Correction:  I was wrong about us going to Ben & Jerry’s today. It will be tomorrow; however there will be another ice cream stop today at a working dairy.

Bright and sunny this morning as we leave the Cranwell resort. It is one of those places you wished you could spend more time, but it is time to move on and explore Vermont.

Trivia for the day:  Vermont was originally settled and named by the French. It means “green mountain”. They eventually lost it to Britain but the name stuck. Did you know that Vermont was actually a sovereign state (like Texas, California and Hawaii) before it became part of the US?

Vermont is a rural state with a population of about 600,000 people. It is noted basically for skiing, lumber and maple syrup, although there are some financial companies in Burlington. Montpelier, the state capital, is the smallest state capital in the US.

We headed north and entered Vermont about an hour after leaving the hotel. The colors are starting to change a bit (mostly yellow but a few reds are showing up) and we are now seeing the Green Mountain range that dominates Vermont landscape. They call the hills mountains but they are not tall by our standards. Still they are tree covered and the rolling landscape is pleasing to the eye. Our first stop of the morning was at a local store called The Apple Barn where they served us warm apple cider, hot apple donuts and coffee. Apples are a major crop in this area.  Surprisingly honey crisp apples are cheaper here than they are in Washington state, where the majority of honey crisp apples are grown. When we got back on the coach Gary gave each of us a honey crisp apple to keep us satisfied until we got to the next food stop!

The next stop was at a shop that has been sending us catalogs for years – The Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont. It has been in business since 1946 and is huge, selling all sorts of things in a series of old, connected buildings in the middle of nowhere. We walked through it all sampling tons of food samples they offered and managed to escape without spending money on things we did not need to carry home.

On to lunch in the small town of Woodstock, and no, it is not where the rock concert was held. That was in Woodstock, New York. This town was the summer home of Laurance Rockefeller who built a home and ultimately a hotel here. The highlights of the area were to see a bell cast by Paul Revere in 1818 which is at a local church, a lovely library that dates back to the 1890s and a covered bridge (of which there are many in Vermont). We grabbed a quick lunch (good homemade soup) and a sandwich then wandered the town to catch the sights. The covered bridge was a bit of a disappointment as it was rebuilt in 1969!  We all thought they should have lied on the sign and said it was built in 1869 because it does look that old. The library was a delight and a bit reminiscent of libraries of old. The bell was larger than I expected and it was nice seeing something that old and important in American history.

About 1/2 mile from the town is the Billings farm and museum originally started by the Billings family, one of the other important families in the area. In fact Mr. Billings was so important that Billings Montana was named for him. It is an active working dairy farm with cows, chickens, horses and sheep. The original 1890s home built for the farm manager has been restored and decorated as it would have been. There were animal barns and fields to explore. There are a marvelous set of displays of old tools and methods used in growing and harvesting crops, milking, making butter and cheese, maple syrup and apple cider. The displays were excellent and worthy of more time than was available.

Of course, the main attraction of the visit was the free ice cream we received, made on site from the milk of their Jersey cows. Many of us headed there immediately and did the sightseeing after we had consumed our ice cream.

As we were about the leave the facility it began raining pretty hard. Luckily our driver and Gary brought out umbrellas they carry on the bus so we could all get back onto the bus without getting soaked. We did make a short stop at Queche Gorge, which the locals call the “little Grand Canyon”. Most of us did ignore the rain and ventured out onto the bridge to snap a few pictures of the gorge. I can confirm that the analogy to the Grand Canyon is indeed really a stretch.

It was then a 90 minute drive to our destination for the evening, the Trapp Family Lodge near Stowe. The rain stopped along the way and the sun came out. Weather sure changes quickly here.

The included dinner tonight was based on a beer tasting to accompany the courses. I was skeptical but it actually was pretty nice.

We are staying here two nights. Tomorrow we will be exploring the area around Stowe, starting with that tour of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream which is headquartered here.