Vermont – Thursday – the Wesslers

It’s our last day here.

I guess, technically, tomorrow is our last day here but it’ll be a travel day so there’s that.

We set the alarm for 0800 this morning so we could go enjoy breakfast in the Lodge Dining Room. What a treat. I had oatmeal pancakes with Trapp Lodge Maple Syrup, Trapp Lodge eggs, and sausage. Tricia had Bananas Foster French Toast with Trapp Lodge Maple Syrup. So good.

We went snowshoeing after breakfast and saw the Chapel. It was a nice morning hike.

After that, we went back to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill to see them press apples. We got there just in time. Saw the last batch for the day. It was pretty awesome (photos are below).

After that, we went back to the Bragg Farm and saw Doug making Maple Syrup. That was pretty cool as well.

We found a covered bridge late in the afternoon. Apparently, this is something that you are supposed to do in Vermont. I was underwhelmed and Tricia was, probably, at best, whelmed.

Dinner was after that and we ate at the Bistro at Ten Acres. Dinner was delicious. Tricia had a tofu curry with basmati rice and vegetable medley and I had chicken with ham and cheddar cheese covered with gravy…of course! The Truffle French Fries were OUTSTANDING. Neither of us had room for dessert so we came back to the room for a nice relaxing evening.

We’ve got a late checkout tomorrow so we’re going to sleep in and then pack before heading out to Burlington for our flight home.

What a great week this has been. We have to give a big THANK YOU to the grandparents Wessler and Sumpter for watching the girls for us. We can’t wait to get back home and see you all.

Enjoy,
J

Yes, I am on this vacation as well!

DINNER!

Dinner!

A barn in the setting sun. Because, photography. Cows live in the barn, apparently.

A church we kept passing as we drove around. The carvings were amazing!

Emily’s bridge. Apparently Emily threw herself off this bridge when her groom did not show up to her wedding because, you know, bridges. They say this is haunted. Our waiter at dinner SWEARS that Emily was the one who pushed him out of those 40 foot tall rafters and not the 3 beers he drank before he decided to climb up there. He described it as “gnarly.”

At the Bragg maple sugar house. It was just like the one at the Trapp Lodge.

Here’s the press in action. They can get a lot of cider out of one full press. This is a half-press because they were nearing the end of the batch. With a full batch, they’ll press out 3 gallons PER SECOND!!!

They had some pomace out for us to see. They sell this to farmers who give it to pigs and cows. Some folks say that you can taste the apple in the bacon from pigs who eat it. This is COMPLETELY different from applewood smoked bacon.

Here’s the pomace shooter. I’m sure they have a better name for it. Looks like the tube is vomiting all over the cheesecloth. Mmm…cider.

Making Cider. The gents were stacking cheesecloth on top of each other. Each section would be filled with about 130 pounds of pomace, a mash made from grinding whole apples. Stems, seeds, stickers – everything got shot into these forms.

The Chapel on the Trapp Lodge grounds.

We found it fascinating how the small evergreen trees would develop this “skirt” where their lower branches would be pulled down by the snow. These were everywhere.