Vermont Day 3: A Drive in the Country

If you've been stopping by this blog for a while now, you probably know me well enough to know my favorite thing to do is drive in the country.

I've been out in beautiful snow storms. 

I've eaten ice cream with the cows who gave the milk.

I've even been swimming in the corn fields.

So when everyone decided we would spend our third day in Vermont swimming in an almost 100-year-old swimming hole full of huge boulders and who knows what else, I heard the country calling me! 

After I loaded my cameras in the car and dropped everyone at the quarry, I turned on my favorite playlist, rolled down my windows and went to my happy place for a couple of hours.

I'm a sucker for a great name. I mean, who wouldn't want to explore roads with names like 7 Hills Road or Roaring Brook Road. They just beg to be explored.

So I was giddy when I followed the road next to this beautiful place, The Barrows House Inn and Restaurant on Hwy. 30 in Dorset.

The road was called Dorset Hollow Road. 

(If it was in my home state of Tennessee, we would call it Dorset Holler Road!)

I followed this road until I came to a fork (quite appropriate for the state where Robert Frost was named poet laureate in 1961).

When faced with the decision to go left or right, I stopped in the middle of the road and looked down one as long as I could. It was called Upper Hollow Road. Weighing my options and fearing it might lead me to the top of some mountain, I took the other, as just as fair. It was called Lower Hollow Road,

and it was begging to be explored!

Almost every road in the state of Vermont follows along some river or creek or stream, and this road was no exception.

And almost every house on my drive had a view of the mountains 

or a beautiful barn

 or a stone wall

or a unique fence  

or  grazing creatures of some kind

   

or quaint little touches that just made me want to stay a little longer!

And this road even had a bit of history to it.

This little spot reminded of Robert Frost's poem Birches and the time my daddy told me about riding the trees when he was a kid. I think of him every time I read Frost's poem. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

Lower Hollow Road did not disappoint. 

I'm glad I chose the road I did!

I stored the images deep where memories provide spaces to linger when life weighs a little too heavy, and I know I will visit often. 

As for the Upper Hollow Road, I kept it for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I ended my journey at this quaint little store overlooking the village green in Dorset, the Dorset Union Store. 

They have been selling "necessities & frivolities" for over 200 years and are listed on The National Register of Historic Places. 

I was only inside for a second when I got the call that my clan was ready to be done at the quarry. I had just enough time to grab an ice-cold Dr. Pepper and eye the amazingly enormous cookies in big glass jars at the front counter. (I'll have to go again some day to enjoy those!)

Dorset is just a small village, and I didn't think we would actually get to experience it, but I'm so glad we did. It made all the difference!

(Words in italics are from the poems, The Road Not Taken and Birches, by Robert Frost.)

~ Vermont Day 2: Mount Equinox and Arlington

On our second day in Vermont, we spent the morning at the Bromley Adventure Park, and then we decided to take Skyline Drive to the summit of Mount Equinox. The toll road up the mountain is a 5.2 mile drive. It is owned by a cloistered order of monks known as the Carthusian Monks. 

We stopped at the toll house right on historic Hwy. 7A in Sunderland, Vermont to buy our token to pay the toll, 

This photo courtesy of Trip Advisor

we checked that our car was in good working order, and then I started to get a little squeamish.

I have driven up mountain roads in Colorado with my head between my knees because I couldn't breathe. 

I road across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on our last sabbatical with my chair leaned all the way back and my eyes closed.

I have started up mountain roads in Tennessee only to have Ken turn around part way up because I was about to hyperventilate.

One might ask why going to the summit of Mount Equinox was on my list of things to do!

I had read that it was one of the safest mountain toll roads with guard rails most of the way up, and they were right. 

I didn't even panic (once I convinced Ken that if I was going to enjoy the trip, he would need to proceed with caution).

There were pull-offs along the way to enjoy the view, but the best part was when we got to the St. Bruno Scenic Viewing Center at the top.

This photo courtesy of Trip Advisor

You could see the only Carthusian Monastery in America down below and the 7,000 acres owned by the order.

Standing at the Summit, we had views not only of the Green Mountains of Vermont, but we could see the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the east, the Adirondack Mountains of New York to the west, and the Taconic and Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts to the south.

No matter where you looked, you had amazing views!

When we came down off the mountain after letting our brakes rest for a bit, we headed south on historic Hwy. 7A to Arlington where we stopped at the Sugar Shack on the banks of the Roaring Branch River. 

While we were there, we got to see the evaporator that turns 40 gallons of sap into one gallon of maple syrup.

We also met Kim who explained about the different grades of Vermont Maple Syrup made right there at the Sugar Shack. We tasted the Golden, the Amber and the Dark grades. We all decided the Dark was the best, so we grabbed a half-gallon jug to take with us.

We also tried a maple creemee. If you don't know what a creemee is, think soft-serve ice cream. That's what they call it in Vermont. It was yummy! And if you are at the Sugar Shack on the right day, you can pick up a cider doughnut covered in cinnamon-sugar. Yum!

One of the reasons I wanted to go to this Sugar house was because they have a Norman Rockwell exhibit. It focuses on the works he created during the fourteen years he lived in Arlington. Norman Rockwell used many of his friends and neighbors in his paintings, and the exhibit features many of those friends and neighbors as well as the paintings in which they were featured.

We couldn't leave Arlington without going to see the house where Rockwell lived. We just followed historic Hwy. 7A a few miles south of the Sugar Shack to Hwy. 313 and headed west to Covered Bridge Road.

We drove through the beautiful old bridge across the famous Battenkill River.

From the road you get the first glimpse of the Chapel on the Green (West Arlington Unites Methodist Church) built in 1804.

As you pull through the bridge, straight ahead is the beautiful Inn on Covered Bridge Green, the former home of America's favorite Illustrator, Norman Rockwell. I can see why he chose this tranquil spot on a quiet country lane overlooking the river to call home. 

After a very full day, we headed back into Manchester to stop by the farmer's market  for some nibbles. We hadn't been there ten minutes when I saw my boys holding bags of this yummy bread. 

We ended the night with some great pizza and pasta at Christos' in downtown Manchester. It was a great ending to a great day!

~ Vermont Day 2: Bromley Mountain Adventure Park

On our second day in Vermont, we decided to take the kids for some fun to the Bromley Summer Adventure Park. 

There were several ski resorts within driving distance with fun things to do on a summer day. (i.e. Okemo, Magic Mountain, Killington, etc...)

However, Bromley offered some awesome activities.  Plus, it was on our route for the day! Who knew you could have so much fun at a ski resort with no snow!

There were three different parts to the park that you could enjoy. They had the Aerial Adventure Park which was an elaborate ropes course up in the trees, a Sun Mountain Flyer which was a four track zip line five-stories high, a half-mile long, reaching 50 miles per hour (longest zip rider in New England), and the Mountain Adventure Park with rides and one of the longest alpine slides in the world at two-thirds of a mile long.

We chose their Morning Mountain Adventure Pass which gave us unlimited rides from 10:30 am - 1:00 pm. 

Early June is definitely when you want to go. 

No standing in line. 

No big crowds.

Personal attention and assistance from the workers.

Perfect weather.

There were bathrooms, a gift shop, a snack bar with plenty of seating and picnic tables for bringing your own picnic (which we did).

The best part - if you are somewhat squeamish about heights and plunging to your death like I am, they let you walk around with your children and take all the photos you want without paying a dime!

Before we were even to the top of the hill, the boys had found the climbing wall!

The level four was the hardest and required you climb holding from underneath with your fingertips. My oldest raced to the top and was rewarded with a big, red Bromley sticker. 

Two of his brothers followed close behind. (I did not know stickers were still such a motivational tool at this age. I should have been using them at home all this time!)

This one, my niece, tried all day for the Bromley sticker. She got close several times. The sweet boy managing the wall saw her try all morning and finally told her she deserved a sticker. Way to go, Emily! Never give up! 

Ellis and Aidan decided to see who could do the most rotations on the space bikes. 

Everything is a competition!

Ellis won by just a few laps.

They're still friends though!

The Twin Spin started out pretty calm

until these guys decided to give the young ones a ride they wouldn't forget.

They couldn't even hold their heads up!

My nephew, Christopher, worked really hard trying to turn a flip on the Trampoline Thing. Because they weren't busy, the boy working the ride strapped in and taught him how to do it. Christopher finally did it! You would have thought he climbed Everest or something the way we cheered!

Those who didn't mind staring death in the face had a blast on the Giant Swing. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it swung out over the road below. I'm sure they had a great view of the valley!!

We saved the Alpine Slide 'til last.  It's a bit deceiving. They take you on this sweet, gentle scenic chair lift ride to get you to the top of the mountain  

where you plummet down the side of the mountain on one of three tracks - the whole mountain!

No Thank You!! 

I stayed on the ground.

I saved all my energy so I could panic for our next adventure of the day!