October Vacation!

 This year Kate and I pushed our fall vacation back to October during Indigenous Peoples Day week so we only had to use four vacation days.  Our vacation technically started at 5pm on Friday October 9th when Kate got out of work.  Last minute we decided to kick off vacation right a head to the drive-in for a little Casper the friendly ghost, 1995 live action style.

Addison spent the night at her friends house to it was Just Kate, the boys and I.  I popped us up a bunch of corn and we headed out right after supper getting there five minutes before the 6:50 pm start time.  I hadn't seen the movie in years and had forgotten most of it, we all enjoyed it but Wesley love it! 

Saturday the 10th we, Andrew, AJ, my three kids and I, headed back to the Wiscasset Speedway for Fall Fury, the final races of the year.  There wasn't as many people as I thought there would be but there was still plenty of people there.  You can read all about it on my other blog: Another Saturday Night at the Racetrack.

On Sunday Mom & Hartley were taking Canaan golfing again, but we headed down to Litchfield early so Canaan, Hartley, and I can get some fishing in at the culvert.  We cast our lines for over an hour but no one brought anything other than weeds in.  I also caught three sticks, one was like four feet long.  

I got back home in time to help Bob install the new kitchen sink, it's a beauty.  John and I recorded episode 233 of our podcast that night.

Monday was relaxing day as Kate and I got things ready for our trip to Vermont.  Canaan's last day of golf was also a meet against Waterville.  I followed Canaan and his group along to watch them play, let me tell you I got some steps in.

It was fun to see them play, Canaan won his match by five strokes, 63 to 68.  

Tuesday the 13th Kate, Wesley, and I headed out to Vermont for your three night getaway.  We were going to stay four nights, but Emma and Caleb are coming up for a visit and we'd rather spend time with them.  It basically rained all day so planned stops on the ride over were switched because of the rain.  

We took 95 into Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then took route 4 to Concord.  We had planned to stop and check out the capital building but with the rain we decided not too.  We will come back with all the kids sometime as there are many cool shops we could check out along with capital, and museums.

We took Route 9 out of Concord all the way to Vermont.  We stopped in Hopkinton, New Hampshire at the Cracker Barrel Store where Kate got a chicken salad sandwich for lunch that she said was excellent.  

We drove by the Stone Arch Bridge and decided to turn back and check it out.  The rain had let up a bit so we could go down and explore for a bit.  

It's located along route 9 in Stoddard, New Hampshire.

Our hotel, The Covered Bridge Inn is located just over the line into Vermont in between a Wendy's and a McDonald's.  Our room was nice, a king size bed and a fireplace for ambiance, microwave, fridge, and comfy chair.

Once we got checked in we decided to go to Grafton Village Cheese Company, they were not making cheese when we got there, but we checked out the area where the cheese is made.  Everything was priced extremely high, I ended up buying a 4oz block of two year aged cheddar for $6, I've always wanted to try it.

Our next stop was at Scott Farm Orchard, located down a dirt road on Black Mountain.  They have many variety of heirloom apples that I have never heard of before.  After looking them over I ended up buying a few Blue Permain apples. 

I ate one straight away and it is really good!  Crisp and juicy, yet firm.

We drove down to the Brattleboro Co-Op to check out some of the prepared foods.  This is a wonderful co-op with a huge variety of fresh and packaged foods.  It looks like if we weren't in Covid right now they would have a wonderful salad bar and other prepared foods.  Kate did buy a few things to eat in the room later.  Also they were selling Grafton Village 2 year aged cheddar for half the price!  a block just over 8oz was $5.29!!! That really irks me!  Incidentally the cheese tasted awesome. 

The final stop before heading back to the room was at Hannaford to get some snacks and what not.  The hotel would normally have a continental breakfast, but because of Covid they are not.  

Wednesday morning we got out of the room a little after nine in the morning and took Route 5 North to Norwich and King Arthur Baking.  Route 5 is part of the Connecticut River Scenic Byway.  We stopped at Harlow's Sugar House in Putney where we bought some a tin can of Maple Syrup.

We stopped at the waterfall along Route 5 that we only noticed because I had my window down a bit when we drove by and we heard it.  I can't find a name for it, there was a sign marking Bridge 53 US-5 but I can't find anything on the internet.

We got to King Arthur just after noon, Kate's class started at 1pm, so we had time to grab lunch at the cafe and check out the store before her class.  

Wesley and I left her and headed to the closest McDonald's to get the boy some nuggets and then over to VINS: Vermont Institute of Natural Science Nature Center.  Founded in 1972 it's primarily a bird rehab center and feature several exhibits of raptures and a few nature trails. 

Wesley and I explored two of the three trails and the forest canopy walk, which is an elevated walkway about 50 feet above the forest floor and a tower that brings you a 100 feet above the forest floor.  We had an awesome time and Wesley loved it!! I even bought him a stuffed Horned Owl at the gift shop.  

We spent just over two hours there and then headed back to get Kate.  She made some AMAZING pretzel treats, standard pretzels, cinnamon sugar pretzels, and stuff pretzel rolls I had feta and spinach.  Everything tasted so good!

When we got back to Brattleboro I got some french fries at Fast Eddie's, they cut the potato with an apple slicer so they are unique shaped and they taste so friggin good!  Kate got dinner at a Thai food truck she had read about and then we stumbled upon.  She loved it. 

We had a nice relaxing evening at the room.  

Thursday morning we hit the road taking Route 9 or The Molly Stark Scenic Byway which runs from Brattleboro to Bennington.  Along the way we stopped at the Hogback Mountain scenic overlook.

This road also runs right through the bottom of the Green Mountain National Forest.  It was an absolutely beautiful drive and the foliage had areas where it was full and rich and areas where it the trees were barren.

Our first stop in Bennington was at the World's Tallest Ladderback Chair which is in the parking lot of the Tri State Credit Union.  The employees waved at us from the drive thru window and one of them came out and brought Wesley a box of crayons and a stress ball that changes colors with temperature.

We drove over to the Bennington Battle Monument, it was closed, however if it had been open we could have ridden the elevator to the top.

Our next three stops were all Covered Bridges Silk Road Bridge, Paper Mill Bridge, and Henry Bridge

Silk Road Bridge

Paper Mill Bridge

Henry Bridge

We drove into New York and we saw a version of New York that we had never seen before.  Rolling country sides, farms, mountains, and more.  We went to the Bennington Battlefield State Historic sight in Hoosick Falls.  

Fought on August 16, 1777 A combination of Militiamen from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts defeated British forces in what is considered a turning point in the Revolutionary War.  It was pretty surreal looking at the battlegrounds and reading about the battle.

We drove down to a place I read bout Big Moose Deli to get lunch but it was closed.  I asked someone across the street at a thrift store if she knew of any place to get something to eat and she didn't have much to offer, said there was a few places in Williamstown, Mass which was on the way to our next stop. 

Turns out Williamstown is home to William College which opened in 1793, it's a big college town.  We parked downtown and went to the Spring Street Market & Cafe.  Kate got The Purple Beast and I got Happy Chick, both amazing sandwiches.  

We all grabbed a pee wee ice cream at Lickety Split, and it was wicked good!  They serve Herrell's Ice Cream based out of Northampton, Mass.  Wesley chocolate, Kate cookie combustion, and I had burnt sugar n' butter.  

We drove up to the top of Mount Greylock mountain, the highest point in Massachusetts 3,491 feet which is the home of the Veterans War Memorial Tower, built in 1932 and standing 93 feet tall.  The drive up we some of the prettiest foliage of the whole drive. 

The drive down, well it was a bit rough on Vanna's breaks but we made it.  We then took a section of the Mohawk Trail Scenic Byway, Route 2, across to Greenfield.

We stopped at a tourist trap Shelburne Falls featuring a 20 foot tall big Indian.  We did grab Addison a couple small things toward Christmas.  

Our final stop of the day was in Greenfield at Poet's Seat Tower, built in 1912 and made of sandstone.  Wesley and I went all the way to the stop and got a very lovely view.  Kate only made it to the third floor, she had an issue with heights.  

We stopped back at the Thai truck for Kate to get dinner again, I can't say enough how amazing it smells outside that truck. I had the other half of my sandwich, it was still amazing.

Friday we got on the road early and we faced rain the entire ride home.  In fact at one point on I-91 in Northern Vermont it seemed like actually drove into a rain cloud.  We drove into blackness and it was raining and we drove right out of it.  It was a frigging rain cloud.  

We were headed to Polly's Pancake Parlor for a late breakfast, greatest pancakes ever!  About an hour away Kate called and put our name on the list, they don't do reservations but they do call ahead seating.  At 9am they already had a 45 minute to an hour wait.

We arrived just before ten and Kate went and got our buzzer, ten minutes later we were seated.  Polly's is always a hot ticket, but with social distanced seating it makes the wait even longer.  When we arrived the wait was 75 minutes. 

Wesley got french toast and bacon, I got the three pancake half stack with bacon and sausage, Kate got a three pancake platter with bacon and eggs, plus potato pancakes.  I also got a drink called a maple steamer, it's steamed milk with maple syrup and whipped cream.  I am not a hot drink, drinker and I'm pretty sure the last hot drink I had was the last time I was at Polly's.

My pancakes were oat buttermilk, buckwheat, and gingerbread with walnuts.  Hot damn they were amazing!  After an outstanding breakfast we went Harman's County Store to get their own cheese, this time I got two pounds of their 2 year aged cheddar.  I'm telling you their cheese is THE best!  Their four year is even better.  

We continued our ride home going over the Kancamagus highway into Conway, New Hampshire before crossing over into Maine.  We didn't stop until we got home.  We drove through rain all the way, but it wasn't that bad, it didn't start to pour until we turned onto our street, of course!

It was an awesome three night trip to Vermont, we did some great exploring, and drove 825 miles in the process.

We still have two full days of vacation left in which we will spend time with Kate's sister Emma and her husband Caleb who are up visiting for the first time in a long time. 

Saturday night we went to Jesse's and had an outdoor movie night of Hocus Pocus.  There was a fire, but it was tough to keep it going because the wood was wet and the temperature got down to 38 degrees so it was a chilly night, but we had a good time!

Sunday morning Kate made a big breakfast for everyone and we had a night restful afternoon after a full week.  I did run Canaan out to my mom at the golf course so they could play a round of golf.

Until Next Time!