Today it rained. Lots. So we started the day with a conflab about how to structure the day to get most of the scheduled items in, and still stay nominally dry. Obviously the hike to Bingham Falls was not going to happen. The falls will just have to remain undiscovered and unnamed until another Bingham finds them on a bright sunny day in the future.

Eventually we arrived at the following plan:

First we stopped for coffee. Since Waterbury is the home of Green Mountian coffee it was only natural that we patronize them.

Then we drove north 5 miles (toward the ski town of Stowe) to the Cabot cheese store.

The next stop was across the parking lot at the Lake Champlain Chocolate store – everything you hoped a chocolate store would be.

Then it was back to Waterbury to head west to Burlington, and the Magic Hat brewery for a (self-guided) tour and lunch (also self-guided).

After lunch it was off to the waterfront and the Children’s museum.

While the rest of the crew enjoyed some “running around/playing with stuff time” Papa gassed up the MCOGA and then hung out in the parking lot checking on the status of the inside of his eyelids.

When the kids (and their parents) hit the fun barrier we loaded up and headed back with the intention of stopping at a the Cold Hollow Cider Mill (again, north of Waterbury toward Stowe). This is a 40 minute drive from the Children’s Museum. So of course S fell asleep after 30 minutes. So…change of plans. Rather than stop for cider we headed on up to Stowe and stopped at the Alchemist Brewery – leaving S (along with J and Nana) in the car while C/K/R popped inside to check out their interpretations of the brewer’s art.

Having sampled their wares (and purchased some samples for further study) we returned to the car and proceeded on. S being awake we discussed our options and decided that the wisest course of action would be to skip the cider and head straight for Ben and Jerry’s. They run tours every 45 minutes and we didn’t want to get stuck by getting there too late to get spots in the last tour.

As it turned out we got there and got tickets purchased 2 minutes before our tour. Timing is everything. The tour was interesting. The tour guide had some good jokes, though her delivery wasn’t really strong. And we ended up in the Tasting Lab where they develop new flavors.

This is where they give us little cups of ice cream to convince us that we really need to buy bigger cups at the on-site ice cream store. Today’s sample flavor:

After the tour we walked along the hallway of favorites…

…to the Ice Cream shop for some of our own favorites.

Then we headed outside to check out some of the rain-soaked attractions.

By that time it was time to head home. Kim cooked up an excellent chicken curry and we celebrated the end of a “full and complete” day with apple pie topped with some of the Cabot Cheddar (Remember them from way back this morning?).

Then it was baths for the kids and packing for the adults. Tomorrow we hit the road again and head for Bangor Maine – the longest drive of the trip. Apparently it is possible to drive 5 hours and still be in New England. We’ll see. Till then…

The adventure continues.

TTFN, R