For our big day of hiking we decided to hike up Camel's Hump Mountain just south of Waterbury, VT. It is one of three mountains in the Green Mountains that is high enough to have alpine vegetation. We had been debating where we wanted to go hiking and had picked up a few maps of some other trails on other mountains, but then Dan happened to start talking to some guy at Green Mountain Coffee. He recommended taking the Camel's Hump trail and was pretty sure even the little kids could do it if we didn't rush them since he had taken his 5-year-old son/grandson (can't remember which) on it without any problems. He got out a couple maps and showed us how to get there and how the trail went. If he hadn't told us how to get there we never would have found it. The trailhead is basically at the end of a dirt road. The trail was 3.4 miles one way and had an elevation gain of 2400 feet.
The day we picked to go hiking turned out to be one of the best days weather-wise. Some of the previous days had been a little rainy and the day after we hiked it rained all day. This day the weather was perfect--the high was in the 70s and there were very few clouds.
Note the rocky terrain. As the guy at the Green Mountain Club said, hiking in Vermont is a lot of rocks and roots.
Natalie did a great job hiking. We weren't sure how she would do since this was really her first long hike all by herself. But she did a great job!! She got pretty tired the last hour and fell a few times so Dan or I carried her off and on for about the last mile. Darin also did really well. On the way up he kept getting way ahead of us. He would make friends with hikers that were passing us and would talk their ears off. It was pretty cute. After the hike while we were at Green Mountain Coffee (did I mention they have the best iced coffee?), one of the guys that Darin chatted with for awhile hollered at him by name and asked him if he had hiked the whole way. By that point Darin was pretty tired and was pretty much a walking zombie so I told the other guy that Darin was quite a trooper.
Sometimes the trail made us go up these huge boulders. Here you can see the blue marking on the boulder to let us know that yes, that is where we need to go.
We finally made it to the top!!! The views were amazing and we could see for miles. I had packed a lunch so we stopped to rest at the top and eat. Plus we didn't want to eat anywhere on the trail because the mosquitoes were horrible!!! They weren't so bad at the top--there were still a few and also a few bees but definitely better than on the trail.
A bit windy and definitely cooler at the top.
On the descent.
After we were done hiking we drove to Moss Glen Falls just north of Stowe. We were all pretty tired and were really hoping that the trail to the falls was very, very short. It was. Although the falls look tiny in the picture, they are actually 125 feet.
After the falls we went back to the condo and relaxed. We were all so tired. During his nightly prayers Darin prayed, "Dear God, Thank you that we went on a six-hour hike today and not a seven-hour hike because otherwise my feet would be really, really sore."
On Tuesday we decided to take in a couple more factory tours. We wanted to go to Maple Grove Farms and the Cabot Cheese factory and these two places weren't close to the other factories that we had already been to so we did them on a separate day. On the way to Maple Grove Farms we saw this cool covered bridge along the road on which we were driving. Notice the cupola on top and the angular, rather than rounded, shape of the bridge.
We got to Maple Grove Farms by around 9:30 and went inside to start the factory tour. Here are Ellie and Natalie with their hairnets on. They were required since we actually got to go in the factory and didn't have to just look through a viewing window.
The first place in the factory that we went was where they were bottling maple syrup into the bottles that they usually sell in grocery stores. This line can also do salad dressings.
Natalie thought that the bottling area was really loud.
After watching them bottle the syrup, we went downstairs where they make maple candy. Here is a huge container of maple fondant. I think that when this container is full it weighs around 400 pounds. The fondant is the result of boiling down the maple sap. When they make the candy they combine the fondant with more maple syrup.
After the candies are made they are soaked overnight in maple syrup. This crystallizes on the outside and makes the candies shelf-stable for up to a year. If they don't soak them then the candies would be as hard as rocks within two weeks. All the candies are hand-packed into boxes.
After the tour we sampled some maple candies and some warm maple syrup. It was delicious and Ellie was thrilled when we bought some maple syrup. Their maple syrup is definitely better than the stuff we usually buy at Sam's Club.
After Maple Grove Farms we drove a few miles down the road to the Cabot Cheese Factory. First we watched a movie about how Cabot came to be--it was a co-op that started around 1919 and now has over 1200 farmers.
The day we were there they were making cheddar cheese. Here is the cheese being stirred while the whey is being drained. In the far trough they are salting the cheese.
The cheese curds are sucked through a vacuum to another tube where they are compacted and cut into 42 pound blocks. Then they are sent to a warehouse where they are allowed to develop the flavor. One thing we learned while we were there was that cheddar cheese has no lactose in it so people who are lactose intolerant can eat cheddar cheese.
On the way home we went back to Cold Hollow Cider Mill since they were making cider and they wouldn't be making it any other days this week. We watched them for a few minutes while we sampled more fresh cider and the kids had a frozen cider popsicle. Then we drove down to the Green Mountain Coffee Mill and learned about coffee. I also had the best iced coffee I've ever had. It was a peach flavored coffee and it was delicious!!!! It was almost like an iced tea (not sugared).
Today was a cool and rainy (off and on) day so we figured today would be a great day to do some factory tours. First we went to Cold Hollow Cider Mill. They have a bakery there so we had apple cider donuts and these pastries that had maple cream in them. After breakfast we went over to where they make cider, but unfortunately they weren't making any today so we just watched a video about how it is done. Cold Hollow is one of the few places that makes apple cider year round. They use 80% Macintosh apples and the rest a variety of others. They had samples there of the apple cider and it was delicious--better than the stuff that we have had in Minnesota. They may be making cider some time this week so we may drive back down since it isn't too far from here. After the video we walked around the store and sampled some of the items that they had out. One of the samples was some honey mustard that had a kick to it. But the funny thing is that the kick doesn't hit you right away--not really till after you swallow. Then you feel the burning in your nose. :-) We picked up a jar. Even Dan liked it (he doesn't generally like anything remotely spicy but he liked this).
Next we drove down to Ben & Jerry's for a tour. The tour here lasts half an hour and includes a birds-eye view of the factory and a free sample at the end. The flavor they were sampling today was Imagine Whirled Peace. It is a sweet cream base swirled with toffee cookie pieces and chocolate peace signs. Mmmmmmmm. Before we went in for the tour they had a movie playing about how they got started, but unfortunately we weren't able to watch the whole thing since we had to go in for the tour. But it was very interesting. One of them kept getting rejected for medical school and the other had no desire for college and dropped out more than once. They've been friends since they were kids and figured they didn't really have anything to lose. Interestingly, the reason that Ben & Jerry's has so much flavor is that one of them (can't remember which one) has sinus problems and therefore can't taste much unless it has strong flavor. So as they were trying to find a recipe for their first ice cream, they added at least four times the amount of flavor that most recipes called for. Turns out it was a hit.
The flavor graveyard:
After Ben & Jerry's it was almost lunchtime so we stopped by the Cabot Cheese Annex and sampled several different kinds of cheese. Then we stopped by Lake Champlain Chocolates and had a sample of chocolate. Now that we'd satisfied our hunger, we moved on to Ziemke Glass Blowing Studio. It was fascinating and Ellie said that she could have sat there all day and watched him make stuff.
Here he is heating up the glass in a 2100 degree oven. The oven to the right of the one he is using here is also heated to 2100 degrees and holds a bowl of liquid clear glass.
In the next two pictures he is adding a swirl of silver around the glass. The darker piece in the middle is actually a bubble. This piece turned out to be an amber colored beer stein with a silver stripe around it. It was cool to watch him put the handle and the thumb rest on it. He's been doing this for 34 years.
Here he is using centrifugal force to elongate the glass.
By now it was mid afternoon and we were hungry!!! So we drove back into Stowe and ate at Pie-casso, a great pizza place. The crust was just perfect--the right amount of chewiness and crunch.
Last night after supper (leftover chicken pot pie--just as good the second time around) it was such a nice night that we decided to go exploring around the resort. We found a trail that wasn't too far from our condo and decided to see where it would take us. This is the pond that we found.
The kids found these small red salamanders (or something like that) in the pond and took turns holding them. There were also several frogs and a few small fish and tadpoles.
We also discovered several strings of eggs. I have no idea what kind of eggs these are but we are going to check on them again tomorrow to see if they have grown noticeably.
After we left the pond we followed the path along the stream.
After Darin and Natalie were tucked into bed for the evening, Dan, Ellie, and Kara went swimming in the pool next to our condo. They were the only ones in the pool and the water was surprisingly warm. Even I might think about going swimming this week which would be quite unbelievable since I rarely go swimming cuz I hate being cold. Darin would have gone swimming too last night except for an unfortunate event that apparently happened the first night we were here. He had been tucked into bed but was screwing around and hit his head on a ledge. However, we did not find out about it until the next night when we went to tuck him in again and found blood all over his pillow and his jammies. When asked about what happened, he told us that he had hit his head but didn't get out of bed to tell us about it because he knew he was supposed to stay in bed. Upon further examination, I found that he had a gash on the back of his head almost an inch long. It could have used a couple of staples, but oh well. At least the nasty scar that will result will be covered by his hair.
The view from the pool.
