Keeping this thing current while trying to work and traveling across the country is really quite difficult to manage. So far, I've managed to get no more than 48 hours behind, which I feel like is quite the accomplishment! Today, we started a tiny bit earlier than normal, but really not much. We hit the road, headed south for the border crossing into Vermont. We ended up needing to pull over and tighten the straps on our roof bag - if you don't get them tight enough, they tend to vibrate in the wind and sound like an angry wasp's nest.
The border crossing was pretty uneventful. We got a few simple questions about how long we were in Canada, if we purchased anything to bring back with us, and where we came from. He gave us the go-ahead and we were back in the land of the free, home of the <span style="text-decoration: line-through">brave Ben & Jerry's.
Our first stop was the Ethan Allen homestead. I guess I was sleeping in history class when we talked about this guy - I thought it was just a furniture store. Apparently he was a big deal way back in the revolutionary war days. He invaded canada, tricked the British, and formed a sweet militia to defend his property. I wound up missing part of the tour of his home for a meeting, but I did get to see some of it, and watched a brief video of his life. There's also a small Abenaki native American exhibit and some fun interactive stuff for the kids, like dressing in period-authentic clothes. We hopped in the car by 1pm in order to make it to our next stop by 2pm.
Traffic was not on our side, and we came flying into the Ben & Jerry's parking lot doing about 75mph. Just kidding, we were driving safely, but we did walk at a faster pace than normal to ensure our tour didn't leave without us. Of course, we had to park WAAAAY at the back of the parking lot, because we have terrible luck, but we did make it in before the tour started. Go us! I've always loved manufacturing tours. We've done several breweries, the TIllamook cheese factory, pretty much anything we come across we like to check out. And I'm also a huge fan of ice cream, so we had to stop by for a tour of one of only 3 Ben and Jerry's plants in the world!
The tour itself was a little expensive and only about 30 minutes, but it DOES include 2 small samples (we tried some cookie dough chunks and Chooray for Churros ice cream). I loved learning about the process and the sheer volume of the batches of ice cream they make at a time - more than 20,000 gallons of base mixture. And their activism efforts are definitely awesome - they're hippies through and through. They have the slogan "Peace, Love, and Ice Cream", but they also practice what they preach, prioritizing humanitarian efforts, racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, political activism, and more. They seem like really cool guys, and their ice cream is quite tasty. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow any pictures of the actual manufacturing process, but there is a picture from the FlavorRoom.
Finally, we hit the gift shop and then went out front for some ice cream. "T" once again managed to get quite messy. Our last stop on the way out was the Flavor Graveyard, where they have gravestones dedicated to all the discontinued flavors, like Vermonty Python, Schweddy Balls, and Dublin Mudslide. Each gravestone also included a little poem to each flavor, which was fun.
We then all piled back in the car and headed to New Hampshire for the night. Our room was apparently being remodeled, so they moved us into 2 separate rooms that were next to each other. These make for a little more prep work, but it ensured that nobody had to sleep on the pull-out couch bed, so that's a plus.