Not All Who Wander Are Lost...

We had a lazy morning, enjoying a breakfast of cranberry waffles topped with the Vermont Maple Syrup we purchased yesterday.  Yummy!

  After which, we got our plan for the day together and started off on our journey.

Again, this morning we headed North.  This time to the little town of Barre, home of the

Rock of Ages Granite Quarries.  We located the

visitor center and found that we were just in time to board the next

tour bus.

We drove from the factory out to the

quarries.  They were not working this week due to the heat.  We certainly understand, but were disappointed that we did not get to see the process of extracting the granite.  Our guide told us that this quarry has been digging in this spot for about 60 years and that there was enough granite here to last for another 2,000 years.  Sounds like job security.

These are some of the

granite benches that have been extracted.

This photo was taken from the movie we watched, shows how they

lift it from the quarry.  The benches are 50' long, 20' wide, and 10' thick, and weighs several tons.

Once we were back to the factory, which was also closed for this week, we were able to take a self guided tour.  We saw

were the artisans take pieces of the granite and turn them into statues, monuments, and

tombstones.  Thus, the name...Rock of Ages.

I also had the opportunity to

sandblast my own granite

Vermont souvenir.

After the tour, we drove out to the Hope Cemetery.  We wandered around and saw some very unusual headstones that have been done over the years by the artisans from Rock of Ages Factory.

  There were

soccer balls,

initials,

airplanes,

race cars, and

murals.

Amazing talent.

From here, we decided to wander the

back roads looking for

covered bridges.  This one, was built in 1872 as the Northfield Upper River Bridge.  It was located just inside the town of

Northfield...established in 1781.

Wandering down this

back road, we found

a smaller back road that took us to a

floating bridge, that no longer floats.  The first bridge was constructed in 1820.  This one was the seventh bridge...now closed!

These were some of the houses and buildings sitting

  right on the river banks.

Back to our wanderings...we found

this old church,

an old general store,

a beautiful Vermont farm,

another covered bridge...and

a back road that took us to a dead end.  We had to back out of this one.

We saw

little streams,

silly road signs, and

cows that had the right of way.

Wander we did, but lost we were not...what another great day in

Green Mountain State of Vermont!

A Taste of Vermont...

Last night we shuffled through all the

Vermont brochures and made a plan for today.

About mid-morning, with maps and cameras, we headed north on I-89.  And, as I figured...our first stop was

Ben and Jerry's.  We signed in for our

tour and only waited a few minutes.

The first stop was in the

Cow Over The Moon theater.  Here, we learned all about the business.  Ben and Jerry were childhood friends and after college they decided to start a business together and ice cream was the choice.  After taking a $5 correspondence course, they started the business...and I guess the rest is history!

After our movie, we toured the factory...sorry, no photos allowed!

From the factory, we entered the tasting room

for a sample of today's flavor.  And, that concluded our trip.  But, if that tiny little sample was not enough, you could go outside to the

snack bar and get as much ice cream as you wanted to pay for.

Fun tour, good ice cream, but this Texas girl thinks Blue Bell just can't be beat!

Now, with that stop off the list, we headed on north to the town of Burlington.  We found a place to park and walked a couple of blocks to

the location of the

Church Street Marketplace.  We walked and shopped until we decided lunch was in order.  We chose this

great little tavern and enjoyed a lunch of fish and chips.

After a drive down by the water front of Lake Champlain where I found this

little lighthouse by the Coast Guard station, we decided to head back South.

At Montpelier, we took a back road...and on our drive, we saw...

big barns,

old churches,

beautiful green hills, and

these great old houses.

This back road, took us to the

Morse Maple Sugar House.

  Mark tried

several varieties of Vermont Maple Syrup.  He then could choose

the correct flavor and the amount you want.  He chose the Grade A, Medium Amber in the 16 oz. bottle for a mere $12.85.  The gallon jug sold for $56.00.

He better use it sparingly. LOL

While Mark was deciding on the syrup, I was trying to decide on which waffle mix I wanted...it didn't take me long to decide on Wild Cranberry.

After shopping in the store, we took in a movie at the

wood shed theater

where we learned about the process of making syrup.  When I learned  this

is the way it looks in the winter, and  you have to start tapping the trees in February...guess that price wasn't too bad after all.

With our purchases in hand, we had one more tour for the day, and that took us to the

Cabot Cheese Factory.

We had a great little tour here and got to sample several varieties of cheese.  Mark finally decided on

this Seriously Sharp Cheddar.

Okay...no more food tours for today.  We laughed that we missed the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory in Burlington.  And, no, we aren't going back.

On our way back to the campground, we saw our first

Vermont covered bridge.  This one was built in 1890, but was reconstructed several years ago, using as much of the original materials as they could.

We walked

through the bridge to the other side.  We stopped to

enjoy this great little creek and watch

this little guy hard at work.

We were back at the campground in plenty of time to sit out for a little while and then take an evening walk.

Once again we are shuffling through those brochures and making a new plan for tomorrow....in the meantime...

New Territory

This morning by 9:00, we were packed up, hooked up, checked out, and ready to roll.  We traveled Route 32/300 back towards Newburgh, made a left turn and headed across

the Hudson River one last time.  From Newburgh, we were less than 100 miles to the

Connecticut State line.  We had a good trip on through

Hartford.  There were  a few times that the traffic slowed down or stopped.  Once for a traffic accident, but mostly for construction.  But, for the most part, it was an uneventful travel day.  Just hot!

I was chatting with Arlene on Facebook and totally missed the Massachusetts state sign.  Oh, well, I will get it next time.  I think I will be in and out of there several times in the next few weeks.

There wasn't much to see on the interstate during today's travel as we were mostly in the

mountains.

We did see the

White River and this

cute little town nestled in the mountains after we crossed the

Vermont state line.

We decided to take a break, so we stopped at the

Vermont Visitor Center where we found

lots of brochures for Vermont attractions.  I think more than we will have time for.

At our exit, Mark saw this

service station and wanted to fill up before going to the campground.  Fuel was $2.97/gal.  That is the lowest price we have paid since Texas.  And, it wasn't even at a truck stop.   Pretty good price for a small station.

We also picked up a few more brochures at the local

Chamber of Commerce which was located at the service station.

With a left turn out of the service station, we were headed down

Vermont 66 to the little town of Randolph Center.  Once we were in town, we took another

left turn, past the

post office,

Floyd's General Store, which by the way was built in 1868.  Today, they still offer a full line of grocery items.  I can't wait to go shopping.

Then just past Floyd's was the right turn and then the left turn into the

campground.

I checked in at the

office and was directed to our

site.

Just a block or two and we were level on this lovely green grass.  I almost hated to park on it.

I think we found a winner in this park...I mean just

take a look at our row and then gaze across to the

row in front of us!

And, if you take a walk down to the

swimming pool, there is a third level of

camp sites there too.

After of travel day of 290 miles, we had a great evening...sitting out, grilling, and taking a long walk.

Now, we are shuffling through all those brochures and making a plan for tomorrow's adventure.  And, if I had my guesses, I imagine, it will include a trip to Ben and Jerry's and maybe even a cheese place or two.  Or, who knows, we might even see a covered bridge.