Vermont & New Hampshire Staying at the shopping mall was not bad. It was quiet and we woke up to -- yes RAIN!! On the road -- rain isn't so bad. I pulled out my "assistant" to step up on so I could get the wipers to work with a swipe. AH HA.... that no longer works. The wipers have quit completely. The farther we drive into Vermont we start seeing cars with snow on them? OMG ---- now we will have snow. Should we ditch our plans to go North like we had planned? Yes.. we decided to head for [View Full Entry]

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With a long travel day ahead of us, we set out early in the morning for our drive across Massachusetts and into Vermont. Up until today, we really had not seen much of the changing fall colors. The drive through Massachusetts changed all that once we started driving through the western part of the state. Closer to the coast, most of the trees along the highway had still not changed colors. As we drove further inland, this started to change. Once we hit western Massachusetts; bright yellows, golden oranges, and deep reds became the norm. While driving along Massachusetts Route 2 [View Full Entry]

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Some pictures from this summer...enjoy. [View Full Entry]

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The sun setting on Luke's 23 birthday...there is no sunset like a Vermont sunset. [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Jaz leaves in ten days! Over the past few months, it has sometimes felt like the day of departure would never come, and now it's almost here. I knew that at some point my excitement (and envy) about Jaz's plans would be overshadowed by my own anxieties and awareness of how much I will miss her. Yikes! She's about to fly away to a third-world country on the other side of the world and her plane ticket is open-ended, so we don't know for sure when she'll be back home. Actually, I'm not any more worried about her safety than I [View Full Entry]

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Well would ya look at that? My very own blog. My mom has been an avid blogger throughout the last couple of trips, and now I guess the reign is passed on to me. But not really, because she'll continue blogging her adventures, and probably much more avidly than me. I have mixed feelings about starting a travel blog... I probably wouldn't even be doing it if it weren't for my family getting on my case about it. But hey, I've started blogging before I've even left, so I must not be totally dreading it! I definitely enjoy writing; I just [View Full Entry]

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One of the greatest reggae bands ever is 'The Black Seeds'. They're from New Zealand, and I never got a chance to see them while I was over there. Lucky for me they did an american tour and played in South Burlington while Sandra was visiting from Germany. It was a great show and well worth the 5 hour drive. Katie (sister) accompanied us out there, and Sandra and I were able to meet up with one of our friends from New Zealand, Jenny, and we got to meet her baby, Rae. To top it off, at the end of the [View Full Entry]

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Boxed in by western time constraints and personal morals, the least thing i can do is try. Tomorrow morning, I'm west bound with a back pack and a bike. Freedom. Remarkably this feels just like leaving for Peru almost two years ago. Scary. Building a wheel in a living room the night before I would ride on it. Deja Vu. The nerves are their too, and I've yet to get a handle on them. Butt-Hair-Flies 3000+ miles in 30+ days and thiers some headwind to be found some where west of here too. Mathematician. My old stead is in a box, [View Full Entry]

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Day 2- Today the weather was not so cooperative for outdoor activities so we took advantage of the indoor activities. First we went to breakfast at 158 Main. Took a while to get our food but they made up for it in quality, good stuff. Next we drove over the notch to Stowe with our first stop being the apple cider mill where we had of course cider and an apple cider cake donut. Then across the lot to sample some wine. Then back in the Tahoe and on down the road where we stopped at a hand blown glass shop. [View Full Entry]

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