My husband planned a surprise trip for my recent birthday. I am normally the one who makes all of the plans and organizes, so I just had to trust that he had everything under control (most importantly that he booked the petsitter). For a week beforehand, the "clue fairy" made several visits. I had it narrowed down to several places, but then he dropped a couple red herrings. He told the little babe and she then added some embellishments of her own, so that threw me off even more. (One of her stories involved a pink airplane.)
On Thursday evening we headed north, so I assumed we were going to Portland. But when we got back on the road the next morning after spending the night in a hotel, he deviated from the normal route. For the next couple of hours, I was unsure where we were going and a tiny bit worried at some points. However, when I started seeing mile markers for Vermont destinations, I breathed a sigh of relief and knew that it was going to be okay. Vermont, the state of treehuggers, artisan cheese, maple syrup, and no billboards. Oh, and in March? Mud.
We stayed at a really sweet cottage near St. Johnsbury, which is in northeast Vermont. The cottage was about 4 miles off the main road and the listing should have said "Subaru required". The temp was above freezing and the road was pure mud. Perfect weather for wellies.
There were still several feet of snow on the ground in most places and the views were fantastic. Vermont has less evergreens than Maine and a lot more open vistas. It is a very rural state and dairy farming continues to play a large role in its economy.
We were there during the beginning of maple syrup season and I'll share more about that later this week. However, the reason that we went to Vermont wasn't to buy maple syrup, but to attend a black ash basket making workshop run by Lazy Mill Living Arts in Cabot, Vermont. I was a little nervous about spending four hours in one place with the little babe, but she managed to hold it together and we left with two handmade baskets. For being "berry baskets" they have quite a lot of holes, but we were weaving in a hurry with one eye/hand on the little babe at all times, so I think we did all right.
And here is that awesome scenery - morning, early evening, and sunset.
My husband always manages to think of great gift ideas and this was one of his best. The little babe got to see some farm animals and my husband and I have something useful and beautiful that we made with our own hands.