On Saturday June 17th, we pulled out of Adirondack Gateway Campground in Cold Brook, New York and began our long, rainy drive to Leicester, Vermont. Because I had been sick most of the week, we hadn’t really been out much. There were no gas stations close to us so we just figured we would fill up on the way somewhere. We drove for quite a while without seeing any gas stations. We had no cell service for most of the trip and our walkie-talkies were having some battery issues so we weren’t able to communicate but when we left we had decided to stop at the first gas station that we came to. As we continued to drive mile after mile without seeing anywhere to fill up, I started to panic. My gas light came on. The display on the dash that tells me how many more miles I have left on the tank kept ticking down….below 40, below 30, below 20. Finally, we came into a larger vacation town with several campgrounds and a few hotels and we found our first station! I was finally able to gas up the car and stop worrying about running out of gas!
Unfortunately, the truck and the house couldn’t fit in the parking lot so John had to continue on, hoping for another gas station. He still had over a quarter of a tank so it wasn’t as urgent for him. We continued on, again finding no gas stations until we were very worried that the truck was going to run out. We had a few minutes of cell service and were able to talk briefly and decided that if the truck was going to run out, John would pull over and I would take a gas can and go on to the nearest station and bring some diesel back for him to tide him over. We came in to a slightly bigger town and saw a few stations but NONE OF THEM HAD DIESEL! Just as things were looking really bleak, we finally found a station with diesel that John was able to squeeze into. Although we made it this time, we have definitely learned our lesson and won’t risk it on future trips.
Even though it was rainy and dreary all day, we still loved the scenery as we were driving through. We drove along a beautiful stream for a long time and over a few bridges-all with misty mountains in the background.
We arrived at the campground and got checked in with no issues. The current owners purchased the property just a few months ago and they are the nicest people. They were even able to print off some return labels for us for a few Amazon returns that we needed to make. The campground is smaller but set up well in a figure 8 design with open, grassy spaces in the middle and trees around the outside. The bath houses are older and a little run down but are cleaned daily. There are also bowls in each bathroom with travel size shampoos and soaps for guests to use which is definitely a nice touch. The camp store has a good variety of necessities, groceries and snacks – and even Vermont Maple Syrup!
For this trip, we had bolted the refrigerator to the wall with furniture safety straps but they were no match for the New England roads and we found the fridge on the floor blocking the door again. John crawled through the window again and got it righted. I cleaned up inside while John set up everything outside.
We decided to drive into a nearby town for dinner and to pick up a few things at Home Depot to try (once again) to secure the refrigerator. After getting the things we needed from the store, we ended up at the Baxter Restaurant at the Country Club for dinner. John had a chicken sandwich and I enjoyed a lobster roll before heading back home for our first night in Vermont.
On Sunday, we had scheduled a visit to Fort Ticonderoga and a boat tour of Lake Champlain. The lake sits on the Vermont/New York border and the Fort is on the New York side a little ways up the mountain overlooking the lake. This fort played an important role in both the French and Indian War and the American Civil War and is in remarkable shape for being so old. We spent a few hours touring the fort itself – they had some great museum exhibits with artifacts and dioramas but our favorite parts were the interactive displays. They had a game that let you fire a small spring loaded cannon to try to accurately hit ships, a pulley setup where you could try to lift an actual artillery gun (spoiler alert- they are HEAVY), and all kinds of things that you could touch. There were also several costumed employees demonstrating how daily life worked at the fort – baking bread, making soup, cleaning, sewing and even someone making shoes.
At around 12:30 we walked the short trail from the fort down the hill through the Kings Gardens and to the lakeshore where we boarded our boat, The Carillon, for our tour of Lake Champlain. The boat was a replica of a popular type of vessel from the 1920’s and took us on a 75 minute cruise around the lake. A costumed employee narrated the entire trip, provided information about the history of the fort and the lake itself, in addition to pointing out other important landmarks. They were even able to use sonar to show us the remnants of sunken boats, bridges, and railroad tracks under the surface of the water.
While we enjoyed the military history, the thing that really stuck with us was the way that people have tried to bridge the lake in the past. One fairly successful bridge involved American soldiers during the Revolution. They waited until winter and when the lake froze over, they used the ice to support them while building a bridge across. They would drive the supports down into the lakebed through the ice, securing them to the bottom, and then built up the bridge through the ice and above the surface of the water. The ice held the weight of the men and their supplies while building the bridge then during the warmer months when the ice melted, the bridge was in place so that they could continue to move supplies and troops from New York to Vermont with ease.
A failed attempt in a later century involved building a floating railroad bridge directly on the water. This ultimately ended with the train derailing in the middle of the lake. Thankfully, this was a supply train only and no passengers were aboard. The conductor can be seen in a photo from the time standing beside the wreckage.
Our admission also included a token to access nearby Mount Defiance. On the short drive over, we found a really pretty waterfall so we stopped to admire it and the beautiful covered bridge spanning the La Chute River for a few minutes.
Mount Defiance looms above the surrounding landscape and is the point from which the British were finally able to force the Americans to abandon Fort Ticonderoga and flee into Vermont and further south to Sarasota, New York. We were thankful that we were able to drive most of the way and only had to walk up about 100 feet of steep paved trail to get to the top. We could not imagine the struggles of the British troops chopping their way through the trees up the side of this mountain to clear a roadway to the top – all the while carrying their supplies and gear and toting cannons behind them. The views from the top were absolutely stunning, though.
For the drive home, we decided to take the Fort Ti Ferry back across Lake Champlain. While the fort was only 17 miles from our campsite, the lack of bridges meant that we had to detour pretty far out of our way to cross from Vermont back into New York. It took us about an hour to get from Leicester to Fort Ticonderoga using roads and bridges. The ferry cost $16 total but knocked about 40 minutes off of our drive. This ferry service had been running since 1759! It has been modernized, of course, and is now a flat bed ferry that is powered by an engine and runs on cables from one side of the lake to the other to keep it on track.
John was off work on Monday in celebration of the Juneteenth Holiday and we used this opportunity to visit the New England Maple Museum in nearby Pittsford. The museum itself cost $3 per person and while not very high-tech or modern, did a good job of explaining the history of maple syrup production in the US and its importance as a trade items to native peoples. At the end, we got to sample four different syrups ranging from golden to dark and even one that was aged in a bourbon barrel. We have done Bourbon and Whiskey tastings on our earlier travels through Kentucky and Tennessee and learned that the barrels are often repurposed for other industries so it was neat to really experience this come full circle.
The gift shop is what got us. We purchased several maple products – candy, a few different types of syrups, a maple cream that is AMAZING on toast, and even a t-shirt for John.
We also dined in Rutland a few more times during our visit – having dinner one night at Taco Fresco (Nachos and Shrimp Tacos) and woodfired pizzas at Vermont Tap House. For our pizzas, we chose the Maple Goat (Olive oil, red onion, broccoli, goat cheese, rosemary and Vermont Maple Syrup Drizzle) and The Vermonter (garlic sauce, apples, bacon, red, onion, and Vermont Maple Syrup Drizzle). It was all so delicious! We also learned that Rutland, Vermont is the birth place of John Deere.
On Wednesday after work, John decided he wanted to go for a drive so we loaded Harley in the car and hit the road. One of our favorite things is to just choose a direction out of our campground and drive until something catches our eye – usually a bridge or a tunnel or an interesting road- and then change course. We had arrived at our campground from the south so we decided to go north. We drove past a giant gorilla holding a Volkswagen and then found a gorgeous lake. When we came to a crossroads, we opted to turn toward the lake and I am so glad we did!
After a short while, we came upon Branbury State Park. There was a swimming beach and a little snack stand and shelter houses and further away from the road was a campground. We pulled into the parking lot and headed for the beach. The view was amazing! There was this grassy field, then a sandy beach, then the lake shimmering in the sun, and finally the mountains in the background. I could not have imagined a more beautiful setting if I tried.
John took Harley down to the water from the grassy banks while I walked on the beach (dogs weren’t allowed on the sandy part of the shore) and dipped my toes in the water. I had been expecting it to be freezing but it felt really nice. I got out of the water and headed over to John and Harley, who were also wading. We enjoyed the water for a bit then decided to get back in the car and see what else we could find. But first, Harley had to roll in the grass to dry off.
Once we left the State Park, we drove along the lake on the opposite side as our campground. We eventually came to another big crossroads and decided to turn towards the mountains. Thankfully, the road that we were on was one of the few mountain passes in the area. We found a pull off with a gorgeous view and stopped to investigate. This was the Mount Horrid Scenic Overlook and it was incredible. We had only planned on driving around with no destination in mind so I hadn’t brought the camera. With only my cell phone, I snapped a few photos but they absolutely did not capture the beauty of this spot.
We drove on and ventured into a campground in the Green Mountains National Forest and drove around that area for a bit before heading for home back the way we had come as it was starting to get dark Isunset is around 8:45 here right now) and driving unfamiliar mountain roads in the dark with bear, moose, and deer lurking along the way didn’t sound super fun.
We came back into the town of Brandon, which is the next town over from our campground. We were hungry and it was already 8:00 so we decided to try to find carryout instead of going home and cooking something. Unfortunately, everything in Brandon that we found online said that it closed at 8pm. John parked the car and went to make a loop of downtown on foot to see if he could find anything while I walked Harley to a greenspace nearby.
John checked a few places before finally walking into a Chinese restaurant. The sign said that it closed at 8:00 but the Open sign was still on. The man said that they were closing but that he still had a few things to do so he would be happy to make us dinner. John put in the order and, when it was done, walked back to find me and the dog.
While we were waiting for him, we had wandered about the area where we parked and found a waterfall right in the middle of town! The river actually flowed under the main road and came out of a little tunnel and over some rocks before meandering out of sight a short distance later. There were houses and businesses built along the banks and a little covered pavilion with benches and a grassy area. It was so cute! We admired the view for a bit and Harley enjoyed rolling in the grass before returning to the car and going home to eat our dinner which turned out to not taste like much but it saved us from having to cook and the cook stayed after closing to feed us so it gets a lot of bonus points for that.
On Friday we had booked tickets to tour the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont. John got off work early and we started the hour and 20 minute drive over. The scenery was beautiful the entire way there with beautiful forests, mountains and streams coming in and out of view after every turn. We drove through a small town where we saw a small ice cream stand selling Maple Creemees – a food that we had been dying to try. This is a soft serve ice cream that has a light maple flavor. We were already on our way to eat ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s so we did the only reasonable thing – we each got one! We thought that getting a small cup each would still be manageable but when they handed them over I couldn’t believe how big a “small” was. By the end of the day we would definitely be swearing off of ice cream for a while.
The coolest thing we saw, though, was when we were driving down this crazy dirt road that we actually weren’t sure was a real road and suddenly, something crossed in front of us. We couldn’t decide what it was at first so we pulled up to where it had disappeared into the trees on the roadside and started watching for it. Through the leaves and branches we were finally able to see a bobcat making its way up the embankment! Despite having previously seen bobcats in zoos and actually volunteering around them at least once a week for 6 years at Butternut Farms, I have never seen one in the wild and was super excited. We watched until it moved out of sight and then continued on our way.
We finally emerged from the dirt road onto an actual paved road and eventually arrived at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory. The tour experience was about 30 minutes and was only around $6 per person. We had made reservations a few weeks prior and if you plan to go I definitely recommend booking in advance as they do sell out. The tour itself consisted of three parts – a film that provided information about the history of the company, a view of the production line, and the tasting room. After our visit to World of Coke a few months ago, we were immediately skeptical about the film (the Coke film felt like they were trying to get you to join a Coca Cola cult) but it was actually decent. It was informative, a little self-deprecating, and only slightly an advertisement/feel good message about their brand. When we entered the room that overlooks the production line, our guide walked us through the manufacturing process by pointing out numbered stations below and telling us what happened at each one. They were making the “Half Baked” flavor during our visit. No photos were permitted here.
The tasting room is, as you probably guessed, where we got to sample one of the flavors from the new 2023 line. Of all the options, we were provided with Butterscotch with pretzel chunks. Neither of us really loved it but most of the other guests seemed happy and some even had seconds.
Following our tour, we checked out the gift shop and visited the Flavor Graveyard – a small area off to the side that is set up like a cemetery but all of the tombstones have names of past flavors that are no longer produced. Some of the more interesting ones included Maine Blueberry, That’s my Jam, and Cake Batter, and Holy Cannoli. They even had a Dave Matthews Band collaboration called Dave Matthews Band’s Magic Brownie.
After only an hour (including our tour) we were ready to go. There just really wasn’t much else to do there (although we did get to measure ourselves and find out how many ice creams tall we were). We were also absolutely starving and the only thing available to eat there was ice cream and we needed real food so we found a nearby restaurant called The Filling Station that was well rated and had dinner there. John had the Fried Chicken Sandwich and I had a Shrimp Tempura Roll. We split an order of Duck Fat Fries as well and they were wonderful! We really enjoyed the ride home – the scenery was just incredible.
We did run one final errand to the town of Pittsford. We had contacted a local sign/decal maker for large decals of our logo to put on the house and they were finished just in time! We took a few minutes to put them on the house when we got back home. They look amazing!
We are hoping the decals will help us gain followers on social media pages – the more people we get to interact with, the more cool recommendations we can get for fun things to do and delicious places to eat while we continue our travels! We will see how well it works on our drive tomorrow from Leicester, Vermont to Carroll, New Hampshire!
