Burlington, Vermont

We have spent the last two days in Burlington, Vermont. It is located on Lake Champlain, just west of the Green Mountains. It is also home to the University of Vermont. Vermont is adorned with five-fingered-leaf maple trees which contributes to the states large maple syrup production and the tourism for the fall colors! It is also home to the the Vermont Teddy Bear Company and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Both companies have tours, which we took because we are tourists and it is still raining! They both were very interesting. Did you know that each Vermont Teddy Bear is cut and sewed by hand? And Ben and Jerry's gives out ice cream, we got chocolate chip cookie dough.

Today we took a drive up to the historic village of Stowe, in the heart of the Green Mountains, nestled right beside Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak. The profile of the mountain is said to resemble a human face. But Andy and I couldn't tell. Why? Because its October 1st and we have snow here!! The further we drove up to the summit, the more dense the "snow clouds" became and poor visibility. And yes, snow flakes were falling and accumulating in spots. The lodges are loving it. Us...not so much. The weather is still cold with highs only in the low to mid 40's. Also the Von Trapps (from the Sound of Music) settled here in 1940 and family descendants operate an alpine lodge. They are loving the early snow, too!

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at more Vermont speciality shops like Champlain Chocolate factory (got rich, milky samples), Cabot Creamery (got lots of cheese samples and cheese popcorn), and Cold Hollow Cider Mill (washed down free samples of cider after eating crackers with apple butter jelly) and then we bought warm cider donuts. No dinner tonight for us! We hope New Hampshire will be as fruitful. Headed there tomorrow after first stopping at the Bragg Farm Sugarhouse to see the methods of maple sugaring and sample some maple syrup there!