We thought it was supposed to be pretty rainy on Saturday the 16th, but didn't want to waste a day for site-seeing adventures, so we decided to go for it, and if it rained, it rained, and we'd get wet. Well, spoiler alert: it didn't rain! Just a sprinkle or two on our drive, and none through the day. It poured on our drive back, but we only got when we we ran into the condo when we got home. Perfect!
Our plan must-sees for the day were Joseph Smith's birthplace in Sharon, Sugarbush Farm near Woodstock, and the Cornish-Windsor Bridge (aka the longest covered bridge in America, or was at one point?). We worked through a few options of routes, but ended up going south via Lake Elmore (just to see something we haven't seen yet on this trip) and through Montpelier (we did a drive-by of the State Capitol!) and then down to Sharon. We got to the visitor's center shortly after it opened and were in the first group of tours for the day. We learned a lot about Joseph's childhood life, including the story of his leg operation that happened in nearby Lebanon, NH (where the current KFC stands, and apparently the missionaries like to go there to eat a chicken leg - groan!). After the tour we took a walk on the dirt road down the hill to see the remaining foundations from homes of Solomon Mack (Lucy's father) and Daniel Mack (Lucy's brother). It was so pretty down there among all the leaves and solitude!
By the time we hiked back up the hill to the parking area and used the bathrooms, we were feeling pretty famished. Next stop: lunch! We were aiming for the snack bar near Quechee Gorge, about 25 minutes away, but as we were driving down the road, we passed Sandy's Drive In, hit the brakes and turned around to eat there instead. We enjoyed delicious cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and some epic bbq pork-smothered fries! The only bummer was the soft serve ice cream machine was broken so we couldn't get a maple creemee there.
We stopped at Quechee Gorge next, since it's right on the way to Sugarbush. Sam had fallen asleep between lunch and here, so he and Gregg stayed in the car while the rest of us walked over the bridge and down under the bridge and through the visitor's center.
Then we continued on toward our cheese and maple syrup destination. We had fun checking out the facts and quiz questions in the woods on a maple syrup walk and as we wandered through the sugaring shack full of info. Then we headed into the farmhouse for samples and purchases. I was bummed that they only offered two flavors of syrup and two flavors of cheese in the sample room. Last time they let us taste anything on their list of 15 or so flavors. I guess this helps streamline things, but it was a bit of a disappointment. We bought up our goodies and headed out to make our game plan for the next stop.
We almost backtracked up to Norwich to get to King Arthur Flour before it closed at five, but then realized that the cafe had closed at 3, so we couldn't get any of the yummy food anyway, and decided to skip it this time. We headed a bit further south to Windsor, the birthplace of Vermont, which we actually drove past on accident, and over the Cornish-Windsor Bridge into Cornish, NH. Instead of turning right around and heading back home in Vermont, we drove north on the New Hampshire side for a while, just to say we did. We ended up in Lebanon and drove past the very KFC that the missionaries had told us about! Sam was super confused when I was telling them that that was the place that Joseph Smith had had an operation on his leg - "why did they do it in a restaurant?" Ha! We found a park to wear the kids out on for a while before we hit the road for the last leg of our journey, with one more quick stop in Hanover to use the bathroom and drive through Dartmouth's campus just before dark and rain hit.
Another full and fun day doing the Vermont thing!
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| This was an entertaining and educational listen anyway, but listening to it while in Vermont, where the story (and real life events it was based on) took place was a huge plus! |
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| That shiny dome is hard to miss! |
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| They moved the original hearthstone from the home where Joseph was born into the visitor's center for easier access and appreciation. |
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| The only other original thing from the home is this front step that the kids are sitting on. The tall rock behind them is where the hearthstone used to be, and the rest of the rocks are just place- holders for the size of the cabin. |
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| Here's the turnpike road again, with the awesome and original rock wall along the side. |
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| Let's lunch! |
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| Timmy cracked me up with his french fry in his tooth gap. |
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| Oh yeah, that's the good stuff! Cal and I got a VT maple bacon burger and it was the bomb. |
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| The view from the gorge bridge. |
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| The view from under the gorge bridge. |
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| Quechee covered bridge on the way to Sugarbush. |
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| Sap holding tank. |
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| A quick stop in the cute little chapel. |
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| Warning: a lot of maple sap and syrup signage photos coming up. |
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| Here are more sap storage tanks just outside the sugaring shack. |
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| The giant evaporator, which is wood-fired. I'm still so lucky I got to see this in March during sugaring season many moons ago on a trip with Heather and Shauna and Nikie. |
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| Just joining all the rest of the instagram crowd getting a pic with the view. ;) |
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| I liked this cute maple snowflake on the barn door. |
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| Cornish-Windsor covered bridge. |
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| It's pretty impressive! |
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| Christine got a much better pic when she crossed the road. :) |
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| Playground time in North Lebanon. |
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