Vermont.....wicked good

---

Luckily for us, it was easier to leave downtown Montreal that it was to get there, probably partly because it was 6 am on a Saturday. We ate breakfast in Waterbury, VT, and that was the beginning of a day spent eating our way across this part of the state.
We went first to Cabot Creamery, the 100 year-old dairy cooperative responsible for the cheeses of the same name. Even though the plant was not in production, we saw a great video and sampled some awesome cheeses. Then we went to Goodrich Maple Farms and had a personal explanation of how maple syrup gets from the trees into those cute little jugs or leaf-shaped bottles; that's Glenn Goodrich with me in one of the pics. We also went to the Bragg Maple Farms. It was interesting, because each of those two sugaring operations operates in an entirely different way. Of course, we couldn't come to Vermont without going on the Ben & Jerry's factory tour. We enjoy their tongue-in-cheek humor, and it was on full display in the rhyming epitaphs in the graveyard of discontinued flavors.
Today we visited a cider mill, and enjoyed samples there too, in addition to a free apple cider donut. We saw those being made, and learned that on a busy fall day they might make over 10,000 of those!

Did you know:

it takes 8 gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese

it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup

it takes 12 pounds of apples to make 1 gallon of cider

I'm such a nerd that I find this kind of information fascinating.

Today we spent most of the day driving around this beautiful countryside. We also went to a weekly farmer's market, and enjoyed sampling some local products there as well. According to one resident, the fall colors may not be bright this year because there wasn't as much of a summer. Even so, we've enjoyed what color there is, along with the sheer abundance and variety of trees. Tom was really excited to find an authentic covered bridge. The place where we're staying has a small lake, which was the site of a remote-controlled sailboat Can-Am competition; check out the cool hat of one of the Canadian competitors.

Tomorrow we're off to Maine. Again, we love to hear from you. Tom & Nancy

---