the United States is right here in Waterbury, VT and it's located a mere six miles from our campsite. For a modest price they even offer factory tours of the production plant with free product testing at the end of the tour. Other than the ice cream tasting my favorite part of the visit to Ben & Jerry's was walking through the "Ded & Buried Flavor Graveyard" where all the retired flavors now reside. Each flavor has it's own tombstone with a clever little epitaph written about it. Check them all out HERE, most of them really are quite amusing.

“Ded
Ded & Buried Flavor Graveyard

So far I have single-handedly planned our route, so do you think it's just a coincidence we happen to be camping nearby? I don't think so!



SATURDAY morning we decided to go do a little hiking inside the state park where we were camping. They have a moderately short hike that is listed as a 2.8 mile loop trail called the History Hike. It starts just outside of the campground and begins with a steady rise until you reach the Upper Cemetery before steeply descending back down to the parking lot.

What we didn't realize was the 2.8 mile listing was for only a section of a 4.9 mile larger trail. At least the last 1.5 mile was downhill. Here are a few photos of what we saw along the trail.



THE HISTORY HIKE



This is the only building still standing along the entire hike.
Possibly an antique plow left along the trail?
A clearing where crops and an apple orchard once stood nearly one hundred years ago.
More rusty stuff!
One of the many stone walls that were used to separate the homesteads.
A couple of the tombstones in the Upper Cemetery.
A narrow spot along the trail.
More stone walls.
The Ricker Family cemetery.
Possibly an old bed frame?
Possibly an old instrument used to till the soil?



• • • 100 MILE • • •
HIKING CHALLENGE

27.50 MILES
UNDER OUR BOOTS

A five mile hike on The History Hike
brings our annual total up to 27.50 miles.




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