(no subject)
They say a picture is worth 1000 words so here we have 55000 words on how Columbus Day weekend went this year. So sum things up, for those of you who don't like pictures, there was a lot of food and beer.
Tuesday morning Erin and I hopped into the car and we started the long drive north. Turns out the drive didn't seem that long though. Right around noon time we rolled into the Long Trail Brewery for lunch and a quick self guided tour. It's not my favorite beer company, but they do have some good beer so we bought a couple of t-shirts before moving on. Since we were already off the highway we began to make our way up Vermont by the scenic route. This is where a book on New England waterfalls came in handy. We made four stops on the way north and they were four stops that were well worth visiting. We checked into our hotel before heading into downtown Burlington for dinner that night and we wound up going to the Vermont Brewery and Pub. They wound up being ok, but nothing really great.
It was more driving again the next day as we decided to do a scenic loop through Vermont from Burlington through Stowe and then back again. Our first stop was the Boyden Valley Winery where they gave us a quick tour before letting us sample their wines. It turns out that Erin and I are really big fans of ice wine, but it also turns out that ice wine is very expensive. From there we headed towards Smuggler's Notch. We took one of the last parking spots left in the area and started playing on the rocks. It wasn't long before we saw a trail off to the side and decided to start following it. Erin really wasn't feeling very well, but we kept going a little further and then a little further. By the time she was ready to turn back we bumped into a family who said that the top wasn't too much further so we kept going. The top turned out to be Sterling Pond on the side of the Long Trail. It was a fun hike with a great place for a break at the top before we headed back down. Next up was a stop at Bingham Falls. A short walk into the woods and we came across a series of falls crashing over the rocks. Hunger and impending darkness cut our visit a little short, but we still had time for one more stop. We took a ski lift up to the top of Mt Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. Unfortunately we arrived 15 minutes before they were about to shut down so once we got to the top we had to turn around and head back down. After we left the mountain we grabbed some dinner and then saw a couple of baby cows frolicking around which might have been Erin's favorite part of the trip. The way back to the hotel just happened to pass by Ben and Jerry's and while it was too late for a tour, they were still open for ice cream, so we grabbed a couple of cones, visited the flavor graveyard, and called it a night.
Thursday we headed into downtown Burlington to explore for the first time during the day. We ate breakfast at the Skinny Pancake and then went for a bike ride along Lake Champlain. After that it was time to eat lunch at the Red Onion, a place that a friend highly recommended, and with good reason. Their sandwich was damn good. We walked around downtown for a while, but not many of the shops in the area kept our attention for very long. We killed an hour at a small aquarium and then headed for dinner where we met Erin's cousin and her family. We had what was probably our favorite meal of the trip and then headed back to Erin's cousin's house to stay the night.
The next morning it was raining. Not just raining, but pouring. It was coming down in buckets. That's probably a large part of the reason why we slept later that morning than we did all week and even after we did wake up, leaving the house seemed like it was a bad idea. The satelite tv kicked the bucket while Erin was taking her shower, otherwise we may never have left. We started our rainy day journey at another winery. This one was smaller and we weren't as impressed with the wines, but we bought a bottle anyways before moving on. We left the Hero Islands and headed into Shelburne where we first hit the Magic Hat Brewery. I've never been a huge fan of their beers, but they gave us some free samples and they had a pretty cool looking place. We had lunch before heading back into the rain where we came across Shelburne Farms. They offered us a tour, but because of the rain we passed on that and instead bought a coffee and donut to go along with our free cheese samples. We hit our third winery of the week where we finally found an ice wine that wasn't too expensive. Then we headed to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory where they gave us a tour and we were able to see how baby bears are born. A quick stop at the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory and we were back on our way to Hero Island for dinner with Erin's family. Of course my car picked the heaviest rain of the day for the driver's side windshield wiper to break, but who really needs to see when they're driving? Our final night there was spend eating pizza and watching some tv with her family.
We opted to risk driving home without the aid of a windshield wiper even though it was still raining mostly because we didn't want to turn a six hour drive into a 9 hour ordeal. We made it out of the clouds ok and even saw some of the first snow of the season in the mountains. We ate lunch at the Common Man in New Hampshire before making our way back home.
Tuesday morning Erin and I hopped into the car and we started the long drive north. Turns out the drive didn't seem that long though. Right around noon time we rolled into the Long Trail Brewery for lunch and a quick self guided tour. It's not my favorite beer company, but they do have some good beer so we bought a couple of t-shirts before moving on. Since we were already off the highway we began to make our way up Vermont by the scenic route. This is where a book on New England waterfalls came in handy. We made four stops on the way north and they were four stops that were well worth visiting. We checked into our hotel before heading into downtown Burlington for dinner that night and we wound up going to the Vermont Brewery and Pub. They wound up being ok, but nothing really great.
It was more driving again the next day as we decided to do a scenic loop through Vermont from Burlington through Stowe and then back again. Our first stop was the Boyden Valley Winery where they gave us a quick tour before letting us sample their wines. It turns out that Erin and I are really big fans of ice wine, but it also turns out that ice wine is very expensive. From there we headed towards Smuggler's Notch. We took one of the last parking spots left in the area and started playing on the rocks. It wasn't long before we saw a trail off to the side and decided to start following it. Erin really wasn't feeling very well, but we kept going a little further and then a little further. By the time she was ready to turn back we bumped into a family who said that the top wasn't too much further so we kept going. The top turned out to be Sterling Pond on the side of the Long Trail. It was a fun hike with a great place for a break at the top before we headed back down. Next up was a stop at Bingham Falls. A short walk into the woods and we came across a series of falls crashing over the rocks. Hunger and impending darkness cut our visit a little short, but we still had time for one more stop. We took a ski lift up to the top of Mt Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. Unfortunately we arrived 15 minutes before they were about to shut down so once we got to the top we had to turn around and head back down. After we left the mountain we grabbed some dinner and then saw a couple of baby cows frolicking around which might have been Erin's favorite part of the trip. The way back to the hotel just happened to pass by Ben and Jerry's and while it was too late for a tour, they were still open for ice cream, so we grabbed a couple of cones, visited the flavor graveyard, and called it a night.
Thursday we headed into downtown Burlington to explore for the first time during the day. We ate breakfast at the Skinny Pancake and then went for a bike ride along Lake Champlain. After that it was time to eat lunch at the Red Onion, a place that a friend highly recommended, and with good reason. Their sandwich was damn good. We walked around downtown for a while, but not many of the shops in the area kept our attention for very long. We killed an hour at a small aquarium and then headed for dinner where we met Erin's cousin and her family. We had what was probably our favorite meal of the trip and then headed back to Erin's cousin's house to stay the night.
The next morning it was raining. Not just raining, but pouring. It was coming down in buckets. That's probably a large part of the reason why we slept later that morning than we did all week and even after we did wake up, leaving the house seemed like it was a bad idea. The satelite tv kicked the bucket while Erin was taking her shower, otherwise we may never have left. We started our rainy day journey at another winery. This one was smaller and we weren't as impressed with the wines, but we bought a bottle anyways before moving on. We left the Hero Islands and headed into Shelburne where we first hit the Magic Hat Brewery. I've never been a huge fan of their beers, but they gave us some free samples and they had a pretty cool looking place. We had lunch before heading back into the rain where we came across Shelburne Farms. They offered us a tour, but because of the rain we passed on that and instead bought a coffee and donut to go along with our free cheese samples. We hit our third winery of the week where we finally found an ice wine that wasn't too expensive. Then we headed to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory where they gave us a tour and we were able to see how baby bears are born. A quick stop at the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory and we were back on our way to Hero Island for dinner with Erin's family. Of course my car picked the heaviest rain of the day for the driver's side windshield wiper to break, but who really needs to see when they're driving? Our final night there was spend eating pizza and watching some tv with her family.
We opted to risk driving home without the aid of a windshield wiper even though it was still raining mostly because we didn't want to turn a six hour drive into a 9 hour ordeal. We made it out of the clouds ok and even saw some of the first snow of the season in the mountains. We ate lunch at the Common Man in New Hampshire before making our way back home.