Go to Vermont

If you ever were wondering if you should go to Vermont, I will tell you right now that this teeny little state deserves a visit. In fact, this entire blog post is an advertisement of why you should go to Vermont :)

I have been dreaming for an excuse to go to the New England area for the last decade or more. Kim, my sister, just moved to Montpelier, Vermont with her her husband, Steve, as he embarks on his culinary school adventure at NECI. Two weeks ago my mom asked all the girls if we would like to accompany her on a six day trip to visit and sightsee--of course, my answer was a definite yes. Mary, my mom, and I embarked on our spontaneous trip (dreadfully missing Leslie, who couldn't go).



The week was a great sister bonding time, filled with fun memories. Like when the lady in front of us dropped her Tiffany's earring into the crack of the boarding tunnel, and my mom asked anyone (in the airport) if they had a knife to get it out. A knife. Hilarious. The hilarious part was everyone acted like it was normal to be searching for a knife after we already went through security, not even thinking about it, until Mary pointed out "seriously, a knife!?"

Montpelier is the smallest capitol in the U.S. It is charming and steeped in history. This is the first thing you see as you drive into Montpelier. It is one of the prettiest capitol buildings I have ever seen. The first day we mainly explored the Capitol, museum, and ate delicious food:

 



 

 




I loved Vermont for so many reasons. The green--oh, the green! I love the vivid green, the trees, and frequent lakes, rivers, brooks, etc. we passed. Hot summers are not my favorite, so going somewhere with a moderate temperature, frequent rain showers, and bursts of sun in seventy degree weather was heavenly. And of course, the fact that it fulfilled my want of not being born in the right time period...

 Staying in Montpelier made me feel like I was going back in time for a few reasons:

1. Its streets were old and graced with dozens of churches from the 1800s.




2. There was only one fast food chain restaurant in the whole city, Subway; all other restaurants were local, original restaurants. Vermont focuses on getting everything (from dairy to produce to meat) locally. I have never had better food.




At the Skinny Pancake for breakfast (crepes)!




Well everything I ate in Vermont was amazing, except this burger...which I ordered well done. I cut it in half to show my "rare" well done burger. Good thing I wasn't very hungry...



The Vermont Farmers' Market had fiddlers on the side, lots of Vermont's pure maple syrup, and all other organic type foods. It was the most authentic Farmer's Market I have been to.

3. All the homes were old and maintained their charm. Vermont, for the most part, doesn't tear old buildings down; it tries everything it possibly can to preserve and keep up with the original architecture.



I took a million pictures of the different homes--these are only a smidgen.



4. We didn't see one person on a cell phone the entire time.

5. Everyone walks slower, drives slower, and takes their time doing everything (including the food service....slow but delicious).

Now that I have tempted you to book a flight to Vermont, I'll share some of the highlights!

 

Kim and Steve's apartment was charming! We loved seeing their new habitat. 

Joseph Smith was mentioned in the Vermont History museum. So many of the early leaders of the church came from Vermont. I think it would have been so hard to leave such beautiful land.

This type of scenery was everywhere: the perfect frolicking fields.

We loved spending time with Kim and Steve! They were our amazing tour guides. 

This was at Shelbourne Farms--a cheese factory with hundreds of acres of scenry like this. 

The actual cheese factory. We were able to try about six different type of cheeses. This farm was charming and had so many different things to see. I loved it!

We were able to pet all the farm animals.

Kim held a chicken :)

I never knew I wanted a baby piglet...until now. 

Lake Champlain is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. It is also one of the biggest natural lakes in the U.S. There are shipwreck scenes below the water from the 1700s. The farm was located on the lake.

Although Shelburne Farms is a working farm, a bakery, and a cheese factory, it also has a manor built in the late 1800s that guests can now stay at. It was stunning. 

The view from the Inn

Sunday was my favorite day there because we were able to go to Kim and Steve's ward as well as Sharon, Vermont, where Joseph Smith was born. It is in the middle of nowhere with Mormon Tabernacle Choir music playing in the background. A sweet spirit accompanied the grounds there. 

The forest and walking trail at the site. This excursion rejuvenated my soul.

Early Monday morning we set out for Peacham, Vermont, one of the most photographed areas in Vermont. It was picturesque. The highways in Vermont wind around the most wonderful scenry with very little traffic, so you feel like you can get out and explore along the way with ease.

There was absolutely no one at this amazing lake!

Fall here is supposed to be breathtaking, but summer in Peacham presented its own beauty.

I love old cemetaries, and we got out at this one.

A random horse approached us in the old cemetary and wanted us to pet it. It was magical.

 

On the way back from Peacham, we stopped at a War Memorial. This little town lost so many in WWII, and many were lost from the same family--such sacrifice.

Our afternoon also consisted of a graveyard of an entirely different kind...we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's Factory (which is apparently a huge deal; it was as busy as Lagoon in Utah). The first thing we saw was the Flavor Graveyard which had each "retired" flavor and a little "memory poem" about it. It was my favorite part of the factory.

 

We ate Ben & Jerry's icecream, went through the factory tour, and listened to their very political agenda. Although Ben & Jerry's icecream is not my favorite (way too hard for my taste although I will never turn down icecream), I have to thank them for inventing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream. I don't know where my life would be without it :)

We ended the day by going to the Von Trapp Family Lodge, a ski resort in the "mountains" of Vermont. It was charming and quaint, and it was amazing to think that this was where the Von Trapp family actually settled and started the inn. It made me want to watch The Sound of Music.

There were pictures of the orignal Von Trapp family everywhere. 

We woke up to this misty view out of our hotel room on the morning of our departure.
 
This trip was much needed and loads of fun, even with it's preachy "go green" speeches everywhere we went. It was my idea of the perfect trip--a blend of family, sightseeing, and history.  It was honestly hard to come home to real life, except for the fact that I had missed my husband so much! And I brought back these little treasures...

My new syrup/dressing saucer

Their kitchen store had the cutest and cheapest hot pads--it was so hard to pick!

I tried many different pure Vermont Maple Syrups while there, but Goodrich's (a seven generation family brand) was by far the best--it was near Peacham. 

 

And coming home to this and a hug from Ben made coming home much easier :)