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Travel Bloggers

Ali
Katie

Vermont, Scenic Route 7, and Connecticut

Montpelier, Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, Scenic Route 7, and New Milford, Connecticut

You should have seen the look on Ali’s face upon arriving in Waterbury, Vermont. No, she wasn’t excited about the sign that read, ‘Welcome to Waterbury’, she didn’t bat an eyelash at the awesome auto shop to our right and her eyes didn’t light up at yet another Dunkin’ Donuts within town limits. No, no, she knew like many other Vermont tourists, that her tummy was about to be filled with the miraculous invention of ice cream. And we’re not talking just any run of the mill stuff either, uh-uh, we were driving to the big one, the quintessential of all ice cream, the superhuman creators of the delicious creamy dessert (or lunch in our case) that appeases the taste buds all across the world - we’re talking about Mr. and Mr. Ben and Jerry!

That’s right, it’s in the little town of Waterbury that Ben and Jerry got their start. Well, actually, if I remember the tour guide correctly, they started up in an abandoned gas station in Burlington but once they got so big, they had to build a factory and Waterbury was suitable to their needs. The factory tour is only 30 minutes long where you get to see just how these frozen pints of heaven get created, and there’s free ice cream at the end so what are you waiting for? Ali and I had TWO free samples plus an extra ice cream cone that I neglected to finish for fear of throwing up on the drive to Burlington. Since we were exchanging our rental car there, I didn’t want ice cream upchuck all over the dashboard. Take time to visit the flavor graveyard on the grounds at the Ben and Jerry factory. It shows which flavors have been retired through the years with cute poems illustrating their demise.

So with our tummies full of sweet cream, we said goodbye to Ben and Jerry (Ali started bawling and I had to buy her an ice cream to calm her down) and we were off to Burlington, a fairly big town (how big do they actually get out here?) northwest of Waterbury. Not originally on our itinerary, Burlington turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant town. Granted all we did was stop at the Thrifty rental car near the airport and exchange the behemoth-nofun-mobile for a much more driver-friendly Kia Optima. The manager at Thrifty was very nice and after an Ali signature, we were off once again, agreeing on the straightest (and coincidentally the most scenic) route - Route 7 south.

Route 7 is plain and simply put, an awesome route to drive, especially with a car that’s not a school bus. Again, our plan was to stop along any town that sparked our curiosity (or that Frommer had posted pics of in his book) and to purchase items from cute fruit/veggie/souvenir shops we could spot from the road. Almost instantly after saying that, our first stop - Wood’s Market Garden in Brandon - brought us a pear, an apple, a cube of goat’s cheese (to go with our Triscuits of course), and a homemade apple pie that I almost immediately dove my face into. . . but I controlled myself and pressed on.

The next stop was another stand just outside Arlington called the Sugar Shack where they sell everything from cute Vermont magnets to pure maple syrup of which Ali and I each indulged in a small jar for home. The owner was super friendly and after talking a few minutes about business and syrup, he gave us directions to the infamous covered bridge - the most photographed covered bridge in all of the United States. The road to it was windy, tree-ey (can I get away with that?) and of course, beautiful. Follow the signs and you should just come across it and it’s a remarkable sight in its simplicity. There aren’t any neon signs or people posing in front of it (except us!) - it’s a bridge, that’s covered, and it stretches across a small stream of crystalline water that extends through the countryside. After adding more pictures to the bridge’s tally, we drove back towards Route 7 and paused in front of Norman Rockwell’s house and art studio that has since been turned into an inn aptly called The Inn on Covered Bridge Green. The area around it is so pretty and it took the promise of more sites like this in the rest of Vermont to get us to move on.

Dusk was approaching as we pulled into the town of Bennington, yet another town along Route 7 demonstrating Vermont’s ideal beauty. Here, Ali indulged me in a walk to the Old First Church and to the cemetery next to it, for it was here where a literary legend is buried - Robert Lee Frost. As one of the greatest poet’s during his time, I got goosebumps upon nearing his actual gravestone. I sort of feel grim to relive the feelings I got when I think of him actually resting in peace underneath my footsteps, but it was also great to think of how he is revered - as a poet and literatarian. One can only hope to be as talented.

The chill of the Vermont air tickled our skin and we knew it was time to go. Darkness would come soon and Ali and I wanted to make it as far as we could so there would be less driving time to get to New York the next day. I like driving the Kia, it’s easily manageable and the gas mileage is solidly consistent, but there is a point in any car when you know you’ve driven enough. My eyes peered cautiously on the road (I almost killed a raccoon!) and the dark swallowed the countryside within minutes. Calling ahead to New Millford, Connecticut, we settled on the Rocky River Inn and once again, we were delightfully surprised at the hotel’s accommodations. Comfy beds, a small kitchenette and a couple hot showers. More than we could ask for. Ali and I enjoyed a quick meal of greasy Chinese food and watched Ace of Cakes on the seemingly out of place flat screen TV. But no more than an hour went by before we were once again, fast asleep.