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After our adventurous descent down Mount Toms Precipice Trail we were hungry.  Very hungry.  Not handmade local croissant or organic frittata hungry.  But cheeseburger hungry.  Milkshake hungry. Lobster roll hungry.  Fried clam strips hungry.  You know what I mean.  And after hiking up and down a beautiful Vermont mountain with two four-year olds and a five-month old we had earned our eats the old-fashioned way.



The White Cottage Snack Bar in Woodstock may be Americas most beautiful roadside burger and shake joint.  The signage, the store front, and the menu looked like something you could find in Cape May or Long Beach Island along the coast of our beloved Jersey Shore.  But the outdoor eating area in the back did not.  In Vermont they even like to eat their burgers and shakes with a view.


We found a picnic table right next to the river and settled into a yummy post-hike meal.  All of the boys enjoyed their cheeseburgers and fries and Mommy thought the clam strips were solid, but not spectacular.  The portions, as you can see, were substantial.  But the highlight of the meal was my mother-in-laws juicy and generous lobster roll, which she kindly shared with the crew.  It was much better than one I had enjoyed back home at the Jersey Shore the week before--but not as buttery and delicious as the ones we had tasted two years back in Camden, Maine.  But that comparison just isnt fair-- a Maine lobster roll is one of Gods gifts to humanity.





As we devoured our meals a couple of youngsters at the table next to us finished their food, kicked off their shoes, and waded into the river.  I considered doing the same.  But my tummy was full, my legs were tired, and the summer air had turned cool.  As we cleaned up our table and threw away our trash the sky turned suddenly dark and it started to drizzle.  We ran back to the truck and loaded the boys up as quickly as we could.

As we drove back to the campground I felt grateful for the hike, grateful for the food, grateful for my family, grateful for Vermont, and for some strange, inexplicable reason--even grateful for the summer rain.

We came home from Vermont over two weeks ago, but part of me still feels like Im there.   It was one of my favorite road trips of all time--and Ive been on a few.  Here are my top ten reasons for still wanting to say thank you to Vermont:

1.  For your family friendly hikes and swims filled with beauty and adventure.

2.  For your underrated roadside barbecue joints.  Vermont, the South has nothing on you!

3.  For making me feel like Wordsworth ambling around the Lake District on golden summer days.  Ill take Stephanie, Ami, Max, Theo, and Wes as hiking companions over Samuel Taylor Coleridge every time.

4.  For the the Vermont Coffee Company and "Simons Blend," available only at the Simon Pierce Glass Factory in Quechee.  The good people of Vermont like their coffee strong and hardy.

5.  For your "American Made" consumer products such as Darn Tough Socks.  The rugged individuals of Vermont still make stuff and sell it in their cozy wood-planked general stores.

6.  For the lovely owners of the Quechee/Pine Valley KOA, and the Brattleboro North KOA for welcoming our family and helping us find our way to mountains, and rivers, and gorges oh my!

7.  For your towering pines and magical forests.

8. For your splendid and lush green quiet.

9. For your cool summer nights, perfect for campfires and restful slumbers.

10. For finally making me understand why we call it "New England."

Our visit to the Quechee Gorge was one of my favorite moments of our whole Vermont trip. The mile hike down to the bottom of the Gorge was perfect for kids and full of quiet, easy beauty for the adults.

Down at the bottom, heaven presented itself in the form of water and rocks. Water and rocks...a magical pairing for our boys right up there with peanut butter and jelly.


This is when it got a little tricky. Jeremy and I always push the limits a bit when we travel with the kids.  We want them to be wowed. We want them to have a blast. We dont want to end up in the hospital.

We also dont want every experience to be a series of nos. The boys are at the age where they want to do everything themselves, but we bring them into places that are not exactly child-proof. At the gorge, they wanted to run from pool to pool, not minding the slippery rocks one bit.

After a stressful start, we discovered something that day. There are two ways to hold hands with your children. You can grab their hands, holding them back. Or you can let them lead you, holding on tight enough that you can catch them if they fall.

That morning at Quechee Gorge, we stopped saying no, and started saying take me where you want to go.

And that made all the difference in the world.

 Now that they are older and a very wee bit calmer, we do okay at inside tables. But a place like the Trap Door Bakery and Cafe makes you question why you would ever eat indoors again.


 This place served up the perfect midday meal, allowing us to assemble our own tasting menu of frittata and cold thai noodles and cucumber soup and layered eggplant. Oh, and scones and cookies and croissants.

The food was delicious, and my mother and I look a little sheepish being caught with only crumbs left on the plates.


Truthfully though, the blue sky, white clouds, sun, flowers and water views may have made the food taste even better.

We are basically eating and drinking our way through Vermont, and that was just not the plan at all.

When we started to travel with infants four years ago, we gave up all of the nice restaurants and upscale wineries and fancy cheese shops. Those days will return, no doubt, and I will once again have amazing paella while gazing out at the water in Newport Beach, Rhode Island.

But for now, I religiously pack the pantry with all of our staples like oatmeal and tuna fish. Then I meal plan for all of our dinners because the last thing anyone wants to deal with is the question of what is for dinner when you are hauling around two preschoolers and an infant.




I was planning on hiking, swimming, fishing, and kayaking. But so far I have been eating.

First there were the apple cider donuts that Jeremy brought back one morning from Mocha Joes in downtown Brattleboro. Then later that morning we picked blueberries. We ate our fair share right there in the field, and then decided that we just simply must make a pie.


There was a visit to Putney Diner for lunch, and a return to Curtis BBQ for dinner.


But what really got me in the mood--the real I simply cannot stop buying and eating local delicacies mood-- was our visit to Grafton Village Cheese Co. where the endless supply of samples leads one to purchase endless amounts of local cheese, chocolates, and wine.




Back at the campsite, we topped our burgers with blue cheese cheddar spread and some jalape�o jelly bought at a local church festival. And then because I was starving around the campfire that night, I had to have the Extra Spicy Horseradish Cheddar Spread on Jans Farmhouse Crisps topped with Habanero Mango Jam.

I have no pictures of the deliciously prepared food because when you are picnicking with four children and an infant, you do not admire and photograph the food...you eat it. Fast.

The baby weight is just melting away...

On our last morning in Vermont, we decided to let the campers stretch their legs before the long car ride home and headed to VINS, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, which was right up the road from our campground.

The center is perfectly designed to blend in with its natural surroundings, and the parking lot, buildings, and educational areas dont distract from the beauty of the landscape.



The boys watched the songbirds being fed, and particularly enjoyed a visit to the bird hospital. The signs warned them to be quiet in the presence of the injured animals and I now have proof positive that my children can indeed whisper.



We were excited to see the raptor show, and although most of the content was way over the heads of our four-year olds, Max and Theo were gripped with wonder when one of the birds took off on the handler in the middle of the presentation.




The poor lad in charge was not too happy with the situation and kept trying to draw attention away from the missing bird and the nervous handlers with their walkie talkies. He obviously underestimated the tenacity of preschoolers. While he tried to soldier on, the boys (along with other young spectators) wondered loudly about the naughty bird. If the presenter had just told them that the bird was in a time out and could come back once he had apologized, we probably could have put that baby to bed.

While the boys were focused on the wayward bird, Jeremy and I were focused on all of the camp posters advertising what seemed like a pretty incredible experience for the little guys. Just imagine, we started saying, we travel somewhere cool and the boys go to a camp and we could...oh, the possibilities are endless...we could rock climb, sky dive, NAP!!!!



Camp or no camp, VINS offered us the perfect Vermont blessing that we encountered throughout our entire trip: the landscape was beautiful, the boys had a blast, and we all learned a thing or two.

See you soon, Vermont.