Visiting Vermont

I know you all may be tired of reading my travel stories, feel free to skim. I enjoyed the comments yesterday however, and it is fun to write about. I have done well on keeping to exercise plan, and yesterday, walked a lot as part of our sightseeing. My calorie range has been near the top of the allowed amount of a little over each day. I justify this by sharing they are good wholesome calories. My sister in law makes everything from scratch, half her ingredients are grown in her own yard, the other half bought from the farmers market. She is a wonderful cook. I will be sad to be leaving. Today I leave, but the kids stay behind for another few days, then go to my Dad's in CT.

So, for yesterday, the adventure continued. We went to the Montshire Museum in Norwich VT. The kids had a blast running around learning about science and playing with everything. Then we went for a walk along the walking trail. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We walked 2 miles there, the kids were exhausted by the time we left. But, it was off to the next place.

Our next stop was Quechee Gorge, although we did stop off at this quaint little hometown pizza place along the way. I only had two pieces of plain cheese along with the water me and the boys gulped from our hike. We stopped at Quechee Gorge Village where the boys rode a little train around the village and we visited the toy museum. I saw old dolls from the 1920s, and the curator and I had excited conversations and reminiscences about the metal lunch boxes, sharing which lunch boxes were our favorites, as well as which old television shows we missed. The boys rolled their eyes in embarrassment, but were enthralled with all the star wars toys and the elaborate train sets. Next we visited the blacksmith and the winery, before moving on to the Gorge itself.

The boys were not up to walk again, but, Mommy made them, which they were glad about when they saw everything. First we walked down the trails along the side of the gorge which was breathtakingly beautiful, but you really could not get the effect, so after a 30 minute walk we walked back out to the road and went on the bridge to the middle of the gorge, my oldest shared he realized now he was scared of heights, but he survived. OMG it was beautiful.

Okay, so off again as it began to rain to our next and final stop for the day, Sugarbush Farm. The ride was wonderful! We drove along River Road to Taftsville (apparently selected as one of the top 10 drives in Vermont). On our way to Sugarbush farms we had to drive through an old covered bridge. It was so cool, I felt like I was traveling back in time. We continued on back roads until reaching the farm, where Ms. Betsy shared her family's farming history and showed us how maple syrup was made. We walked around the farm, and while talking to the staff at the maple syrup store ran into someone who had lived in our small hometown in Clewiston, Florida for 21 years. It was amazing. My kids did not get why I thought it was incredible that someone from this small little town in VT not only knew but had lived in our small little town in South Florida. They figured everyone knew where Clewiston was, why would they not, lol.

By this time we were exhausted, so it was back in the car and return to New Hampshire. We returned home to a homemade meal from scratch. We had homemade chicken soup, and a chicken salad sandwich on homemade bread! It was wonderful, and even with a slice of the homemade fudge I had picked up for my in-laws, I stayed within my calorie range. Despite being exhausted, after we had eaten and I had rested a bit, I got up and did all my strength training. Today I travel by train to visit my Dad overnight, then back home to work (traveling by train again).