long weekend

[jethrien]

Well, I'm still at work and will be here for awhile, but I thought I'd take a little break.

Went up to Vermont for a long weekend this past weekend. It was lovely, despite torrential downpours for two of four days. We spent way, way, way too much money on food. And I don't mean at restaurants.

While in Vermont, we went to a cookware store (where we got two kinds of jam and some maple candy), the Ben and Jerry's factory (where we managed to just buy one ice cream besides the free samples and not take anything home with us), an apple festival (cotton candy made from maple sugar and a peck of apples we picked ourselves), a cider mill (cider donuts and cider slushies), a winery (a bottle of apple jack and a bottle of raspberry-apple wine - and a catalogue), Cabot's cheese making factory (three blocks of cheese, cheese sprinkle, a bottle of honey, and a smoked sausage), and the King Arthur Flour Factory (oh my god - over ten different kinds of specialty flours, specialty cookie decorations, cinnamon chips, a cookbook specializing in bread, an apron, two loaves of bread, and a small tart. And I may be forgetting something.) Yeah, I think we spent $80 at Cabot and $113 at King Arthur. I don't think I've ever seen Chuckro look so happy as when he was surveying the giant wall of flours.

We also went horseback riding at this incredibly adorable family farm (the mom took point and the daughter took rearguard; the dog, who is a working dog, is the happiest dog I've ever seen.) And watched glassblowers, and played mini-golf in the dark, and walked and drove around some of the most incredibly gorgeous country I've seen anywhere.

Can I move to Stowe? Please? This has got to be the cutest town in existence. With the little town church and the little town hall and the general store and the town walking path that winds through a bunch of pretty bridges and ends up at the center of town and all the little craft stores. They have a church dinner and a town theater group. It's like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls, only real.

It's too bad they got four feet of snow at a time last winter. Brr.

Comments

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

But with that 4 feet of snow comes some of the best skiing on the east coast. It's kind of a trade off. But it sounds like a great time.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. But you can always go visit. Unfortunately, you do a lot more of digging out your driveway to get to work in the morning than skiing, I suspect.

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

You can cross-country ski to work if it's not that far away. :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Stowe also has an annual hot air balloon festival in the summer called Stoweflake (I've been). It's a great town. I love Vermont, but this should come as no surprise. I spent many summers there as a kid and would like nothing better than to own a house on a lake in Vermont. If it wasn't for the inconvenient commute.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Ok, so we're going to go open a bakery in Stowe and you can come live next door and telecommute. It'll be great.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Also, you guys are huge dorks. I just want you to know that.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't complain too much. You're going to benefit directly from the overabundance of flours.