Vermont Relocation Vacation {10/9: Norwich, Quechee, Woodstock, Sharon Tourist Day}

Goooood mornin'!

Friday (October 9th) was a big touristy things type of day. We packed in all the good stuff recommended by my Aunt Nikie in the Norwich area into our day out and had a great time! Our drive from Jay Peak took about 2 hours, and we had a reservation at the Montshire Museum of Science at 10 am, so we hit the road early. The museum had a very COVID-safe set up: spaced out displays, limited visitor capacity, reservation ticketing, sanitizing stations everywhere, masks required, family restrooms, and my favorite: acres of outdoor spaces and exhibits to explore (that they always have - it just works well for social distancing). I liked their attention to detail and felt quite comfortable inside and outside. We explored all the indoor exhibits and then headed outside. We ended up spending nearly two and a half hours there that morning! We had a blast.

The bubbles exhibit was excellent soapy fun.

Making bubbles with mist and regular air.

Go inside a bubble!

This one was cool - you could pop the bubble
inside the string and stick your arm through
the sheet of bubble. It was also fun to see the
swirling colors in the bubbles at this spot.

How do you measure up to an eastern moose?

Callie was all over the leaf tracing station.

We joined a demonstration about volcanic rocks that
the kids really liked. Have them tell you about granite or
pumice the next time you see them!

This air station was probably my favorite thing - you stuff
a scarf or yarn ball in the hole and it is sucked around the
tubes super fast and then shoots out the opening at the end
onto your head.

Can you see the scarves flying through?

Taking a look out over the outdoor exhibits from
the observation tower.

Outside we first spotted the Sun on the 
planet walk. We didn't end up following it
down to any other planets, but I still love
this idea.

The water features were still on! (This is what Nikie
said was the coolest thing and she's right - we had a great
time! Though Callie really wished it was warmer and she
could get in the water like we saw the kids doing on the
website during the summer.)

We took a walk down the short Blood Brook
Trail and spotted some eastern white pine cones.

And this amazing scene!

She spotted some snowflake lichens
(not their official name, just what we call them now)
on this stick.

I love the New England stone walls, so was excited
to learn more at this little station.

Can you see the wall the sign above was
talking about? It's an old one for sure!

In the Play Grove there were lots of fun outdoorsy
thing to play on.

And it was right next to the Connecticut River and
it was GORGEOUS!

Back in the water area!

You crank the handle and it lifts a ping pong
ball up a chain till it drops down a shoot and
into The Rill. You can then manipulate little
things along the edge of the water as the ball
floats down to see how it effects the ball's travel
down the stream.

Sam was really into this microscope
station and had to revisit it once we stepped
back inside.

After two and a half hours of science, we were ready for lunch! Our plan was to stop at King Arthur Flour (just five minutes away) for some croissants from the cafe which we'd then fill with our own chicken salad made the night before at home. Gregg stayed out with the kids on an Adirondack chair in the sunshine while I stepped inside for the grub. When I got to the door, they asked if I wanted to go to the store or the the cafe. The store had a half hour wait before they'd let anyone else in, and the cafe had two big lines with spots marking six feet of social distancing, but they let me go stand in line. (So I'm glad Gregg had the kids running around out there because they would not have been fun to wrangle in a boring line.) I enjoyed the scent of fresh baked things while I waited to order. It seemed like a random spot to want to visit, but it was also very 2020 for me since KAF was huge in helping me feel confident with my sourdough bread making this spring. Seemed fitting to pay a visit. ;) (And we weren't the only out-of-staters in the parking lot, so it's clearly a mecca for home-bakers from everywhere!) Once I got the goodies, I met the rest of the fam outside in the sun where we chowed down. The croissants were incredible! (And so were the mixed berry pie and rye sea salt brownie! ;)

Next stop: Quechee Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Vermont, or something like that. It was beautiful, and impressive, but also pretty busy people-wise. I was pretty surprised how touristy it was, actually.

Walking down into the gorge.

I spy the bridge from below. We then walked
under the bridge and up the other side where we
could get then walk out on the bridge (with all
the other visitors).

I thought these photo-taking slots in the chainlink were
clever.

After Quechee, we continued on down the road to Woodstock to pay a visit to Sugarbush Farm, land of maple syrup and cheese! Nikie had brought Heather and me and our friend Shauna here on our Spring Break visit of 2006 (I was doing the math and figured that it was 14 and a half years ago when I was last there! What?!) and I wanted to share it with my fam since we were here. It has displays that teach you about maple tree tapping and sap collection and boiling and cheese making. And then you can go inside the old farmhouse and taste it all! That is the best part for sure. :)

They have a cute little chapel in the woods
for weddings and such.

Inside the sugar house we watched a video about a year
on the farm.

The evaporator. (When I came in the spring of 2006 this
was steamy and bubbling away but today it was quiet
and cool.)

The farmhouse/tasting room/gift shop.

We drove through downtown Woodstock and down the road to Taftsville to spy the pretty red covered bridge (apparently we could have come straight to this bridge from Sugarbush and avoided the downtown area, but missed those signs).

Our side of the road vantage point - I spy the bridge!

We had to wait for these instagrammers to finish
their poses before we could drive over the bridge.

But we had to laugh at this grumpy old VT pickup
driver who was NOT stopping for some pretty dolled
up girls posing in the middle of the road. They had to run
to get out of the way! We followed him through. :)

I love any covered bridge, but I think red ones are my fave.

Not a great photo, but a cool old barn next to the road.

Back on the road, our next destination was about a half hour away in Sharon (technically Royalton?): the Joseph Smith Birthplace. The visitor's center was closed because of COVID, but we enjoyed the golden hour evening wandering around the grounds. It was beautiful and peaceful and a nice way to wind down from the day.

And the grounds crew had done a beautiful
job with the mums! I was in love!

This stone outline showed where the Soloman Mack
home once stood.

This was the original front door step.

And this rock marked where the hearthstone was
(the original hearthstone is in the visitor's center)
inside the home.

More mums! I couldn't get enough.

We didn't walk or drive down this lane, but apparently
there are more relics of homes and walks and bridges
of the Macks in these woods.

Yes, more mums, but this awkward shot
is not of the mums, but of that wet spot
on the wall in the foreground and the rock
near the pink mum. That wet spot came from
Sam relieving himself from the top of the wall
while Gregg and I were wandering elsewhere.
Ooopsie parenting facepalm for me!

Well aren't they the cutest?!

Getting some wiggles out by rolling down the hill.

It was another two hour drive home, but we had one more stop to make: Parker Pie in West Glover (about an hour and a half from the Joseph Smith site). Gregg's coworker Brian had recommended this, so we were looking forward to it. I called the restaurant when we were about an hour away to find out how long the wait was for ordering and they said pizzas were taking about an hour, so I ordered right then and an hour later Gregg dropped me off to pick it up. The place was packed and there was zero parking to be found - the sign of a good thing, right? And it was! We got the Green Mountain Special: white sauce, sharp cheddar, spinach, apples, onions, bacon and a drizzle of maple syrup on top. Whoa! It was yummy! We didn't have anywhere to park and it was dark outside, so we just pulled over by the river on the side of the road and dug in. (We ate all but one slice of that huge pizza!) A great end to a great day!