Vermont Excursion

April 2005

Over the April school vacation, we took off for a last vacation that would be the three (okay, four if you include Pokey Reese) of us as a family. It wouldn't be long before we'd have another family member.

After much consultation and discussion, we decided upon a car trip to Burlington, Vermont. We chose a hotel specifically because it was pet friendly and it had an indoor pool.

As it came to pass, while it was pet friendly (we soon came to know that just about everything in Burlington is pet friendly!) it did not have an indoor pool. My conversation with the desk clerk resembled something similar to the Monty Python Cheese Shop skit.

At any rate, it was a wonderful, relaxing time for the three (FOUR) of us. We took the Ben & Jerry's factory tour. The Graveyard of flavors really wasn't up and running yet - we did take the opportunity to take some pictures there though. After all who could resist the opportunity to take a picture in a grave yard?

You can see the quite pregnant heroine of the story under the arches with the girl and the pokey one. We had a small picnic and enjoyed the day. Several little ones stopped and asked if they could pet Pokey.

We took some time at Lake Champlain and checked out the ECHO Aquarium. ECHO - Ecology, Culture, History, Opportunity. Located right on Lake Champlain, it's a neat little center for the local educaiton community, families and kids. One exhibit was a hands on piece discussing sunken ships from the lake. For the fine at the door, you really can't beat the price and the quality. Having grown up in the shadow of the New England Aquarium, I can say this was a wonderful resource and a great value that rivals Boston. That said, I guess it depends on what you're looking for, but this was a quality experience.

We took some time out to experience Lake Champlain. Although the ferries to New York weren't running, to experience the surrounds was more than enough.

We checked out Church Street, a great little shopping district, having lunch at a little bistro. Several days into our excursion it came to our attention that rather than the exception to the rule, "Pet Friendly" was the rule. Here I am with Pokey standing outside "the Gap" making faces at Michele and the Girl, when they came out of the store and told me the clerk was asking how come you didn't bring your dog in? (Of course, she wasn't asked why she didn't bring her husband in, I guess my faces told that story well enough.) IMPORTANT NOTE: It seems that unless a store is marked as "No dogs," it's safe to bring them in. Who knew? We're from Boston - we don't do this sort of thing.

We in fact took the long way home, foregoing the Interstate and instead taking state highways home. We checked out some of the other attractions near Ben & Jerry's - we stopped at Cold Hollow where they sell cider and apple products as well as wine. If you check it out, make sure you take some free samples, because it is dynamite. My recommendation would be not to bother with the antique store across from Ben & Jerry.

We drove through Middlebury, home of both the college and Otter Creek and took some time to check out the area. If you take a good look at the pictures from the area, take a good look in my glasses in the picture of Michele and me. Middlebury is a quaint little New England village with an apparent manufacturing history.

Our last stop on the way home was Quechee Gorge. The girl and I made our way down the gorge, snaping pics along the way. We walked both ways from the bridge at the road - from the right all the way down to the dam, to the left to then end of the paths. THe last picture is of the girl at the end of the gorge.

It's not the prototypical vacation getaway, but it was a fine way for the family to celebrate itself while it awaited anxiously for our new family member.