Catching what hopes to be the end of winter, Ryan and I took a trip out to Vermont to check out the sites as well as try our luck skiing at Stowe.
Unfortunately, Ryan missed his Friday morning flight and wasn't able to catch another flight out to Burlington until Saturday afternoon. That left me with a lot of time to kill by myself - Friday 1pm until Saturday 4pm.
So...loving the cheesy (no pun intended) tourist attractions - I hit up all that Vermont had to offer! Starting with....CHEESE!!! I went to Cabot Creamery and had the sweetest lady give me a tour of the factory. She even had cheese samples tucked away in her apron to share!
After Cabot Creamery, it was off to the Bragg Farm Sugarhouse where they make maple syrup. It's too bad you can't capture the feeling of a place because this place was warm, sugary, and oh so sweet. I got to watch Mr Bragg reduce down maple sap, sample the various grades of maple syrup, and try out the "Sugar on Ice" special which is shaved ice, hot maple syrup (somehow reduced down so its thicker and super sweet), an unsugared donut, and some dill pickles. I know, they lost me on the dill pickles too. Apparently its to cut down on the sweetness of the whole thing. Ehh, I love dill pickles so why not? Oh, and they threw in a cup of apple cider too!
Next up...the hotel! I checked into the Golden Eagle Resort and relaxed for a bit while contemplating what to do about dinner. As one can imagine, I wasn't really all that hungry after many many cheese samples, maple syrup tastings, and the sugared shaved ice. Ryan and I had originally planned to have dinner at Hen of the Wood but I wasn't sure if a) I wanted to go have dinner at a nice restaurant by myself and b) if I was hungry enough. Well, I decided to go and turns out was definitely hungry enough.
And of course, pictures of my (super yummy) dinner:
Jasper Hill Farm 'Constant Bliss' - Greensboro, Vermont
Champlain Creamery 'Champlain Triple Creme' - Vergennes, Vermont
Grilled Bread, Hen of the Wood Mushrooms, House Bacon, Poached Egg
(dont know why this picture won't rotate...so it's staying on its end!)
Labelles Farm Duck Breast, Chestnut Spaetzle, Local Cabbage, Mustard Seeds & Currants
Whipped Potatoes, Creme Fraiche
Saturday morning started off with a late breakfast of Vermont's version of eggs benedict...basically the same...except with a lot of extra cheese.
After checking out the chocolate shop on Church Street, I headed over to the Chocolate Factory on Pine Street....hey, like I said, I had a lot of time to kill.
Finally...the airport! Picked up Ryan and then headed straight to BEN AND JERRY'S!
Yeah....Ice Cream!
Waiting for our free sample...Pro: Free Ice Cream, Con: Oatmeal Cinnamon Flavor
My favorite flavor..but not my favorite picture! Side Note: Apparently Half Baked is #5 on the Wall of Most Popular Flavors. I think it should be higher ;)
The graveyard of retired flavors. Interesting that Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz has a tombstone here, but yet they still sell it at the Ben & Jerry scoop shops.
Here is our obligatory touristy photo op shot
Post Ben&Jerry's we headed over to get some "Legendary Cider Donuts". After trying these donuts at 50cents each, I would have to agree!! They were definitely tasty...good enough that we stopped by for some more the next afternoon even.
Lots and lots of things can be made out of maple syrup!
More eating! We stopped to get some cheese samples and then made our way to dinner at Michaels on the Hill. We called it an early night since we had to get up early to go snowboarding and also because we were losing an hour due to daylight savings time.
Sunday morning: Breakfast and then Snowboarding! We tried the easiest of the easy hills a few times...mostly successful and then hit the cafeteria for lunch. Then, we took a snowboarding lession and ended our day with the 2nd easiest green slope.
And..thats the weekend!
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