Today was the day for food samples. This morning, we got a late start, and didn’t leave our hotel until 10:00.
Burlington Farmers' Market
Our destination for the morning was the Burlington Farmers’ Market, so we drove over to downtown, found a parking space, and walked a block to the market. I have never seen such a gathering in my entire life. There were probably 200 vendors, selling everything from produce to food to crafts to flowers, and more. We walked around for several hours, sampling food and occasionally buying something to split to eat.
Among the things we sampled were:
- Blueberry ricotta bread
- Maple lemonade
- Caramel candy
- Maple milk
- Cheeses
- Ginger beer
- Sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich
- Coconut macaroon
- Maple cinnamon roll
- Flavored popcorn
- Ginger molasses cookie
- Maple cornbread
- Maple candy
- Maple syrup
- Maple nut butter
Lake Champlain
Needless to say, we had our fill of free samples, so we wrapped up our farmer’s market adventure around 13:00 and headed down to the Lake Champlain waterfront to briefly enjoy the view.
Ben & Jerry's Factory
Stowe, VT
Several miles down the road in Stowe, VT, we stopped at a homemade ice cream shop to get a scoop. We got lemon chocolate chip, raspberry chocolate chip, and coconut chocolate chip. The ice cream was excellent, and we were glad we went there instead of the Ben & Jerry’s factory.
Cabot Store // Lake Champlain Chocolates
We continued down the road and stopped at the Cabot Farmer’s Collective store and the Lake Champlain Chocolates store. We sampled one kind of chocolate and many types of cheese, and hit the road again.
Covered Bridges
We traveled to two covered bridges in Vermont, and one in New Hampshire, stopping in-between at a sugar house to sample some maple syrup and learn about the trade from a very talkative farmer.
White Mountain National Forest // The Basin
Now in New Hampshire, we traveled to White Mountain National Forest, and stopped at a waterfall called The Basin. It’s a series of deep pools and cascades that flow down into a waterfall and a whirlpool.
Kancamagus Highway
We clambered back to the car and traveled through Lincoln, NH to the Kancamagus Highway, which runs through the heart of the White Mountains. Though it was nearly dark, we traveled the highway the remaining 40 miles or so to our hotel, stopping occasionally for a view or a quick picture.
conclusion
We arrived at our hotel around 21:00 and retired for the evening. Tomorrow, we will explore NH and northeast Maine.
