Vermont

August 4
Monday

Next destination was to be Burlington searching for that coat factory.  It was a fantasy since someone told me it is in Burlington, Mass, which also may be a joke.

Had a good lunch, salmon salad with all kinds of good veggies at the August First Bakery.

 There are four colleges in Burlington so lots of young  people.

Checked out the Five Sisters neighborhood which I had read about in Cottage Living magazine. A cute Willow Gleny neighborhood. Streets are named after the developer's daughters in the 1920's:  Catherine, Caroline, Charlotte, Marion and Margaret.

 

Passed a shop I hadn't thought of for years, 

April Cornell. 

 This flowery feminine way of dressing was popular especially in the 70's and 80's when my daughters were young. 

Very pricy for my budget then so we weren't customers, but now that I can afford  their beautiful items I think the style is too young for me.

Burlington sits right on Lake Champlain which is where North Beach Campground is located.

I got settled in and went down to the beach to have an ice cream and sat and talked to Brother Francis who was there waiting for his daughter and grandkids to show up. He was wearing hiking clothes, a baseball hat and sunglasses. Who knew?!

Everywhere are groups of bicyclists who camp as they go.  

It's not uncommon to see groups of hikers along the highways crossing into the woods with backpacks strapped on.

French is spoken as much as English in these campgrounds, we are so near Canada. Very frustrating for me as I love to eavesdrop and don't speak French.            

Some people say Vermont means "Green Mountain" in French, others say it means "worm mountain".

And of course you can't be in Vermont without a stop at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in Waterbury, Vermont.It was cold and rainy and we were all wandering around eating ice cream waiting for our 1/2 hour tour to begin.

They began in 1978 as two college friends who took a mail course on how to make ice cream and rented a converted gas station in Burlington for their first ice cream stand.

They are very environmentally and health conscious and also claim to be socially responsible, using brownies made by a minority company for their fudge ice cream, etc.  But I did notice a lack of diversity among their employees and remembered Brother Francis' statement that Vermont and most New England states are bigoted socially.  So at the end of the tour I asked our guide about the ethnic makeup of their employees and she said they are mostly white because those are the people who apply for the jobs. Interesting.

No photos were allowed on the tour as they said they didn't want Haagen Daz stealing their ideas.

This is the graveyard of retired ice cream flavors.  I can't believe Peanut Butter and Jelly is gone!

From Ben and Jerry's drove a short distance thru the Green Mountains to the top of a bluff overlooking a beautiful valley.

The magnificent Trapp Family Resort is perched high up on this mountain just as they might still be in Austria.

I could almost hear Julie Andrews singing the Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music....

The Von Trapps and their 9 children left their native Austria in 1938 as WWII was heating up. They made a life for themselves singing around the world until they purchased a farm in 1941 and turned it into the lodge. 

       This sunroom looks out at the beautiful view.

 Tonite am in Little River State Park outside Waterbury for my first experience at dry camping. No electric, no wifi. Have the generator on now the hours it is allowed, 4 to 6pm and it should give me enough energy to keep the lights on until time for bed. The fridge is on gas and the lot is level so all should be good. Fingers crossed. The ranger station is just across the road in case of emergency and it is manned 24/7 so I'm feeling very comfortable, except I can't blog. No matter. I can read and write this tomorrow. There is also a young couple tent camping in the next site. 

All went well last night except I kept hearing a loud sound like a woman screaming.  It went on so long I thought the ranger surely heard it and went back to sleep.  In the morning he said it was a Fisher Cat and can be quite disturbing. No kidding!