BEWARE: MOOSE CROSSING NEXT 10 MILES

Beware: MOOSE CROSSING next 10 miles.

This was pretty much on every major highway north of Massachusetts and had us giggling the whole time. One sign we saw (which i didnt get a picture of) said: BRAKE FOR MOOSE: It could save your life.

We did in fact see a moose and a bear during our weekend in Vermont, which was pretty cool. Though, they were both WAY at the top of a ski slope at Cannon Mountain Ski Resort.

Below are a series of pictures from our weekend. Overall we had a WONDERFUL time.



Local is a major theme in Vermont - which THRILLED ME to pieces. They have so much to be proud of: dairy, maple, and unusual artisans spanning across the countryside. One of the things that really amazed me was their sense of humor. Advertisements are witty and eye catching - almost cheezy but tactful. You'll find restaurants serving local meats, cheeses, wines, beers and so much more. You'll also find maple farms selling other local farm products and vice versa. It was a true cooperative.

Speaking of cooperatives, did you know that the Cabot Cheese Factory is actually a cooperative of more than a 1000 dairy farms. The factory itself is, in fact, in Cabot, Vermont, but the farmers who belong are from all over. Facinating. The $3.00 tour of the Cabot Cheese Factory was pretty cool. They make this butter that is out of this world. We bought a few blocks of cheese - mostly the private collection stuff that can only be bought in their retail stores in Vermont. On the way out of the town we stopped to pay tribute to the most important contributors in the Cabot Cooperative.

And What's a vacation in Vermont without a stop to Ben & Jerry's. Sorry to say though, we missed the "FREE" scoop day by a few weeks. But out of all the tours we took in Vermont, this was by far the most entertaining and witty. The story of Ben & Jerry is quite amazing. After the tour we spent time in the gift shop and purchased a much needed cold, refreshing ice cream.

One of my other favorite things we did was Franconia Gorge State Park in New Hampshire. Our Inn (which I'll talk about next) was not far from the New Hampshire border - near Littleton. Franconia had quite a few things to do, one being the Flume Gorge hike. We hiked uphill to the gorge from the visitors center (I complained the whole way cause i hate the heat) which was about a 1/2 mile. Then we hiked through the Gorge (as seen in the picture) up the stairs to the top. Once inside the gorge the temperature dropped DRASTICALLY. We took our time through this area - or at least I did. Here's a couple more pictures I snapped.







More to come.....