When we awoke, after making a quick trip to the supermarket, we got the Ben & Jerry's factory in time for the first tour. We lucked out, with only a couple of other people up early enough for that one.
We watched the film, where I noticed a typo, then saw the factory again and went to the tasting room. We tried Triple Caramel Swirl, which was great. Even at 9am. We tried a couple of other flavors at the scoop shop and then checked out the graveyard before leaving.
We continued our day in this fashion: checking out places that make local delights and trying free samples of them. We went to Cabot Cheese and tried wayyyyy too much delicious cheese samples. Some of the spicy ones were great. The wine was over budget at $1 a sample so I stuck with cheeses.
We also got some chocolate and fudge samples and checked out a place where they make apple cider. The process was really interesting to watch as this guy hosed in tons of pureed apples and then wrapped them in a burlap-type bag placed them on top of others that would thereby squeeze all the juice out of the lower ones. Really cool. And the cider was delicious!
We went to a nearby disc golf course for a game, where I was quickly distracted by the "Ski Jump School" training course that was set up in the woods! There was a balance wire, a climbing wall, obstacles to jump over, and (though it might look like I'm just jumping for joy... well I was) hanging rings. Basically, it was Ryan's and my dream. Too bad it's six hours from us. Sad.
We eventually got back to the course, which was pretty good. There were some challenging holes and some fairly easy holes. The difficulty often came in the length, but some were uphill and hard to shoot as well.
I got to shoot lots of wildlife including a large spider and this cool little toad that stood still for his close-up!
I enjoyed the course, if only for the handful of holes that I thought were really cool and the obstacle course that I would feel obliged to play on every time I was there. I'd go back.
On the way down the highway we stopped at Grafton Village Cheese, where I tried some of the most amazing cheeses I've ever had. It was a specialty shop so that makes sense, but the imported cheese and aged cheddar they had were fantastic. I'm no cheese connoisseur, but I do love it nonetheless and this was great. The 3 Year Cheddar and the imported Swiss I tried were my favorites.
When we got down to Brattleboro, we got off the highway to go to the other place I wanted to eat again: Flat Street Brew Pub. In something that must defy all odds, this place had been the victim of a flood. Only that street. So both places that I wanted to check out were out of commission when I showed up. What luck I have.
Speaking of luck, there was a detour on the highway south so we had to sit in stopped traffic for an hour or two. The ride home was long and I was ready to lie in my bed when I finally got back. The ride home is almost always the worst. At least it was a great trip otherwise!
No comments:
Post a Comment