October 29, 2023

Day 2, Part 3 - Vermont Vacation - Sugarbush Farm

Doug used to joke with me for years saying he wanted to pack up and move to Vermont and tap maple syrup. And here we were...in Vermont heading to a cheese and maple syrup farm. It was kind of surreal.

We were on our way from the apple orchard...

We arrived at this cute farmhouse on a beautiful piece of property - Sugarbush (Cheese and Maple Syrup) Farm...

We stopped in the little white house first in order to taste some cheese and maple syrup...

Seriously - it is some of the best cheese and maple syrup I have ever tasted. AMAZING.

The store was attached to the tasting area, but we decided to take a little tour of the farm first and then returned to the store on the way out.

 Heading to the little outbuilding with the information about maple syrup farming...




I made Doug and Bri pose for this pic - heh...

The outbuilding (Sugar House)...

This is where there was a short video about how maple syrup is farmed. There was a lot information lining the walls (it was like a small, rustic barn museum) and some of the equipment is housed there too...

Where everyone was visiting from...

It was amazing to learn how precise and patient maple syrup farmers must be in order to farm/tap the syrup. Timing is absolutely everything. The process is slow and labor intensive, but it is worth it in the end.

When you step out of that building, the view around the farm is beautiful...



We then headed into the store to buy some goodies...

We bought some of these...


Doug and Bri prefered the peanut butter maple candies, but I was all about the dark chocolate maple caramels. I still dream about them! LOL!

And I grabbed this cream soda before heading out...

So good!

After buying our goodies and learning all about cheese and syrup, it was time to move on to our next destination. Doug had been talking about visiting a really cool glass store that he read about online. Now, I was thinking it would be a small glass store like you see in lots of small towns that sell glass trinkets. I was very wrong - this glass store was next level. All about Simon Pearce next...

October 27, 2023

Day 2, Part 2 - Vermont Vacation - Apple Picking (Fall 2023)

We aren't sure what next year will bring when it comes to Briana going to college - which includes whether or not we pick apples with her again. If this is indeed the end of the road for our apple picking adventures, what a way to finish things! Year 12! Apple picking in Vermont!
 
Before I start with our apple picking experience, I forgot to post this cute picture of Doug and Bri having breakfast together on my last post (it is on that post now)...
 
There has been a lot of rain up in the northeast the last few months, and because of that, several apple orchards were not able to open for the season. Luckily, Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee, VT was not one of them.

We didn't know what to expect as we drove to the orchard...

We started seeing some signs that eventually led us to where we needed to go...

There were no general stores or anything attached to this particular orchard. No bells and whistles - just lots of hills and trees. We pulled into small grassy parking lot and there was a man standing next to a truck taking money for picking...


The orchard itself was very large and there were different kinds of apple trees intertwined everywhere. We were given a map and there were colored flags on the trees letting us know what apples were ripe for picking and which ones weren't.

The orchard was beautiful...





  The orchard... 




 
Picking apples...
 



Of course, we needed our traditional Briana sitting on Doug's shoulders picture...


Each year gets more difficult - LOL! I'm thinking this was probably the last year for shoulder sitting!

Lovely distance shot...

Full disclosure, there were so many gnats flying around orchard. SO MANY GNATS! LOL! They were everywhere. I figured that was more of a southern thing, but nope. Vermont gets the bugs too!

We got a lot of pretty apples though...

And we managed to get most of them back to Georgia!

The orchard was located right next to a beautiful golf course...

And I managed to walk around that orchard despite having a sore heel! Yay me!

To see all our previous years of apple picking adventures, here is the list...

They were absolutely delicious!

We were then off to our next stop...a maple syrup and cheese farm!

October 21, 2023

Day 2, Part 1 - Vermont Vacation - Mon Vert Cafe


Day 2 of our Vermont vacation was a lot of fun. We packed in a lot of stuff that day!

As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't sleep well on night one. Doug and Bri slept pretty well and wanted to get up and get going. My heel was hurting a bit (from the bursitis - I hadn't tripped yet) and I was feeling kind of tired, and they wanted to walk to a nearby quaint breakfast place to eat something. I told them to go and have a nice time and maybe bring me back a little something once they were done. I would rest a bit longer and then start getting ready for the day.

Doug and Bri took some pictures of the hotel as they were heading to breakfast...



Parts of the hotel were looking ready for autumn...



I really admired the pretty flowers in front of the hotel...

But they do look like summertime flowers, right?

The very next day, the groundskeeper pulled all those pretty flowers out and replaced them with mums (I snatched the below photo from the hotel's FB page)...

The mums were pretty and I get they needed to get ready for autumn, but I was still sad that all those summery flowers had to go.

Doug and Bri said some sweet older ladies offered to take their picture...

And then it was time for Mon Vert Cafe...



Briana was excited about her meal...

 Bri's breakfast...

Doug's breakfast...

Briana in the town...

They brought me back a bagel with cream cheese and it was quite tasty. By the time they got back, I was dressed and I ate my breakfast quickly.

It was time to head out for our first adventure of the day - apple picking!

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