I Love Vermont! Part II - Green Mountain and Ben and Jerry's

Our next destination in Vermont was the town of Waterbury. Waterbury has two claims to fame in our book. The first is that it's the home of Green Mountain Coffee. Of course, we had to stop and pay homage.

The Visitor Center is located in, of all things, a still active train station! The Cafe is a hangout for people awaiting the train as well as those just enjoying the day. These very pretty planters line the platform all the way around the building.

Forry was disappointed that we did not get to see the coffee bean roasters, but we did a good job of checking out all the variety of K-cups for sale --

Waterbury's second claim to fame is the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Company. You park in a lot next to a hillside of wildflowers --

Then climb the hill to the factory where there are both tours and a cone shop --

There were lots of people around. We got in on the last tour of the afternoon. Unfortunately, there is no picture taking allowed inside...

What I didn't realize (I guess I'd never really thought about it...!). is that the ONLY way Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is sold is in those singular pint containers.

The story they tell on the tour starts with the local dairies that are all within 50 miles of the factory. We did get samples of the ice cream they were making that day -- one with cookie crumbles in it that was really good!

Today we left the Frosty Acres RV Campground in New York and headed for Massachusetts. Here we are on the bridge that crosses the Hudson River looking over at the railroad bridge --

 I couldn't quite figure out why so many of the trees along the New York and Massachusetts Thruways were so bent and laid over --

After seeing so many broken limbs, it dawned on us that this was the damage caused by that early October snowstorm they had last fall (the one that made us head for Florida instead of Maine!). The heavy snow fell on trees that still had their full canopy of leaves, weighing them down, bending and breaking many of them.

We made a stop at a Pilot station just as we started out and bought diesel for $3.97 gallon. We spent $17.85 on Turnpike tolls in New York and Massachusetts. We made it into Sturbridge RV Park a little before 3 PM and settled into probably the last space large enough for Auntie Violet.

A Rainy Saturday

We thought seriously about making our pilgrimage to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown today, but decided we were better off waiting until Monday. Given that was a rainy Saturday, the odds were fairly good that anyone in the area cooped up with energetic kids would probably think it was a good alternative for them as well. So we decided to wait.

We were out of both milk for Forry's cereal (he just doesn't like to use my Greek yogurt, even though I keep offering to share with him...) and orange juice, so we decided we'd find a grocery store. And besides, I was too shook up yesterday helping to get us out of there, to get a picture of that darn overpass!

Today I very carefully looked for signs on both sides of Depot Road (and also where we turned on to it) to see if there was any warning anywhere of what was coming up --

This was the ONLY sign! And you can see where it is placed!

As we were driving find the milk, we went down another road that had a 10.0 foot overpass! And it had no warning signs either! I'm really surprised that these counties in New York haven't been sued.

This is the entrance to Frosty Acres RV and Camping Resort. Like everything else we've seen in this humid country, anything iron seems to immediately rust --

The entrance to Frosty Acres is up a pretty steep hill on a one-lane narrow road. I drove up ahead of Auntie Violet yesterday, then blocked the top to make sure no one started down while she was coming up -- we didn't need any more excitement!

 

We are parked in the open area of the park. There is this open grassy area and then lots of sites that are under the trees. Like the last couple of campgrounds we have been at, the grass is supersaturated and VERY soggy from all of the rain lately. We have good satellite access, so we were able to watch the Mariners last night with their record-tying No Hitter Shut Out game using six different pitchers, beating the Dodgers 1-0.

The little grocery we stopped at had a bakery case filled with local goodies. I brought home a couple of these Red Velvet Yogurt Cupcakes. Paired with a cup of tea, they made a wonderful rainy afternoon treat.