No more meandering around looking for moose for us. (We did not see one two years ago when we went on our trip out West; we were sure we'd see one in the Northeast.) Our schedule requires us to be back in St. Louis for an appointment on Friday. Unfortunately, we spent all morning at a car dealership/service shop to get the air conditioning in the car repaired. Even more unfortunately, they weren't able to fix it. We'd known it was not working on Saturday but (a) didn't have time to get it repaired, and (b) didn't need it. Even though we didn't need it today, we knew we would on the way back to St. Louis. The Kia dealership (there was no Honda dealership in Portsmouth) did not have the part to repair it. They called around town, and apparently, no one else had it either. We will be driving back to St. Louis without an air conditioner. Hopefully, it will not be too hot. Hopefully...
We left Portsmouth around noon and got on the interstate to keep moving instead of taking some back roads and enjoying the Vermont countryside. Surprisingly, the views were not bad from the interstate. We did stop in Montpelier, the smallest capital city in the U.S. I can't say that we were impressed. The construction was awful and the person at the visitor center did not seem to care one way or another whether or not we were there. We drove about 8-10 miles out of town to visit a farm that did maple sugar the old fashioned way. Of course it's not the right time of year to produce it, so we watched a few minutes of a video about how it's made. The whole side trip took about an hour.
Just a few miles farther up I-89, in Waterbury, Vermont, is...Ben and Jerry's! We stopped, got some ice cream (Chunky Monkey for me, chocolate peanut butter swirl for Tim) and a tour of the plant. Tonight, we're in Burlington, Vermont. Burlington is another example of a happening small town in the Northeast. Downtown, there is a street that is blocked off for four or five blocks full of shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at Three Tomatoes Trattoria--good food. I had polenta with a mushroom ragu and caprese salad. Tim had a white pizza with chicken, spinach, basil and mozzarella--a nice change from all the seafood we've eaten!
Tomorrow, we'll take the ferry across Lake Champlain, drive through the Adirondacks, and visit Cooperstown. We'll get as close as we can to Buffalo so we can see Niagara Falls on Wednesday, and maybe get a little closer to home.
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Just so you know, the weather here has been unbelievably cool. Cool as in ya need a jacket in the early mornings and late evenings. Rain scheduled for today which will keep things cool. I think we've even set some records for coolness. So my point for the weather report is that maybe you all will hit some of this driving back and it won't seem like hell's kitchen on the highway. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Was that the original Ben & Jerry's? Cool.
Cooperstown--how awesome. I hope you and Tim get tons of photos. I still think Whitey Herzog should be there. Whitey ball!!! Come on people--get with it!
Miss ya!
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