Trip to Vermont...Finally

We finally made our trip to Vermont happen.  We had tried 2 other times before, once for Spring Break and it was cancelled because of a huge snow storm and the week before Easter but I got sick and couldn't go.  We knew we had to try hard to get there this time or would be a while before we'd get the chance again.  Our plan was to leave Friday and come back Monday but we could see that flights weren't looking good getting there on Friday so we decided to start Thursday afternoon.  So we left about noon and flew to Salt Lake.  We managed to get on a flight to Los Angeles (I know, that's the wrong direction we needed to go) then caught the last flight from there to Minneapolis.  It was midnight when we landed so we got a hotel and got settled into bed about 1am.

Friday morning we caught the airport shuttle at 5am to make our next flight to Detroit.  Mia slept most of that flight thank heavens.  Once in Detroit, we made our final flight into Burlington, VT.  The kids couldn't wait to get off the plane and see grandma and grandpa.  They had switched vehicles with another missionary couple so we could all fit in one car so we didn't have to rent one.

Grandma & grandpa were waiting just outside the security doors and there were a few happy tears when we saw each other.  It's been almost 6 months since we've seen them and they couldn't believe how much the kids, especially Mia, had grown.  After a bunch of hugs, we loaded in the car and went to get some lunch.  After lunch we started driving back toward Sharon where they live but we made a few stops on the way.  First stop was the Ben & Jerry ice cream factory where we stopped to take a tour.  The best part of the tour was the sample of ice cream we got at the end. :)

Waiting for our tour to start

The next Ben & Jerry???

The boys wanted mom & dad to take a pic too

The Ben & Jerry van

After the ice cream tour we drove to Montpelier to see the state capital building.  Montpelier is the smallest capital city in the nation.  There's not even a McDonald's. :)

Of course Vermont is famous for their covered bridges so we had a see a few of them.  This road had 3 bridges on it in less than a mile. 

 

Mia was scared of the water so she didn't want to get in the pic

Grandma & grandpa heard about a floating bridge that they wanted to take us to.  It was basically boards just sitting on the water.  You can see the middle of it is under water.

We finally made it to the apartment about 7:00 and had dinner.  The boys played outside in the field next to the apartment while we got settled in.   We went to bed quite early for us but we were pretty beat after traveling as long as we had.

Saturday was a little rainy but we decided to brave it anyway.  We went to the Simon Pearce store where they sell fancy glass and pottery and they blow their own glass in the basement.  It was pretty interesting to watch how they molded the glass and poured it into different shapes.

That's 2100 degrees of heat right there

 

Opening the end of a glass

Grandma & Mia watching the waterfall out the back window

Halen & Alex getting a little wet for the pic

Next we drove to Quechee to taste test some cheese and see the Grand Canyon of Vermont in the Quechee Gorge.

Beautiful scenery

To wrap up the day, we drove to the Cornsh-Windsor Bridge in New Hampshire which is the longest wooden bridge in the US and the longest 2-span bridge in the world.  It's amazing to think of the engineering that took place at that time with the limited equipment that they had.

The sign says, "Walk Your Horses or Pay Two Dollar Fine"

We stopped in West Lebanon, NH for dinner before heading back home for the night.  It was a fun day touring around looking at the beautiful scenery.