Vermont

8/29/25 - On our way out of New Hampshire, we went through the town of Bethlehem where we saw some Orthodox Jews walking along the road. We had seen lots of them (obvious with their strange clothing and hair) at the Flume Gorge Park on 8/27. Pat had read that there was a large community in this town.

After crossing into Vermont, the scenery became more beautiful, with more hills, rivers, and streams

We battled 3 miles of washboard / potholed road to our campground, only to find out that I had booked us a state park with no water, power, or sewer hookups! Although we can be comfortable without these things, we have to be more mindful of usage. I found a place nearby with full hookups for subsequent nights, but we roughed it for one night.

The no services site was beautiful

It was raining outside so we did indoor stuff for the afternoon and evening.

8/30/25 -

Without power hookup, our coffee machine doesn't work!

On the way to our next campground, we stopped for our tour of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory.

RV parking was near these cows and they welcomed us with many moos!

We toured Ben & Jerry's Waterbury Plant. In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield started scooping batch ice cream from their shop in Burlington, VT (27 miles away). Waterbury was their first plant in 1985.

We bided the time before our 30-min factory tour by having an ice cream cone from the ScoopShop! The production line (only one at this location) was down but the tour guide and videos gave us a good overview of how the milk-cream-sugar slurry gets made and moved, flavors and chunks get added, and how the pints get filled/capped before they move into a 2.5-story freezing system. I bought a book describing how: the business grew to 3 plants (2 in VT, 1 in Europe), they championed social programs, they got bought by Unilever (to their chagrin), and they started shipping around the world.

We got set up at the new RV park and I went to several small shops in the area, including a deli selling wonderful treats.

8/31/25 - The nearby town of Stowe had a pretty recreational path that allowed us to run 6 miles over rivers and through the woods.

In the afternoon, we drove about 45 minutes to the city of Burlington.

Burlington is on Lake Champlain, which is 120 miles long and 12 miles wide. New York is on the other side.

While sitting in Adirondack chairs, we looked across the lake at the Adirondack Mountains in New York.

We walked through the park that was along the shore, looked at the community sailing center (with 20+ Lasers that could be rented by the hour), and tried an awesome maple-flavor soft-serve ice cream cone.

Our next stop was Shelburne Farms (listed in the book of 1000 things to see before you die).

This picture of "The Barn" doesn't do it justice!!

In the late 1800s, the youngest daughter of William H. Vanderbilt, one of the world's wealthiest men when he died in 1885, used her inheritance to create the estate. Over about 10 years, Eliza "Lila" Webb and her husband, William Seward, purchased 33 farms (nearly 4000 acres) in the area. A non-profit was formed in 1972, by fourth generation Webb siblings, to focus on sustainable agriculture and education.

Pat making friends with this mini-donkey. They also had calves (that I pet), goats, sheep, dairy cows, pigs, horses, and rabbits. They make cheese and have an organic garden.

After our time walking around the farm, we drove to the Shelburne Farms Inn (which used to be the family home).

We had a martini and a snack on the lawn, looking at the stunning view of Lake Champlain

We stopped for dinner on the way back to the RV.

9/1/25 - We drove about 20 minutes to Montpelier to see the Vermont capitol building.

Since it was Labor Day, it was closed. We had planned to take a tour on Tuesday, 9/2, but we started our journey to upstate New York a day early.* We drove through the Adirondack Mountains Park and by the Lockheed Martin facility my niece works at in Syracuse. We set up in the dark and I got ready for my side-trip.

*My dad had a medical emergency and we adjusted our schedule so I could fly to Denver from Syracuse, New York, on 9/2. My dad is stable now, but his wife, Sandy, and I are planning to drive him to their home in Maryland. Pat will stay in the Finger Lakes area of New York until he can pick me up in Maryland, or I fly back.