Vermont – Tuesday & Wednesday

So, I fell behind on posting pics from Tuesday and Wednesday…my bad. I’m on vacation!

Tuesday – We spent the morning cross-country skiing. Definitely not as easy as they make it look on the Olympics!! Things were great as long as we stayed in the pre-made tracks but once we went off on our own, things got a bit harder. Tricia loved it but I had a bit more…well…apprehension, let’s say. The cross-country skis are much thinner than downhill skis and your boots only connect at the tip of your boot. There is no rotating the ski like you would with a downhill ski. Makes it hard to steer and/or stop gracefully. I did both of those poorly!

But, we did it and can check that box. Snowshoeing is definitely more my speed. That was the morning. In the afternoon, we drove out to Cabot Creamery the home of Cabot cheeses. Their website states that they have a video and a tour where you can learn about how they make and package their cheese.

What their website didn’t tell us was that the tour is closed until late April for “renovations.” So, no tour for us. We watched the video (which was pretty cool) and then chatted with the gift shop staff and learned some more about cheese making. Did you know that yellow cheddar cheese is just dyed white cheddar!?! Crazy.

After that, we drove down to the Bragg Farm Sugar House. Their website tells you that you can stop by anytime to see them making maple syrup.

What their website didn’t tell us was that they weren’t making syrup on Tuesday!! “Oh for two” for the day. BUT, all was not lost – we watched an awesome video on how they make maple syrup and chatted with Doug Bragg (yes, relation) to learn some more. We DID find out that they would be boiling sap on Thursday so we planned to go back.

We finished the day with a meal at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, VT. This restaurant was recommended by one of Tricia’s partners at work. Their website tells us that the kitchen is staffed by students learning how to be chefs.

What their website didn’t tell us was that this week is “Completion Week” which is, apparently, fancy chef speak for spring break! We still had a nice meal prepared by…someone.

It was an awesome day capped off by dessert from the Trapp Lodge Bakery.

Wednesday – We started the day off in Montpelier for breakfast at the Skinny Pancake, a restaurant we saw when we were there the night before. Tricia and I had excellent crepes and some coffee. It was a very nice way to start the day.

On the way back to the Lodge, we stopped at a few places.

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream! Their headquarters is in Waterbury, VT just south of our lodge. Their website tells you that you can stop by for a tour and see them making ice cream.

What their website didn’t tell us was that Wednesday was cleaning day. They were not making ice cream. Didn’t stop us from getting a free sample and finding out that every worker gets to take home three pints of ice cream – Every. Single. Day. I don’t think I could eat that much ice cream! We got to sample Strawberry Cheesecake and it was yummy.

After that, we drove to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill to get some apple cider and apple donuts. Their website tells you to stop by any time to see them pressing apples and making cider.

What their website didn’t tell us was that Wednesday was not an apple pressing day. So, we’re now “oh for four!” BUT, we met a very nice man who spent a lot of time talking to us about the apple cider business. We protested our lack of entertainment options by buying two donuts and two cups of cider. They were very delicious.

We came back to the lodge and snowshoed out to the Trapp Maple Sugar House where THEY WERE MAKING MAPLE SYRUP!!! So awesome. This was a two-man operation and we got to see everything. It was pretty awesome.

We finished the evening with pizza at Piecasso in Stowe. Excellent pizza. Dessert came from the Trapp Lodge Bakery and we watched NCIS until we fell asleep.

And now…the photos!

Enjoy,
J