Finally in Maine

So I had hoped to do a blog every day on the way up. But it simply isn'y possible for me to accomplish that and get to see and do everything.  Oh, and once we crossed into Vermont, there was little or no cell coverage much less internet.  So, this will serve as the trip report after we left Pennsylvania.  

Camp all set up in Vermont!

We started what I consider the worst day of the trip up on Monday.  A long day from Hershey to a campsite just south of Burlington, Vermont.  Normally highlighted by the best ribs in NY, but as you know they closed for the season.  So we re-routed through Cooperstown to catch a dive called Jerry's Place and visit a distillery there since none of us had ever visited a (legal) distillery.  I must say the drive up through NY is not that amazing.  The trees are were changing the way we had hoped and the drive is just a lot of the same look.  Nothing much to see, and we are mostly stuck on the interstate due to the length of this day.  

Louis and Leanne ordering at Jerry's Place

So we finally got to Jerry’s Place, hungry.  Very hungry.  And we would come to find this was a good thing.  Unfortunately the food at Jerry’s Place didn’t live up to the hype from Yelp.  Some poor fellow who obviously had never had a hamburger prior to the one he reviewed at Jerry’s Place actually said it was the “best burger he had ever eaten”.  Seriously.  This guy needs to get out more.  The buns were great.  The toppings were great.  The fries were great.  The burger wasn’t good.  Or beef.  It was bad.  But the place was decorated great, the milkshake was pretty good and the people were nice.  So not a total loss.  

The Cooperstown Distillery didn’t disappoint.  The plan was decorated nice, the fellow selling the wares was really nice.  We tried a few samples and made a couple purchases.  It was a fun stop with a look at one of the most impressive copper stills you have ever seen.  It was fun! 

The big still at Cooperstown Distillery

We headed up the road past Lake George to Ticonderoga NY.  Here we took a cable drawn ferry across into Vermont.
It was a beautiful crossing that actually put us in Vermont halfway across the lake.  It’s these kind of things that you really can’t catch if you stay on the interstates.  The people were really nice and in the 7 minutes it takes to cross I found out who 2 people (including a ferry worker) were voting for and why.  It was clear…  But it was really fun.

We arrived in the campground on the lake there in Brandon and it was fabulous.  The site looked like it could hold a group of cub scouts it was so big.  And we threw the tents out and headed into town for some pizza at the local pizza joint!  The lady working there was fabulous (as was the pizza) and even agreed to let me an Louis catch a picture with her!

The next day was spent in Burlington which is a VERY picturesque town right on the banks of Lake Champlain.  We grabbed some coffee from a quaint coffee shop on Church Street (the street to visit in Burlington) and the we walked the waterfront only to find the elusive Maple Creemee! 

Rhonda and her maple creemee!

It seems Vermont folks believe the Creemee is something different than soft serve ice creme.  And they almost had Rhonda convinced.  But let me say, different or not, the Creemee with a hint of maple flavoring is unreal good.  We finished up the visit with a trip to the local Taqueria where we had a great lunch. 

We headed back for a short 3 mile hike to the top of some mountain with a trail in the state park we were staying.  There were gorgeous falls and unreal views and even a very closeup view of a porcupine!!!  honestly, he let us take a ton of pics before he strolled up the mountain.  It was a great hike, even though it was a little tough, climbing 1220 feet in a mile.  We all though maybe we weren’t ready for Maine!  

Sunset from the top of the mountain in Vermont.

There was something the next morning at this campground.  I woke up and while I was sitting in the campground, I heard an elk bagel in the distance.  I had to look it up to make sure that’s what it was, but it was.  It was a very cool moment.  

The next day is a great day.  It is short, and full of fun stops riding through Vermont.  We started by heading to a place we had seen on a great PBS show about pie (A Good Piece of Pie).  Poor House Pies is a place that sells pies out of shed in their yard. Honestly.  And so we trekked up there to find a Vermont Maple Creme Pie.  We tore into that while we sat there and I have to say I don’t think I ever enjoyed a piece of pie more!  We also grabbed an apple for the road.  We met one of the sites (a rock star to us of course) and talked to her for a while.  It was awesome.  We moved on from there to head across to Stowe.  But we didn’t take the interstate.  We headed across the mountain through Smuggler’s Notch.  And I didn’t know what a notch was until this.  And it did not disappoint! Look it up.  It’s pretty cool.  We grabbed some maple syrup from the place we have always gotten it and headed across Vermont to Cabot to see how cheese is made!  And again, that did not disappoint!  We got to see a working factory and saw all forms of cheese in the making.  We learned a lot about the dairy farmers and their relationship with Cabot, and how without the cheese factory many of them wouldn’t exist.  It was a great visit!

The pies at Two Fat Cats!

We grabbed our normal campsite in New Hampshire just in time to grab a bite and get back to go to bed.  It was a cold night in the tents (about 41F) and we all woke up glad the campground didn’t have any shower facilities.  None of us wanted to walk to the bath house for a shower in that!  We drove down for a quick walk through Portland Maine and a visit to another pie shop we saw on the same show, Two Fat Cats.  We grabbed some awesome pumpkin whoopee pies and walked the waterfront.  We left there, headed for a tour at Allagash Brewing and on to the cabin in Maine.   

Breakfast in a little town in Vermont!

It was a great few days.  Full of adventure, food, boredom, and great fun!  But now the best part of the vacation starts: Hiking Acadia in Maine!

The lake at the campground in Branbury, Vermont.