Vermont

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

In the morning Nancy Hodgkins returned our phone call. We were mistaken. She lives in Burlington, which we had left the day before. She was very gracious and said she did not mind driving to the capital Montpelier (38 miles one way) after work to meet us for dinner.

Our first goal for the day was the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks. In a shed we saw a video about the sugaring process and then we walked the maple trail. They drill holes into the bark and tap the syrup into plastic tubes that drain into the collection barrel. Then they boil it until it gets thick. In the gift shop we could taste different types of syrup. And of course, we bought some.

After lunch in Montpelier and a walk around town, we drove along Hwy 12 south as we had been recommended by the man at the Visitor Center. We were supposed to see covered bridges and lots of fall colors. We were now official leaf peepers. There were no signs pointing out the bridges so we had to keep our eyes peeled and we did succeed a few times. But the fall colors were pretty weak at this time. So by Randolph, we returned to the freeway. Susu called there but we lost her due to poor connection.

We passed a few cemeteries with very old headstones and the road ran just next to it. Later we have seen many more. Have never seen so many. But Europeans have lived here some 200 years longer than on the West Coast.

Our next goal was Stowe in the heart of the Green Mountains. It is a cute, historic town and a ski resort. It was getting dark by the time we got there so we just walked around a little before returning to Montpelier to see Nancy. On the way we stopped at Ben and Jerry Ice cream and listened to a video on their history. They had a hard time to make money and had to sell out. Sad.

It was very nice to see Nancy again. She looked good and she sounded happy. She had her own psychology practice in Burlington and had bought her own condo. She had a dog which she brought a picture of. And she was in the process of adopting a girl from Armenia.