Vermont - better to have loved....

We woke in upstate NY in our campsite in Paradox Lake, a bit tentative about moving on due to all the local flooding. Our goal for the day was to see Vermont, which was just across the waters of the giant Lake Champlain. We saw the camp host early and asked if they knew of any closed roads or flooding that might slow/stop our progress and were informed that the Fort Ticonderoga ferry was still in operation...as far as they knew. So we scoffed breakfast and set off with fingers crossed! As we reached the fort, the ferry was on it's way back over to the NY shore - yay! There was a very cool sign you could pull down to call the ferry and we had fun playing with it while we waited. The lake looked quite full and the scenery was very green from all the rain - quite european feeling...but also quite desolate, really not that many people around on a Friday.

The final shots of upstate New York


Calling the ferry at Fort Ticonderoga

Here it comes

As the ferry pulled in, we drove the van on - I believe this was the second trip on a boat for the van, the first being the ferry across Mobile Bay in Alabama on our way to Florida. The ferry was small and cute - much of the feel of this area was very cute, quiet and 'country'. As the entrance to Vermont from NY, the ferry crosses Lake Champlain which the guidebook aptly described as a 'long island-dotted jewel set in the expansive valley between New York's Adirondacks to the west and the green mountains of Vermont to the east'. The lake is massive and we could see up and down the huge water body as we crossed. The highlight for me was definitely a cute little 'honor system' stall on the ferry that had little white paper bags of Vermont apples and maple syrup (didn't buy any unfortunately as we already had a bag of local apples from NY which were quite tasty!). What a lovely little gesture - quite fitting for our entrance to the state and what was to follow. Marty chatted away to the ferry conductor about the flooding while I snapped pictures. He learned that the impacts were quite extensive with some flooding in Vermont also. Many of the locals couldn't give us advice about the state of the roads too far away, they seemed to exist quite happily in their own little world (I have since learned that Vermont is the least populous state in New England so there you go!). We soon realized why the locals don't leave as the ferry conductor pulled into dock, unclipped the chain and waved us back onto land where we crossed into state #41 - yeah!! We definitely felt a sense of achievement, now with only 8 states to go....and the mysterious new england region ahead of us, quite exciting.

We're on!

Love this - our introduction to Vermont


Lake Champlain

The entrance to Vermont was just gorgeous, with rolling emerald hills, apple orchards, dairy farms and very cute little farm houses - we felt like we had stepped right into Switzerland. I had heard many good things about Vermont, and I was beginning to see why!! We stopped briefly for gas and craving a boost, I headed inside to grab a coffee. Now, the coffee we make on the stovetop espresso maker is generally 10x better than the gas station c#$p, but I made a double-take when I walked in to find at least 10 different types of freshly brewed coffee on offer at the gas station!! What a nice surprise. The Green Mountain Coffee company - score 1 - as I poured a dark roast and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy every mouthful as we drove on......very good second (or was it third?) impression!!

We made it - despite the flooding!

This place was just on the border - isn't it pretty?

Green, green, green!

Apples!

We were...as you are probably gathering the more you read....time limited for our visit to the state, so we read through the scenic drive in our book, picked a few key sights and made a beeline for Middlebury. The town is home to Middlebury college and as we drove into the town, noticed several of the very large and very tastefully designed college buildings and beautifully restored old european style churches. Wish I went to uni here! We then entered the main street and were really impressed with the progressive and community-oriented feel of the town; solar panels, organic cafes, community gardens and art galleries. It definitely tapped into our hippy sides :-) Middlebury College known for its leading liberal arts program, and has a strong reputation for international studies and environmental education. Impressed, we were!

Alas with time ticking, we continued on, driving through the countryside, enjoying the beauty and pleasantness of it! Driving through Vermont is very easy - there is so much to see out the window and with all of the rain, the fields and forests were all the best shades of green. Coming from some of the somewhat less scenic sights in the mid-west, it was a feast for the eyes! We decided to stretch our legs with a hike on part of The Long Trail: the longest and oldest hiking trail running the length of Vermont and constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club. The trail is also part of the Appalachian Trail for 100 miles (160 km) in southern Vermont. We climbed the van up a very steep, but beautifully forested hill to the Lincoln Gap trailhead, got out the camelbaks and put on the hiking shoes with our sights set on the summit of Mt Abraham. The temperature was quite cool, and the ground a bit wet from all the rain, but the skies were clear and we were ready to expend some energy. A group of old timer locals were setting off for the hike before us and gave us some tips on where to go and what to see. As they ran through the local restaurants and pretty towns, this confirmed the sneaking suspicion I had that we had left ourselves nowhere near enough time to see, explore and enjoy all of this state - so begins the day of kicking myself!! I had heard much about the beauty of the state, and the maple forests that make the delicious maple syrup and wished we had an extra week to enjoy it!

We made our way up, up, up the trail which was steep, rocky and a bit wet, but with very pretty and what felt like enchanted forest. It was quiet pleasant. As we approached a camp hut where overnight hikers take refuge during winter (gets very cold!), we ran into a fit male hiker who informed us he was hiking the entire long trail, in segments of a few months. A really nice guy who we followed as he lead the way to the Mt Abraham summit. We chatted about politics and the environment, us huffing and puffing as he seemed to get progressively faster the steeper it got - he was in good shape!! Everything about Vermont from the moment we crossed the border screamed progressive, blue, liberal and generally right in line with our way of thinking. It was quite a 'twilight zone' experience to be honest, and the contrast to the neighbouring surrounding states really seemed uncanny.

up, up, up!

reached the summit of Mt Abraham

We reached the summit via pine forest which slowly decreased in size as we gained more elevation and had fun scrambling over some big rocks towards the last section. The views at the top of Mt Abraham were beautiful, over the Green Mountains, down to Lake Champlain and across to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Our hiking buddy pointed out several features to us which was helpful - including Mt Washington in New Hampshire. We snapped some pictures, farewelled our recent acquaintance (who still had 10 miles to go that day!) and headed back down as the wind started to chill our skin. The hike was lovely and definitely worth doing - the Long Trail would be a fantastic adventure, and I'm sure definitely a highlight of the full Appalachian Trail.

Our hiking mate!

The dwarf pines at the top

Looking out over the Green Mountains

We continued on into the Mad River Valley, and noticed a large solar array in a field and a very cool looking sustainable house. It seemed like a commercial establishment with a sign out the front, so we headed in to check it out. The facility was called Yestermorrow and is a school for sustainable design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft. Given our passion for sustainable design, and desire to build our own sustainable home someday, we happily agreed we would take the time to do a tour. We were greeted by a lovely intern, who had been working at the school for a year, and showed us the vegetable garden and gave us one of their delicious lemon cucumbers, fresh from the vine. Lovely! We headed inside the main school building, which was purchased in 1990 and underwent multiple phases of renovation including Forest Stewardship Council certified timber, energy efficient lighting, triple-glazed windows, super-insulated walls, natural paints, solar hot water and more. As the staff seemed busy, we had a quick browse of their library, used the toilets and grabbed a self-guided tour brochure to have a look. We walked through the grounds and viewed several different styles of cabins that had been built by the students themselves - love the hands on learning! There was a strawbale cabin, fabric formed concrete cabin (high thermal mass, very durable), pine cabin (used locally harvested milled pine lumber and salvaged windows), tent platforms where students can camp, composting toilet, very cool treehouse cabin, yurt (easily assembled and disassembled and built for under $1000) and a portable solar PV trailer that is used to provide power for various project around campus. The only problem was that many of the structures didn't seem well maintained and the place generally felt quite overgrown and a bit disorganized. But still a great example of where people can learn more about sustainable design, architecture and more. More info here.

Solar that caught our eye

Vege patch and lemon cucumber gift


Heading inside for a look


Composting

Portable solar trailer


Love this design for the outdoor shower

The Tree House - inside

The Tree House - outside

Main building

We moved on to Waterbury, stopping briefly for a quick lunch in a local park of one of the villages. I grabbed some local wine and cheese for the evening and we moved along. We decided a trip to Vermont wasn't complete without visiting the home of the famous Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury. We arrived at the facility, and after Marty took some lactaid tablets (darn lactose intolerance) we headed into the factory. It was quite underwhelming, small with a little gift shop and ice cream parlor. The tour was also very quick and, as would be expected, quite oriented towards kids with decor that matches the ice cream punnets you buy from the shop. The highlight of the tour was definitely the video feature which talked about the founders Ben and Jerry, their idea to create ice cream with various flavors and toppings, and the social and environmental initiatives of the organization. The milk is sourced from local dairies, hormone (rGBhH) free, local eggs, fair trade ingredients, hiring local staff and contributing back to the community. Generally the company prides itself on having a social conscience. This all seemed pretty legit until the part where they sold to the giant multinational Unilever. Hmmm.....now they're quite the global company - a bit of a sell out me thinks, but hey, globalization has given us many things that we all enjoy, including Ben and Jerry's ice cream! We proceeded to look at the factory through some windows from above and saw where all the various toppings and dressings get mixed into the ice cream. I'm quite fan of the Phish Food flavour myself. I decided, however, to try the chocolatey-st chocolate flavour (personal weakness) and, being a Stephen Colbert fan, Marty had a go at the Americone Dream flavour (Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Covered Waffle Cone Pieces & a Caramel Swirl) created by the man himself! We left feeling very sick, and a little false from the tourist-trap nature of the place, but it had to be done!

boo for lactose intolerance! yay for lactase tablets!


Yum!

We moved eastward, we decided to hit one last Vermont attraction, the covered bridges. There are over 100 authentic covered bridges within the state, the most per square mile in the U.S. We drove through several other very cute towns and close to Tunbridge, checked out the Howe Bridge which was built in 1879 over the White River. It was very cute and we took the van for it's inaugural drive through a covered bridge. I would imagine in winter this would be just as beautiful as it is in summer! The landscape continued to boast gorgeous green rolling hills, dairy farms, farm houses and rivers - Vermont is fabulous!

We pulled in on the eastern side of the state at Quechee (love that name) and found a KOA campground where we could get some washing done. That night we made some calls to friends and felt quite satisfied with what we had achieved in one day. I still felt that we didn't do Vermont justice and wished we had left more time. Ahwell, better to have loved and left, than never to have been at all, right?? Vermont - you are on my list of places to come back to!

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