And Now For The Rest Of The Story...

After the porcupine, we just kept driving the rest of the way through Maine and into New Hampshire where we saw all kinds of moose crossing signs rather than deer crossing.  We kept our eyes peeled but never did see a moose:(

New Hampshire was really just a pit stop for us, but we did have a few hours to kill once we got there so we tried a couple different options but both were closed.  Moose Meadow Mini Golf and Mt. Washington auto road really let us down!  So Danny meekly suggested a little more hiking, (in my mind, the hiking portion of the trip was over) to which I begrudgingly pulled over to a trail head.  "Only for a few minutes!" he said.  He explored this creek thing, which really was pretty...

...while I sat and waited and tried to have a good attitude.  FYI, I get very hangry and it was supper time!

But all was well.  He stayed true to his word and it wasn't long before we were headed to supper:)  The next day we continued into Vermont, stopping at several little places along the way.  First up?  A little gift shop called The Farmer's Daughter.  We only stopped there because of the name.  I had to get a picture of it!  Since, you know, I am one!  We didn't buy anything, but the owner was very sweet and gave us a free sample of fudge!

Then we were off to see Maple Grove Farms where they have a maple syrup factory, a small museum, and a gift shop with free samples!  (Free is always nice.)  We were not able to tour the factory but the video they showed was really informative and interesting.  And the samples were tasty enough that I did buy a little bit to bring home.

My trusty navigator (Danny) took me along this dirt road winding through the mountains to get to our next stop.  It was beautiful, but I did question his judgement more than I should have.  I should never doubt his map reading skills!

Because sure enough, pretty soon we were back on a main road and just minutes from the Cabot Creamery.  Up until January of this year you could do a tour but now it's also a video just like the syrup place.  But we still learned a lot and got all the free samples!  (You'll notice a trend...)  That cheese was gooooooooooood.  All I needed was a package of crackers and a can of pop and I'd be set!

Then we made it to our final destination of the day- Burlington, VT.  The main draw was the Church Street Marketplace which is just about a five block section of town that is pedestrian only.  Shops and restaurants and lots of people playing music on the street.  It's on the far west side of Vermont so that evening we had supper along a lake with the Adirondack mountains in New York for our backdrop.  It was fun to visit for a short while, but both of us agreed we didn't need to go back.

The next morning it was back to the countryside for a little bit!  We stopped and did the factory tour of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  We both really enjoyed that!  Four bucks for a half hour tour and a decent size free sample?  Count us in!

While we waited for our tour to start we visited the flavor graveyard.  They have a tombstone for every discontinued flavor complete with a short, witty poem and the years it was on the market.  We got a real kick out of reading all of those and seeing that some even had flowers by them!

I think I might like working here.  This is the room for the taste testers.  Actually I would get so sick of it but it would be fun for a little while!

Our last country side stop was a cider mill.  Hot cider on what was a cold and rainy day reminded me that yes, fall truly is my favorite season!  We had another video tour and the last of our free samples for the trip.  I think this might have been my favorite of all the Vermont things we did!

After the cider mill we headed to Boston for our last hurrah.  We came up out of the parking deck and were instantly confused and met with the reality that we are NOT used to a big city!

However, we did enjoy Boston.  That night we visited Chinatown which my Chinese food loving hubby was pretty happy about:)

We browsed through a grocery store, finding things we don't find at our local Wal*Mart or Kroger!

Then we went for supper at a restaurant famous for it's dumplings.  They seat you wherever they have room, putting you with strangers in order to utilize all the seats and making the wait time shorter.  We sat with a dysfunctional southern family from South Carolina where only once did we start to feel awkward and uncomfortable with their behavior!  But the food was great and it's funny to look back on!

We had the whole next day before we flew out, so we did the history thing in the morning while it was warm and sunny.  The Old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea),

and a demonstration of how chocolate was made during the American Revolution.  Oh yeah, we did have one more sample!

After lunch it got cold and was supposed to rain so we headed inside to the aquarium.  A couple shows and lots of cool looking fish later, it was time to head to our car and go to the airport.  Vacation was over:(

But it wasn't all sad because we were pretty ready to see our kids by that point!  They were well taken care of while we were gone.  Thanks to grandparents and aunts and uncles who were willing to help out!

It was a busy trip and we probably won't be going away for that long for quite awhile now, but we are really glad we did it!