The plan for the day was to accomplish 3 things: Visit a Granite Quary, Visit a Maple Syrup farm, and take a nap. We managed (most of us) to do all 3.

We were out the door in time to catch the 10:30 tour at the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry down the road a bit in Barre. This being Memorial Day there was no work going on but our tour guide, Johann, a retired science teacher talked a lot about what we would be seeing if the quarry were active.

Johann explained that the geologists have figured out that there is a seam of high-grade granite that runs down almost completely thru the mantle – so they will be mining this quarry for the foreseeable future

Leaving the quarry we drove through the town of Barre checking out some of the granite features that you’ll see in a town of granite miners and carvers

And before we left we had to check out the cemetery. Again, when your town is made up of granite people…

Then it was time for lunch. Following our tradition we picnicked on the grounds of the state capitol, this time in Montpelier.

After lunch we toddled on down the road to the second of the day’s events – the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks.

There’s pretty much a self-guide tour around the property. We did have a chance to chat with the current head of the family (the eighth generation on this farm).

He’s quite a character, and a “found wood artist”

Eventually, however, we gravitated to the gift shop/tasting station/Ice cream dispensary.

Sufficiently loaded with sugary goodness we made our way back to the house for naps.

Eventually we all woke up and Kim called a family meeting to discuss the possibility that we alter tomorrows plan (’cause it’s supposed to rain all day) and head to Burlington this evening to wander the Chursh Street Market, see Lake Champlain, and get some dinner.

We were all down with that idea. So we loaded up the car and headed down the road. Church Street has been turned into a pedestrian boulevard and people were wandering, shopping, and such.

We stopped first in a bookstore because one of us (who shall remain nameless) was just two pages shy of finishing Harry Potter book 4. And with two more weeks to go on this trip none of us was looking forward to his going. Into HP withdrawal. Next we set out in search of food. We eventually settled on an Irish pub that served us very well.

After supper we walked down to the lakeshore to walk the boardwalk, watch the sunset and enjoy the evening.

Then it was back to the house to read, to blog, to bed.

NOTE: I just remembered that I am supposed to be posting maps so you can see where we’ve been. Sorry. Each post now has 2 maps. One with a consistent scale so you can get the whole New England picture, the other with a more detailed scale because some of the days looked kind-of rediculous in the “whole New England” scale. So there you have it. If you’re curious you can go back and look.

Till tomorrow, Cheers, R