Vermont

OH OH… I knew this was going to happen…. as soon as we enter the New England states; their resemblance to the United Kingdom would take us directly to the geography of the country that occupies a special place in our hearts! Scotland.

And here’s a little story: I was 12 or 13 years old when I was gifted a present from my parents for my birthday….. as I tear the wrapping paper apart, I see a large box with a picture of a sail ship and the name MAYFLOWER on it. It was made by Revell. Little did I know this was going to be the beginning of my love for models ( ships, airplanes, cars…). Many years passed by and, after a few visits to the local library, my research on Mayflower taught me about the journey of the Pilgrims that set sail headed to America from England, primarily seeking religion freedom; making this the beginning of the English colonization in the 17th century.

All of this just to say that not in a million years I’d imagine at 12 that one day I’d be setting foot in the very area the crew of that ship would disembark …. New England ( more specifically Plymouth in Massachusetts, but more of this when we hit that state).

We start our visit driving from the west (NY state) which means Vermont becomes the first of the New England states. It’s incredible how the geography begins to change and hills, lakes, picturesque towns and forest give you an impression that something of particular beauty is about to unveil before your eyes.

We decided to find a campground in between the main areas we wanted to visit so we picked Middlebury and more specifically one by the Lake Dunmore.

Scotty looking relaxed under the trees which tells me that it is also a good fresh spot for me to do some maintenance on the washer/dryer, cable TV and a few other minor issues but in general the coach has been fantastic.

The following day we went to Burlington, a mid size town located right beside Lake Champlain, a huge body of water shared between NY and VT.

Then we went to Stowe, a cute little village that takes us straight to towns like Banchory in the Highlands of Scotland….

There’s something quite particular in the US that we haven’t seen in other countries…. covered bridges! Wooden covered bridges became a prominent feature in the 19th-century American landscape to facilitate westward expansion and trade, with the covering protecting the wooden trusses from the elements and significantly extending the bridge’s lifespan. American bridge designers developed innovative truss designs, leading to thousands of covered bridges being built across the nation. By the early 20th century, steel truss bridges began to replace them due to increased vulnerability to floods and fires, leading to the decline of covered bridges.

And one more….

It looks like Claudia went for shopping already ☺

Weather has been fantastic!!

Then there was another site we wanted to visit… this one requires full power from the Ford to take us to the Equinox Summit!! 3,304 ft or 1007 meters

There’s a chapel and also a monastery. The Carthusian Order is a Catholic order dedicated to silent contemplation and prayer, and their monastery is closed to the public. Visitors can drive to reach the summit and its scenic viewing center, but they cannot enter the monastery itself. There are about 20 monks living in separate rooms or cells.

Time for a good breakfast for the new day’s activity!

It is a well known practice to do at least once in a lifetime.. so they say: apple picking!! We found a great apple orchard and their employees were awesome… Ben showed us rows and rows of trees and he spoke to us about the many apple varieties on the market whereas Lorrie was so friendly on our conversation about life in general

A well deserved cofee and maple donuts as a reward and a nice walk on the farm’s trail.

Tree number 34 (maple tree) was planted at the Lake Dunmore, right in front of the baseball field.

Speaking of Maple …. have you wondered how to produce the very famous maple syrup from Vermont which by the way, produced 2.5 million gallons of syrup in 2022? the largest producer of syrup in the US. By spring time, some sort of syringes are stuck in the trunk of the tree. Nothing happens during the cold nights of the season; however, during the day as the temperature rises, a substance known as SAP flows out the syringes and recovered to then treat it in huge evaporators. You need 40 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup.

Vermont’s visit was great; beautiful state, superb geography and people. Thank you for hosting us!!