My Tummy Hurts...I Wonder Why?

Just inside the Vermont border last night, we stopped at a rest area so that I could use the lady's room before we arrived at the customer (cuz you never know for sure if they're going to have facilities, and we were going to spend the night on their property).  I was absolutely captivated! Even though it was dark, I could see that the rest area building was constructed to look like a two-story barn. I could smell the pine in the air as I walked inside, and there were handcrafted wooden benches outside for resting, along with pots of beautiful fall flowers. Inside the building were several glass floor-to-ceiling display cases, showcasing Vermont products and merchandise. And the brochures...!  By the time I returned to the truck, Mr. Trucker was just locking it up to come look for me. He was pretty worried because I was gone so long and had left my phone in the truck ("don't ever do that again, I thought you fell down and hit your head!").

After this morning's delivery, which was in Brattleboro, just barely inside the southern border of Vermont, we were to drive north to St. Alban's, almost as far north as you can go in Vermont before you reach Canada. To say that the scenery is breathtaking is a gross understatement.

Somewhere in Vermont

Somewhere Else in Vermont

Misty Mountaintop

We didn't see any of these...

Seriously?

But we DID see these...

Huh?

On the way north, we stopped at another rest area. I'm tellin' ya, Vermont's gotta win the prize for outstanding rest areas. 

This is only the greenhouse connected to the main building

This particular structure has a Living Wastewater Treatment Facility which they apparently use to recycle all the water in the toilets, AND to sustain this beautiful Greenhouse

You can't see it, but there are goldfish in this tank

There were free full-sized cups of Green Mountain Coffee (donations accepted) or hot tea, with all the stir-ins, and a lovely sitting area featuring rocking chairs handcrafted somewhere in Vermont

Really Comfy Rockers

As at last night's rest area, this one also contained a display case of local wares. These are from the Vermont Country Store

Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns!

I asked one local young lady why more people don't move to Vermont, as it is so gorgeous, and

she told me "there's nothing to do here, also no jobs".  I guess that sums it up pretty nicely, although really I've noticed that young people always think there's "nothing to do", no matter where they live.

Our schedule allowed for some extra time for an outing or excursion of some sort, so we chose this...

Duh! No brainer, really!

We had to park in back, because of the truck, and therefore got to see something most of the tour-goers probably don't...

Ben & Jerry's Factory
Waterbury, VT

The tour wrapped up with a tasting of a new flavor, "Milk & Cookies". Here's Mr. Trucker hamming it up in the tasting room

"Any questions from the floor?"

After the tour, we continued on to St. Albans and while we were getting loaded there, we ate lunch in the truck

More Ben & Jerry's

after which we headed south out of Vermont and into New York on our way to our destination in Pennsylvania.

Some observations about Vermont: It is gorgeous and we love it but there are no jobs and nothing to do..and if you are going to live there, you have to drive a Subaru!

Way more than half the cars on this Vermont
highway were Subarus! The bumper sticker says
"Trees Are Cool"

Today's silly sounding place name: Winooski, VT.