Monday, August 21, 2006

Vacation break-down

So who here wants to read about our vacation? Denise? Oly? Tricia? Lucy? Donna? Jeremy? People at work? Well, if you're looking at this you don't have a choice. Unless of course you get off the page. Well, here we go.....Wednesday night we left our jobs and met up at Grand Central. We headed to CT and his father picked us up. We dropped him off at his home and took his car and headed to Scott's brother's, Marc, new home. Beautiful home. Loving animals. What else could Marc and his family need? After we had Italian style pizza, played with the critters, and got the grand tour, we headed to Scott's mom's house where stayed up chatting for a bit and then we all crashed. We headed out of CT at about 10 am and headed to VT. We had some time before we were to check in so we headed to the Cabot Creamery for a tour and some samples. We both learned that they get their milk for their products through farmers that belong to a Co-op. Makes sense after you think about it. We decided not to get any cheese here since we didn't have any type of refrigeration and we figured that we could pick some up at another time. After Cabot, we headed to Stowe and the Brass Lantern Inn-a delightful B & B. I had never stayed in a Bed and Breakfast before and was excited about staying at one. And, the Brass Lantern Inn did not disappoint. Our room was a pretty big size complete with fireplace and whirlpool bath-something that we both took advantage of. After settling in and looking through VT stuff, we headed to Gracies, a dog-themed restaurant where we both enjoyed our burgers. I picked up some souvenirs. We headed back to the B & B and relax before falling asleep. Friday morning, we rented some bikes and took a ride along the Stowe recreation path. After that, we headed to Mt. Mansfield. We took a toll road up the mountain and took a hike along the ridge of the mountain (hill-for Scott). After our hike and descent back down the mountain, we took a break at the B & B. After our break, we headed to probably one of the biggest must-dos for tourists going to VT-Ben & Jerry's. We took a tour (they were making one of my favorites, Chunky Monkey) and had our free sample (American Pie). We got our souvenirs (t-shirt for Scott, bread mix for me) and then headed to Morse Farm. Morse Farm makes maple syrup during the winter and has the most hilarious goat on their farm. Let's say that if you think that goats are stupid creatures, this one would enlighten you. Scott said at one point, that the goat was the highlight of his trip-I don't know if he feels the same. After Morse Farm, we headed to the B & B to change and head out to dinner. We had a 3-course fondue meal at the Swisspot. Very delicious and 2 hours later we headed back to the B & B to sleep. Saturday, we were off to Burlington. On the way to Burlington, we stopped at Cold Hollow Cider Mill to get some cider and donuts. Scott realized that he still had our room key for the B & B so while he went back, I stopped at a great little craft store called The Wooden Needle. I picked up something to make for Scott. We made our way to Burlington and our first stop was Lake Champlain Chocolates. There was no factory tour but I still bought some chocolates. I had gotten Lake Champlain Chocolates a few years ago through a Gourmet Chocolate of the Month club and thought that they were pretty good so remembering that....plus my love of the brown stuff, I made sure we stopped. After Lake Champlain, we finally found a parking garage and walked along Church Street. Church Street is a about 4-block street that is blocked off to cars full of shops. We browsed thorough bookstores, bought Bruegger's bagels, and made our way to dinner at a restaurant that I don't remember the name of. The food was great however. After Church Street, we headed to our hotel. Which we were both a little disappointed in. The room was tiny and the continental breakfast sucked. Plus the coffee maker didn't work properly. So Sunday morning, we headed to Amherst where we had lunch and then to CT to visit Scott's sister and her family. Scott's nephew Ben is so cute once he wakes up. I see a future baseball star in that family. After the visit, we headed out to Scott's dad's where we grabbed some water, played with Sierra and went to the train. That's where hell began. The track was changed and the tracks are not properly labeled there so we had to run, along with everyone else, with luggage and crap to make the train. Once on the train, we couldn't get seats next to each other. Then once we got to Grand Central, trains were running late so there were too many people standing on the platform. Then people wanted to argue. We did finally make it home to find worms in the cat food and Suzie deciding that she needed to be a terror and chase everyone else. And, of course, she's sitting here nicely with me right now.
So that's our vacation. Overall a great time, only a couple of disappointments.

3 comments:

Deneezer said...

Sounds like you had a blast!

Deneezer said...

Sounds like you had a blast!

Lucy said...

Busy vacation!!!! But then again, with all the great meals and taste testing, if you weren't busy you would have gained 100 pounds! Sounds like you had a fabulous time!!!