Visiting Cabot, Ben and Jerry’s and Montpelier VT…

Morning came and our next planned stop would be in Barre, Vermont. After turning off  Interstate 89 our route took us for a climb on a pretty steep hill (it was not marked but we think it was 10% grade or more!). Atop the hill is Lazy Lions Campgrounds, our home for the Labor Day weekend. It is a cozy, well-appointed park. Although their rate is more than I like to spend we were happy to find availability to hide out for the busy holiday.

We knew some weather was coming in and it was going to be chilly a few nights then raining on Sunday so Saturday we headed out for a long (over 100 mile) loop drive to cram in all things we wanted to see and do in the area in one day. Then we could simply sit around on the rainy Sunday and not feel as if we were missing anything.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Hope Cemetery. We don't often visit cemeteries but we read that some of the headstones are quite unique. Descriptive words won't be needed as the photos best illustrate the uniqueness.

The next stop was a bit further down the road as we drove to Cabot, VT to visit the Cabot Cheese Factory. This is the east coast’s version of Tillamook out west in Oregon. There were lots and lots of cheese samples to try with our favorites being the Habanero Cheese and the Orne Meadows Cheddar, so of course we bought one of each to take with us.

After Cabot we continued on our loop through the scenic hills of Vermont. There were lots of trees giving us sneak previews of the Fall colors to come as some trees are already bright red while others were just beginning to change. We passed by an old railroad track covered bridge we had to stop at to admire and photograph as we love seeing the old covered bridges in this state.

As we approached the ski basin between Burlington and Montpelier we entered Smuggler’s Gap. This is notorious for eating semi trucks even though there are ample signs warning them not to take this road. There is about a five stretch that is very narrow with boulders on each side and tight turns. Compound that with the loads of cars parked alongside the road on Labor Day weekend it was even tough for us to get through it in our CRV. Very scenic though…

As we approached Montpelier, Vermont’s state capitol, we stopped at the famed Ben and Jerry’s for a tour. We stood in line for a bit but since the line was immensely long we opted to buy a pint from the gift shop. As we tried to eat it we found it was too frozen and needed to soften a bit so we left and headed on into the city of Montpelier.

We had hoped to tour the State’s Capitol building but it was closed for the holiday so we did the second best thing. We sat on the capitol steps to eat our Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Chocolate fudge ice cream. What a perfect ending to our perfect day in Vermont!

NOTE: With Labor Day behind us we moved on over to Northwood New Hampshire and then possibly into Maine. Plans will be made now based on where Hurricane Irma decides to cause havoc…