Category Archives: Vermont

Cheese, Syrup, and Traffic

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Kestrel

There were a few kestrels like this one flying around the hills of Vermont.

August 22, 2010 – We ate breakfast at the Bagel Depot in St. Johnsbury, and then headed towards Cabot.  The bagels were good, though the garlic may have overpowered any other bagels it got near.  Still, breakfast, and coffee, were good.

Cabot Factory

The Cabot Factory tour was educational and tasty.

The Cabot Creamery is headquartered in Cabot, VT.  It’s a dairy cooperative with over 1200 current members.  To get to Cabot, you definitely have to drive through farm country; Cabot itself is a funky little town surrounded by dirt back roads and dairy farms.  We toured the factory and got to see some of the curds being worked in preparation for making cheese.  The factory is fairly automated – one of the machines is painted like a cow, complete with cow head.  We were also able to sample many different cheddars (including a great cloth wrapped aged cheddar ), flavored cheeses (sage, Buffalo sauce, tiki masala, habanero, horseradish), Colby jack, Monterey, and whey butter, which is good,  rich and salty.  Cabot was also the first American creamery to import cheeses to some European countries (such as England), and the first to win an award at European cheese festival.

Maple Syrup

No, we could not bring this overly large container of maple syrup home with us.

We bought crackers and a brick of wicked sharp Adirondack cheddar (yes, that’s the name, it’s made in the Adirondack creamery) to snack on throughout the day and then drove over to Maple Grove farm factory for syrup tasting.  We both like the Grade A dark amber syrup the best, and neither of us is a huge fan of maple syrup candy.

Pawtucket

Entering Pawtucket.

Our tour through the mid Atlantic continued, and we stopped for dinner in Rhode Island at the Bella Pasta Restaurant.  Dinner was very good – seafood and ricotta filled manicotti (topped with marinara and mozzarella) and mushroom ravioli with additional mushrooms, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes and a mushroom cream sauce.

New York At Night

No, the camera wasn't high. It was just really dark outside.

Despite lots of rain and crazy traffic (including a detour towards Harftord, CT), both cleared in time for us to enjoy the New York City skyline at night.

After a late night of driving, and dealing with Boston, NY, and Philly traffic, we were glad to arrive at a nice hotel in Delaware.

Final hike in Acadia; VT and NH

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Breakfast

Breakfast at the Ullikana Inn.

August 21, 2010 – Breakfast was served outside; we snagged a table for two and looked at the water through the trees as we waited for the (delicious) food – maple syrup muffins, coffee, an orange juice and cranberry juice mixed blend, cantaloupe balls with a simple mint syrup, and German pancake with fresh blueberries and raspberries.

Triple Arch Bridge

Triple Arch Bridge by Jordan Pond House.

After breakfast we drove around the Western part of the park (along Route 3), under the triple arch bridge and parked at Jordan Pond House.  Fortunately, we were there relatively early, so there were still plenty of parking spaces.

Jordan Pond

View of the Jordan Pond from the trail.

Our hike for the day was another double mountain – the Penobscot and Sargent Mountain trail. The weather was perfect, and we had trail almost to ourselves.  The initial section of the trail involved hiking over and up a giant rock wall.  This initial uphill section also had stairs cut into the rocks (great for quick elevation gain).  We found some great uninterrupted views along rock outcroppings along the trail.

Cairn

There were many cairns placed on the trail.

This trail was the perfect final hike in the park.  The views were plentiful and varied – we could see the Atlantic, Frenchman’s Bay, the Sound, Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Jordan Pond, the Hadlock Ponds (both Upper and Lower – we had hiked around one of them the previous day), and Cadillac Mountain.

Sargent Mountain Lake

The “bottomless” lake.

After reaching the summit of Penobscot Mountain, we hiked down to Sargent Mountain Lake.  It’s located in the saddle between Sargent and Penobscot Mountains; in the 1800s, it was thought to be bottomless.

Sargent Mountain View

The view from the top of Sargent Mountain was amazing.

Sargent Mountain Ocean View

The views on the way down weren’t too shabby either.

We hiked up the final ridge to the top of Sargent Mountain.  The views from the top, and the views on the return trip, were perfect.

After the hike we got pop at the Jordan Pond House (the wait was too long to stay and eat; over two hours for seating) and hit the road.  We stopped just outside of town for great  picnic lunch of pulled pork BBQ (with some very good sweet BBQ sauce) at Maine-ly Meat.  The sides weren’t anything special, and may have been frozen; however, the BBQ itself made up for that.

Shaker Village

Shake shake shake… shake shake shake… Shaker Village. Shaker Village.

Somewhere, in a little town in the middle of nowhere (it was by a Shaker village, which may just prove that point…), we stopped for dinner – we split a meatball sub from Subway, a blueberry muffin from Dunkin Donuts, a pumpkin whoopee pie with cream cheese filling and an iced green tea with blueberry and acai juices.

White Mountains

The White Mountains at dusk.

The rest of the evening was full of new states.  We drove through Maine into NH, and along the Kancamagus Highway into the White Mountain region.  New Hampshire was pretty, and had some cute little towns, trees, and mountains.  Just after dusk, we also saw a moose run across the road and disappear into the forest.

We eventually drove into Vermont, and stayed at the Fairbanks Inn in St. Johnsbury.  We were fortunate to have reservations, since all the hotels between St. Johnsbury and Quebec were full.