If you caught this post, you know that we recently spent a weekend at a cabin in upstate New York at Lake George. While our trip there was amazing, our road trip back to the city may have been the highlight for me. We hit 5 states in one day, which is notable because 3 of those I’d never been to before. After that day, I’ve now been to 40 of the 50 states. Only 10 more to go until I can cross visiting all 50 states off of my bucket list. Anyone want to plan a trip to Alaska with me? Anyways, let’s get back to the task at hand. Vermont. Go there in the fall. The scenery was some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot. Remember I’ve been to 40 out of 50 states :).
When we got to Lake George we didn’t really have a plan. The plan was to not have a plan. But we realized we were pretty close to Vermont, and neither of us had ever been, so we started looking up fun things to do in Vermont that we could stop at on our drive back south. After doing a little research, I pulled together a very detailed itinerary, complete with timelines and strategically placed stops, and we set off. I apologize in advance for some of the blurry iPhone pics in this post, but sometimes the best moments are captured via iPhone whilst driving 70 miles down the highway. Not by the driver of course, always the passenger.
We woke up before the sunrise on Sunday morning to rain. I was glad we had gotten to see such a pretty sunrise the day prior, but it was also cool to see the lake painted differently by the change in weather. We loaded up the car, and set off for Vermont. Probably my favorite part of the whole day was the drive from Lake George to our first stop in Waterbury, VT. It was raining lightly, and a cool foggy mist had set over the tops of the Adirondack mountains. Paired with the beautiful fall foliage, it was the perfect quintessential fall morning. We even saw a rainbow! No pot of gold though. Maybe next time. I kept saying over and over “this scene out the window looks like it should be on a puzzle!” Am I right?!
There is so much to do in the cute little town of Waterbury, VT. Our first stop of the day was Cold Hollow Cider Mill where we got to see them making fresh apple cider, got to taste some fresh cider right out of the barrel, and got to see them making fresh apple cider donuts. There was a super cute little store with lots of fun Vermont and apple themed souvenirs.
Next up was quick stop by the Cabot Annex Store to participate in one of our favorite pastimes, sampling cheese. Our next, much anticipated, stop involved more food, so we tried to restrain our sampling, stocked up on some yummy cheese to bring home, and headed down the road to our next destination.
Any guesses where we went next?
That’s right. The freaking Ben and Jerry’s factory. Dream come true! A tour of the factory costs $4 for adults, and that does include a scoop of ice cream. If you’re interested in actually seeing the ice cream being made, be sure to visit on a weekday as they don’t produce on the weekends. Fun fact, every Ben and Jerry’s employee gets to take home 3 pints of ice cream a day. What would you do with all that ice cream, besides eat it of course? Our tour guide said that many local business do a trade. For example, the local pizza joint will accept 3 pints of Ben and Jerry’s for payment for a large pizza. Sounds like a fair trade to me! 🙂
Our last stop in Waterbury was to the Green Mountain Coffee Cafe. We stocked up on some coffee, grabbed a cup to go from the cafe, and hit the road eager to get to our next destination.
After a two hour picturesque drive through Vermont, we arrived at the much anticipated Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, VT. Known as the “purveyors of the practical and hard to find”, you may have seen their famous catalog in the past. The store is filled with various categories of products. Everything from apparel, to beauty products, to cheese, to toys and old-fashioned candy. We enjoyed browsing the store, and stocked up on some local Vermont maple syrup and maple candy before continuing on our way.
We knew we’d be driving right along the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, and New Hampshire was another state we hadn’t been to before. After a quick google search of the best place to stop along the border, I stumbled upon Whetstone Station, whose claim to fame is the fact that their restaurant lies directly on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, meaning you can drink a beer in two states at the same time! I knew that was a place I wanted to go. We stopped in for a late lunch/early dinner. The food was yummy, the atmosphere was great, and it was in such a cute little town! I’d love to go back and spend a little more time there. After we ate, we walked across the bridge over the Connecticut River into New Hampshire before hopping back in the car and continuing our road trip south.
The next state we hit was Massachusetts. That’s another one I’d actually never been to (although a trip to Boston is on my bucklist). We pulled over at a rest stop so I could set foot (literally a foot, I didn’t even get out of the car, ha ha) in the state.
We continued on our journey into Connecticut. By this time it was getting dark, so the scenery wasn’t as great. Shelby had never been to Connecticut, but I’d been once before several years ago when I went to Stephanie Seymour’s house. However, that’s a story for another time. We saw on the map we would be driving straight through New Haven, so we made a brief pit stop at Yale to see a little of the campus and buy a t-shirt of course. I’m an accidental collector of Ivy League school sweatshirts. So far I have, Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, and now Yale.
It was a really long day, but filled with so many fun activities. It was the perfect end to our little fall weekend. If you enjoy the seasons, and you’ve never driven through New England in the fall, DO IT. Pictures just don’t do it justice.
-Ashley xx
The colors are just stunning!