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It was pouring rain when I went to sleep and the sun finally came out just as I was leaving the breakfast room. I was going to spend the day touring the various food places and driving farther east and then north to get back. I stopped at the visitor center in town and the lady there suggested that today might be the better of the two days as there was only a 50% chance of rain and Sunday was a 60% chance. So, with the sun shining on the mountains, I decided to head for Mt. Mansfield. Mt. Mansfield is the tallest point in Vermont at 4,393 feet, which is not quite a mountain to those of us who have seen the Rockies, but it's called one here. There are several ways to get most of the way to the top. You can hike, take the toll road or take the gondola ride. Well, I don't hike up mountains and the toll road costs $26 and is a dirt road with tight turns and steep pitches. I don't do that either. So, I decided to take the gondola ride even though I'm not fond of those either. This one seemed to go on forever and it got windier as you got farther up. But it was worth it because the views from the top were pretty nice. It was pretty windy and pretty cold up at the top. I was glad I had my gloves and my sweatshirt on. Pretty soon, the clouds moved in and it started raining so I headed back down. The ride down had a lot more swaying and was less pleasant than the ride up. I was glad I had arrived right when they opened, got to the top before the rain and was able to avoid the crowds that were arriving as I was leaving.
I decided that it would be a food sampling day after all since the drizzly weather had moved in. First stop was the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. The parking lot was full so you knew this place was going to be great. You can watch them pressing cider and have a sample all for free. The store was filled with local jellies, mustards, various pancake mixes and of course maple syrup products. They also had various products open for sampling. For my "lunch" I got a fresh cider doughnut and bottle of apple cider.
Next I stopped at the Ben & Jerry's factory for their tour. This one was 30 minutes and had a huge fee of $3. I got a Cran-Pineapple smoothie as the rest of my lunch while I waited for my tour to start. First you watch a short video about how the company got started and then walk along a hallway to view the production room. They don't make any ice cream on the weekends so I wasn't able to see everything in motion. The last stop is the sampling room. Today's sample was Triple Caramel Chunk and it was delicious. You get a pretty large scoop for it being a sample. Outside they have a flavor graveyard with the headstones of some of their "dead" flavors. The tour guide said there are 7-10 new flavors every year and that means 7-10 other flavors go away. I have never really eaten Ben & Jerry's ice cream before since it's the fancy expensive kind so this way I got to have some without paying a lot of money.
My last food destination of the day was the Cabot Creamery. It was about an hour drive from Stowe to Cabot. Along the way I passed through Montpelier, which is the capital of Vermont. Montpelier is the smallest capital city in the US and the House and Senate chambers are the oldest legislative chambers in their original condition anywhere in the US. I stopped for a tour, which was free, of the capitol building. It was very interesting to learn about the building, which is the third version of the state house and was built in 1859. Everything in the building is original, from the light fixtures to the furniture. Modifications have been made for electricity and technology, but the carpeting and drapes are either original or replicated to look original. The tour guide said this was odd for everything to remain, especially with the modernism that happened in the '50s, but Vermonters are frugal and that's why they never replaced anything! The legislators are in session from January through May and are not considered full-time. Only the governor and lieutenant governor work all year. The legislators have other jobs and are only paid a small amount for this job I guess. Another interesting thing was the chair in the governor's chamber. It was made out of wood from the U.S.S. Constitution, better known as Old Ironsides. This is the only piece of furniture that you aren't allowed to climb all over! It's only used for ceremonial pictures of the governor. I was very glad I stopped and got to explore the building.
After another half hour later and I was finally at the Cabot Creamery. I love cheese and this place was wonderful! Cabot is mostly famous for their cheddar, but they make all kinds of dairy products from cheese to butter to sour cream to yogurt. They even do Greek yogurt and apparently quite well because they produce a lot of it for a pretty reasonable price. There is a tour here as well for an even better fee than Ben & Jerry's at $2. This tour also starts with a video about the Cabot farming co-op and how the milk from the cows is turned into cheese. After the video, a nice young man took us into the factory. The Cabot plant makes the yogurts, dips, sour creams and flavored cheddars. They don't usually make just plain cheese. There is another plant that does just butter and another that does just cheddar. Lucky for me, they were making stuff and we were able to see them making Pepperjack cheese and yogurt. It was pretty cool. And of course there were samples at the end. All kinds of their products were out to taste. Dips, spreads and lots of different cheeses. I think my favorite was the Seriously Sharp!
I was going to drive back to Stowe via a northerly route, but it was already 4:00 when I was done eating cheese and I did not want to be driving in the dark and run into a moose on the road! So I headed back the way I came and got dinner at The Shed. This restaurant is just up the road from my hotel and is apparently closing on Monday. I shockingly ordered the fish n chips and it was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the stuff Renee and I had in Kaikoura. Nothing will top that! But the fries were really good and I was served quickly even with all the large groups that were there. It is raining again, but I hope it will be clear again in the morning so I can do some walking.
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