This past Thanksgiving weekend, Ed and I decided to head to Vermont for two days (Friday and Saturday to be specific). Vermont is known for small towns and local products, so we built our schedule around those two ideas.Friday, we first stopped off in the town of Plymouth Union. Plymouth Union was President Calvin Coolidge's boyhood home. We toured and purchased some cheese at the Plymouth Cheese Factory (now currently known as Frog City Cheese), which was established by Calvin Coolidge's father. The cheese tasted great -- it's a "special" cheese because it's made from granular cheese curds (whatever that means -- I just eat it). After we purchased our cheese, Ed and I drove up to another small town and stopped off at a huge maple store. We of course bought some maple syrup to have on our weekend pancakes. To my surprise, it was being invaded by the Quebecois.
Not to my surprise, Ed wanted to see a battlefield -- the Hubbardton battlefield from the Revolutionary War. According to Ed, the battlefield is so far out in the sticks that no one really visits it and it is supposed to be the most "original" of the Revolutionary War battlefields left. Of course... to get to the battlefield was an adventure in itself. At first we drove down a paved road, then dirt, then paved, then snowy dirt, where Ed almost lost it driving down a steep and curvy part of the road. Ed was navigating off of the Volvo compass and a map with no road names (of course there were no street signs either) so the drive was a little scary for me -- but we were quickly rewarded when we found a group of four river otters playing in a little creek alongside the road. We watched the otters for a few minutes and then fortunately made it to the battlefield in one piece (oh, the things Ed will do for battlefields and forts) and we were able to walk around the wonderfully preserved battlefield in 20 degree weather and snow. To me it looked like a field that needed to be mowed, but to Ed it was
Revolutionary War history. Fortunately, they strategically posted placards to show what happened in the various areas or else I would've been lost. We walked around the overgrown, snowy field reading placards and then we headed to car to thaw out.
Then we attempted to make a bee-line for the arts town of Middlebury, Vermont. Unforutnately, Ed was easily distracted by a sign that indicated that we were close to ANOTHER battlefield. He quickly reconned the map and saw that we were only 11 miles away from Mount Independence. Mount Independence was on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain and overlooked the important post of Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of the lake. I was still cold from our earlier walk, so I stayed in the cozy car napping while Ed ran around on his own -- haha!
After a nice lunch and some gallery hopping in Middlebury, we finally headed towards Burlington. Along the way we ventured to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company headquarters (I was surprised to hear that the Vermont Teddy Bear Company is the most visited place in Vermont). Of course I had to build a bear seeing Ed had me looking at Revolutionary War stuff all day. We then settled in for the night at the Inn at Essex, home to the New England Culinary Institute, where the Quebecois decided to take up residence.
The next day went a little quicker. We started off making a couple of brief stops in downtown Burlington to look around and/or to buy some Christmas presents (Ed and I have to buy a total of 13 presents for Christmas time. To Ed's frustration, at times, he married a woman who has a very, very large extended family -- 8 nieces and nephews -- and we buy gifts for all of them, which can get very, very expensive). The town was packed with Canadians who were Christmas shopping south of the border because of the weak U.S. dollar.
From Burlington, we started home and made stops in the state capital (Montpelier) and also at Norwich University (it's tiny).
We were home in time for dinner and go to finish up the weekend spending some quality time with our cats, Tiger and Whiskers.
6 comments:
Sounds like a good trip minus the views of fields that needed to be mowed. Your siblings have it off easy at Christmas, huh, especially your sister. We trade names on both sides now, and even with kids on Allen's, so much fewer gifts to buy.
I grew up in the Burlington area. Oh, I miss it so much. Did you walk around Church Street at night? It's lit up so nicely this time of the year. And, Middlebury! I love it! Montpelier is nice too once you start walking around. Little coffee shops, shops w/Vermont made-items/products, culinary school restaurant. I wish I could move back. Now that I've turned kind of crunchy in my parenting (cloth diapering, baby-wearing, natural childbirth,etc) I realize that the state certainly has a lot to offer in that area. I guess I turned into a true Vermonter after I moved away.
I can't remember if I've been to any of the battlefields you mentioned. I have been to some war reinactments in the area. So, possibly.
Next time you visit, stay at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne and the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Great places, great food, great views, great shops.
Ah, the Candadians...
Natalie -- it's great to hear from you. No, Ed and I didn't walk around Church Street at night. We did go there during the day and looked around in all of the shops. It was lots of fun and yes, we ate at the culinary institute's restaurants in Burlington and Montpelier -- YUMMY!
Kellie
ps -- thanks for the tips on places to stay -- I'm sure that Ed and I will head up there again before we leave.
If you want any other recommendations, let me know.
If you go during the Summer or Fall (my recommendation), you'll have to hit the bike path on the waterfront, hit an Art Hop in Burlinton if one is going on and, oh, I could go on. My friend, Laura, a native Vermonter living in PA, often visits Vermont with her husband and stays at wonderful B&B's and I can get you recommendations if you're interested.
Anyway, you can find our family's blog from Angie's site or at:
www.mcquiltonfamily.blogspot.com.
We're living in Portugal (near Lisbon) and love it (though, Matt works more than he did when he was in command and travels throughout Europe w/o us very often).
Natalie
You (or you an Ed) take beautiful pictures!!!
Merry Christmas!!
Sounds like a great time Kellie! The things you can do without kids! We used to look for battlefields and any type of historical war site we could find, in particular while living in Germany. That was when we had only one child. It sounds like a very interesting area to live in!
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