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Vermont - 'A bear's tale!'
Bed count = 3
Hello again, firstly many thanks for all the kind comments regarding the blog.We really enjoy reading them and it's nice to hear messages from back home.
So last time I wrote to you we were on our way out to pick up a hire car, to drive the 3h or so up to Montpelier in Vermont. We did just that and ended up with a little red Chevrolet….it had a 'PA' somewhere in the registration number and Melissa insisted that we have to give it a name…so we went for a good ole Boston Irish, Paddy!As it turned out the luck of the Irish was against us as we left Boston and I had somewhat of a baptism of fire to the US road network!I'm not sure who was more confused, the woman on the Sat Nav, me or Melissa, but after a few erratic lane changes and a few fist shakes we were on our way on the US highway!The drive up was relatively uneventful, with the only challenge being able to steer the car with my feet behind my head…it appears that long leg accommodation was not in the original Chevrolet design!After miles of highway, we moved onto a route through New Hampshire and into Vermont.Lots of forests and rolling hills in front of us as we cruised at a leisurely 65 mph.This happens to be the US speed limit, not that anyone else paid any attention to it!We made good time and arrived at our little B&B in Middlesex, about 5 miles out of Montpellier in Vermont at about 3.30pm.Despite arriving early, we were greeted by a friendly guest house proprietor by the name of Doug.He showed us to our room…or half house should I say!We had a hallway leading to a lounge, a good double room and en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath!Considering the price we paid, this was great value for money but if something seems too good to be true it generally is!Once Doug left we had a look around and noticed that there were a few 'quirks' in the vicinity!Lots of strange sculptures, random books and more bedside lamps than you could shake a stick at!However the keynote mention goes to a friend standing proud on the porch.Just outside my bedroom window stood a 7ft stuffed bear, going by the name of Yogi!I had a feverish night's sleep on day 1 and I could have sworn that he came to life and demanded his honey back…!Joking aside, the rustic quirks just added to the experience and we were very lucky to have such a friendly host and spacious accommodation.As we arrived early we ventured down to Montpellier, with some preconception of a quaint little market town with chilled coffee houses and friendly bakeries.How wrong we could be!Upon arrival it was apparent that we had quite clearly taken a wrong turn, gone through a black hole and arrived sometime in 1979!Maybe it was the shock of coming from the hustle and bustle of city life, but things appeared a little backwards!Unsure whether our friends on the greyhound/Peterpan bus had actually been let out into the town or whether this was actually the real residents, we decided an emergency cup of tea was in order!Up stepped Melissa with her usual knack of picking the most random place within a 5 mile radius…this time was no different!We went into what appeared to be a normal tea shop (from the outside) only to arrive in Woodstock!The fact that we were the only customers and the woman serving was pretty spaced out, should have been enough warning for us to vacate.However we ordered up two 'bubble tea's' which is a hippy brew that is allegedly sweeping the world!After disappearing into the back of the shop under a vale of incense, the shopkeeper emerged proudly with our order….two bubble teas!I'm going to summarise it quickly…ice cold and unsweetened herbal tea with fish eggs (actually tapioca) sat in the bottom…enough said!After savouring the taste for all of 10 seconds, we promptly paid and decided Montpelier was not for us today!Not to be deterred though, we found the local wholefood store which was actually quite amazing.Lots of fresh and healthy produce which served as a great place to get some bits for tea.I failed to say earlier that our host Doug had actually left us a complementary bottle of red wine which was very nice and we had a lovely evening sipping that, along with olives, cheese and crackers, whilst reminiscing on the day's festivities.
The next day we had our first taste of real rain and it pretty much threw it down all day.However, Melissa had been doing a bit of research and discovered that the actual Ben and Jerry's Ice cream factory was only minutes away…maybe this would warm us up on a cold day?!Joking aside the tour was very good and it's quite inspiring to hear the tale of how two local men turned their love for ice cream into a global phenomenon.We spent the rest of the day driving around the many local businesses that crowd the roads round there, including local bakeries and a cidery.It was Melissa's turn to drive, so I sampled a few of the local brews…very nice!We stopped off in the local villages of Stowe and Waterbury and were saddened to see the after effects of hurricane Irene on the area.The local river (Onion River) had peeled its banks and left everyone crying…but joking aside there was some pretty hefty damage there.We stopped by the Red Hen Bakery on our way back, which is a locally run bakery where you can watch the bread being made whilst sipping your coffee and eating a local pastry…very relaxing.
The next day bore better weather and Doug suggested a few hikes for us to try.We ventured up to the 'Trapp Family Lodge' in Stowe.Advertised as 'a little bit of Austria and a lot of Vermont', this is actually the location of the Von Trapp family from the 'Sound of Music' following their relocation from Austria.The grounds have some great hikes and we set off through the peaceful forests and breath-taking scenery.Quite content with a day's walking the only fly in the ointment was a surprise dog attack on the final leg of the hike - Melissa was scratched by a rather overfriendly Labrador which was actually a little scary at the time..…good job she has had her tetanus and rabies jabs!However, once we descended back to the lodge, we celebrated with a beer from the Trapp brewery located on site…probably the best beer so far and amazing views into the wilderness.On our final evening we took a recommendation to eat out at the 'Main Bar and Grille' in Montpelier, which is run by the New England Culinary Institute (NECI).This is a student run establishment where the star chefs of tomorrow are trained under the watchful eyes of their mentors.Therefore it's probably a bit hit and miss, but our food was actually very good.The waiting staff were also training and we had a local chap called Travis.All was going well until the poor boy got flustered organising Melissa's soup spoon and got a really bad bout of stage fright.So bad in fact he actually froze completely like a musical statue for about 10 seconds.His mentor rescued him but it served as a bit of chuckle for us!Melissa did realise afterwards that it may actually have been an epileptic 'absence seizure' so we felt a bit bad then and hope the poor guy is ok!
The next day involved packing up and hitting the road to Montreal.As I seem to have managed to write a bit of a book here, I will save the details for the next instalment, but needless to say that we are now at another B&B in the city enjoying our second night in the City…more to follow soon!
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