Today was a casual day of tourism and not many miles. We left the KOA taking highway 15 south where we crossed into the US in New York on to I87. We took the first exit onto our old friend, US2, heading east into the Lake Champlain (great lake wanabe) area. The highway meanders south for 20 miles or so, skipping over a series of islands, reconnecting to the mainland just north of Burlington, VT. The islands are populated with villages, some quaint, some just weather beaten. There were some nice vistas, but a person can't park a rig as long as ours just anywhere, so we got few photos. Also, the weather was blustery which discouraged long hikes to take a photo of a cute cottage on an inlet.
Our first stop was in Richmond, VT. They have the "Old Round Church" originally built as a village meeting place for 4 churches and town meetings. An older couple was volunteer guides, and since we were the first tourists of the day, we received the complete history. As we were leaving, a news reporter for Channel 5 in Plattsburg, NY, there to interview a contractor who was to make repairs using recently acquired grant money, interviewed me. He was a nice young man. When we mentioned where we were from, he said his mother is best friends with Walt Worthy's wife (Walt Worthy is a successful developer in Spokane owning the Davenport Hotel among other large properties). I had to admit I did not know Walt or his wife personally, but have read a lot about them.
Stop two was in Waterbury at the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. They do a nice job with the tour, but it pales compared to Hershey Chocolate Factory. Anyway, I got to enjoy my first ever B&J ice cream. Pretty good stuff. My favorite part of the place is the Graveyard of Old Flavors. It is a mock cemetery with headstones with funny poems for the retired flavors. It was raining so I only shot a few. Getting in and out of the parking lot was tough. I almost pulled the trailer over a post; I had to backup and take a second try to get out.
We continued east, heading toward New Hampshire. I made a wrong turn in Montpelier and wound up driving in front of the Capitol building with its gold dome. After Montpelier, we abandoned US2 in favor of US302 to take us to Mount Washington. The fall foliage colors especially at the higher altitudes were very beautiful, despite the rain and overcast skies. We saw lots of gorgeous farms and homesteads, the types you see in magazines. We made it as far as Littleton, NH, where we set up camp in the Wal-Mark parking lot. We used the opportunity to replenish supplies.
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