After traveling so much of the US (especially in the New England area) in the past, somehow I had missed Vermont.  Gail had lived in nearby Littleton, NH for a year back in the late 70’s so she had been to Vermont already.  But this was a special day for me and part of the reason for this crazy itinerary that we have followed.  Vermont would be my 48^th state.

(To fill you in, Gail has 40 states on her list – more about this next year)

It was easy to cross over from New York to Vermont as we drove up from Glens Falls along Lake Champlain’s west coast and the eastern edge of the Adirondacks.  A very beautiful drive.  About halfway, we were intrigued by a small store on the side of the road advertising Cider Donuts.  This area of New York has a lot of apple orchards and cider, but cider donuts?  So, we had to stop, learn more and of course buy some.   

We crossed the lake at the Crown Point bridge and officially entered Vermont. 

A point of interest had caught our attention located not far from the bridge but south of our original destination in Burlington.  There is Robert Frost Interpretive Trail to hike near the town of Ripton, VT that we wanted to check out.  Ripton is up in the Green Mountains, so the drive up was very nice.  We were a somewhat concerned about being able to find room to park the RV but decided to give it a try.  Turned out there was plenty of room as there were also very few people there.

The hike/walk was well presented with poems by Frost posted along the trail.  We like his poem about the road less traveled as that has been our mantra through our travels when possible. It was a short hike around a large meadow (another one of his poems) and through some wooded area as well.

We headed back out on the road to Shelburne and our campground just south of Burlington proper. That whole area is on the eastern coast of Lake Champlain and so much of its history centers on the lake. Today, even without the heavy shipping industries, it still does.  

The next day after a breakfast, including the afore mentioned Cider Donuts (very nice!), we headed out for a local hike to Shelburne Falls to see the location where several mills had been in business over the years as center of town and industry.  They are all gone now but it was a very nice hike along with the history.

Back in town we stopped at the Shelburne General Store for a quick browse and a first taste of maple ice cream.  We stepped outside to a small park across the street and relaxed with the treat!

Then we headed to Mt. Philo State Park to get a high-altitude panorama of the area.  This vista was recommended as a must see in one of our travel books.  As seen in the included photos, the view over the farmlands, over the lake back to the Adirondacks, and the other direction to the Green Mountains, was worth the trip.

The next morning, we headed to downtown Burlington in the rain to stroll the Church Street market area where they have closed the street to vehicular traffic.  It is loaded with restaurants and shops and lots of tourists.  We also went down to the Marina area to check out some boat tours and to see Lake Champlain.  We then decided to drive out to the islands (South Hero and North Hero) in the center of the lake.  We had considered staying at one of the RV parks on the islands and wanted to check out the area.  We ended up very happy with the location in Shelburne.  But we did pick up some fresh corn and a delicious banana bread!

The next day we planned to visit another “highest point in a state” by going to the summit of Mt. Mansfield.  Compared to Florida’s highest peak at 345’, this was more like Georgia’s at 4,393’.  There are several ways to get to the top, but the most logical for us seemed to just drive up using the Auto Toll Road.  We drove over and learned about a couple of challenges.  1) The road up is paved only the first ¼ mile and then is gravel the rest of the way up.  And 2) the road does not go all the way but stops at a parking lot short of the peak by about 1 ½ miles and about 400 feet low.  No problem.  We can do that!

Undeterred, we put the Jeep in 4-wheel drive and headed out.  The drive up went “smoothly” despite the rocks and terrain and was kind of exciting with drop-offs and switchbacks along the way.  We parked and headed out.  The walk started out “smoothly” too, but quickly changed to rocks, steep inclines, steep down slopes, and cooler temps!  We kept up a slow and steady pace, but the afternoon was getting late, and we still needed to reach the top, get back to the parking lot and down the mountain before dark. 

We decided that Gail would rest and wait while I took on the last ½ mile on my own.  Walking and climbing faster, I made it to summit in about 30 minutes.  There was a ranger there who took my picture, I looked around at the view and I headed back down.  We made it back down to the car and down the hill after closing but we had the gate opening instructions and headed home.   I must admit we both felt very good about the accomplishment.  Our 5^th highest point!

We ended up staying in the Burlington area one more day, because we were waiting for a part for the RV to arrive in Montpelier.  Remember when the tech came out to the RV in Long Island?  Well, we finally had a plan to get the leveler fixed in Montpelier.  We thought!

So, on our last day we decided to take a boat ride on Lake Champlain that we had seen advertised in a map ad with a discount!  Turned out to be excellent, educational, entertaining, and worth the admission.  Capt Mathias and his little Buttercup (a custom Templar 26 picnic boat built for cruising) took us out with another couple for 1 ½ hours around the marina and out on the lake.

His Indian tales of Odzihozo and how the lake and the mountains were formed are so interesting.   He also related the history of the discovery of the lake by Samuel D Champlain in 1609 and it influence on the conflicts that settled the Canadian/US border and the French language still used today in Quebec.  Very nice day on the water. 

After the cruise, we chowed down on clam chowder and fish and chips on the dock at Splash while looking out at the lake and over to the Adirondacks in New York!  Great time

Next, we stopped at Oakledge Park that we had seen from Buttercup to investigate the “stone henge” like structure that tells time, dates, and seasons.  An interesting fact that Capt. Mathias told us was that there is another term called the “Cross Quarter” which is the seasonal change point between the solstice and the equinox.  And the summer cross quarter was August 7, the date we were there! 

And finally, we took time to drive out the Shelburne Farm, a 3600 acre active farm, resort, and tourist spot.  We got there late and missed some of the farm demos but still had time to walk the grounds, visit the resort and see the gardens that look out over the lake.  Nice fitting end to our time in Burlington.

The next day we were off to Montpelier, the state capital (and we found out is pronounced locally as “Mon-p-li-er”), to meet up with the RV dealer to replace the gimpy leveler!

The first stop though was at the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream HQ in Waterbury, VT, right off I-89.  This is a big tourist stop and, luckily, they had a special parking area for RV’s.  We didn’t sign up for the tour, but we did get some special flavors to go.  We also found one interesting item in the gift shop that was very different from the normal stuff, a combo-locking lid for your favorite flavor to keep others out!  And we were also impressed by the founder’s philanthropy that is part of their tradition.  We would recommend this as a fun stop!

Outside Montpelier, we had again picked a Harvest Host, since we were there only for a day to get the RV attended to.  Bragg Farms and Sugar House was a working maple syrup business but the season for that to be active is in the late winter/early spring when the sap is starting to run.  We got a very nice lesson on the process and also some very nice syrup to go.  We also shared a Creemee, which is their version of Maple soft serve ice cream, and it was excellent!

We parked up behind their building on a small pasture with a nice view over the mountains.  And we took some time to go into town and see the capitol and take a nice walk around the area.

We were informed the part for the RV had arrived and so on the way into Montpelier we stopped by the dealer to finalize the arrangements.  Big surprise though, it was the wrong part!  After all the planning, waiting, and we thought communication, it was still wrong.  So, we set another plan in motion, and we’ll see how that one goes.

Stay tuned!