Rain, Rain, Go Away

 The Wayside Inn at Bethlehem, NH served us a very nice breakfast. Then we were on the road. It was cloudy and rainy, but the brilliant leaf colors were still quite stunning across the mountains and hills all the way to Stowe, Vermont.

Stowe is a tourist town. It makes a good living from downhill skiers in the winter, and from leaf-peepers in the fall, with summer bikers and hikers filling in the rest of the year. There are lots of resorts, cute shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions of various sorts. Traffic is terrible!

After a quick stop at the Visitor Information Center, we drove north of town to Smugglers Notch, a narrow pass through the mountains with huge granite boulders on both sides of the road. At some points, it's only a one lane road. We made it through just fine, but then turned around for the return trip and met a Mini Cooper car club coming the opposite direction. We had to stop and let a parade of at least 20 MINIs pass!

There is also a state park at the Notch, and had it not been raining, we might have taken a walk. But it was a good day to stay dry in the car, and a bad day to take photos. We have only one.

We continued south and west to Waterbury, another tourist town. Waterbury is famous as the headquarters of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Our lunch today was not a healthy, balanced meal. It was Ben & Jerry's!

From Waterbury we drove on to Burlington. The plan was to walk along the shore of Lake Champlain, but between the rain and "Alumnae Weekend" (homecoming) at the University of Vermont, parking was difficult and the crowds and traffic chaotic. We drove along the lake a bit, then through downtown and the campus area, before fleeing back toward Stowe.

The rain did not abate, so on the way back into Waterbury we stopped at a sort of shopping mall. Everything here was aimed at tourists -- a distillery, a cheese shop, a Patagonia sportswear store, an art gallery, etc. Prices were high and the shops were crowded. We did get to taste some free samples of genuine Vermont maple syrup, however.

Just up the road was Cold Hollow Cider, where the parking lot was also full. There was a shop here, too, selling every manner of tourist junk. In the actual cider shop we purchased a flight of four sample ciders and sipped them until they were gone. We opted not to bring home a growler of cider. It would be hard to keep refrigerated, and even harder to get onto the plane home.

Checking into our hotel was a saga. Rooms were not ready. People were lined up. The desk clerk was horribly inefficient and a bit rude. I waited in line for almost an hour, then was given the key to a room that was already occupied! It took even more time to get things straightened out, and in the end, it isn't even a very nice room. The place is old, run-down, and poorly maintained. But it is fairly clean, so we can live with it for one night.

Highlight of the day was dinner with college buddy and fraternity brother, George, and his "significant other," Thea. George has lived and worked in Burlington for more than 40 years. We have kept in touch over the years, primarily through Christmas letters, along with occasional email and phone calls. But we really haven't seen each other since college. It was a delicious meal and a wonderful evening of conversation.