There is nothing I love more than exploring the area I am in and finding all of the great local spots: I did it when I was growing up, I have done it every place I have lived, I do it on vacation and I continue to explore. When we lived just outside of Washington D.C., my favorite part of the Sunday paper was a section dedicated to road trips. I miss it dearly, so I have decided to blog about our excursions on my own blog for my friends and family in Vermont and pretty much every place we visit or vacation. This week, we managed to drag some friends along for one of our road trips and had a blast. So here goes.......
Our first stop was Bridgeside Books on Stowe Street in Waterbury, Vermont. I learned about it through a local business guide and it looked really cute from the pictures, and of course every road trip needs a cute bookstore in it right? It was just that, a cute little bookstore, with a lot of local authors represented throughout the store and the token gray cat who would occasionally wander by. Little Man and I sat quietly and read in the children's corner, while we waited for our friends to arrive. It was a nice way to start the day.
After purchasing some reading material for Little Man to look at while we drive from place to place, we stopped in for a snack at Red Hen in Middlesex, Vermont, because every road trip needs a good cafe or bakery. Not only is the food here scrumptious (we split an apple cinnamon scone and pot of peppermint tea), there are several ways to entertain the kids while the moms talk. To start with, there is a counter they can sit at with glass windows that look into the bakery and watch them make bread. Then when the novelty of the bakers wears off, there is a couched area with books and a few toys to entertain. It was wonderful and I even bought a baguette for us to bring to grandma's for dinner later that day.
Once we had filled our bellies we a few treats, we headed to Monpelier to the Vermont History Museum. I have to admit, in looking at their website I was not entirely hopeful, but curious none the less. It turned out to have plenty of hands-on activities for the kids to do and I even had a few seconds to read the signs and learn a little bit about Vermont history as we went. Interestingly enough, my son's favorite part of the museum was listening to phones attached to the walls, where various Vermonters past and present told their stories.
We were eventually able to drag the kids out of the museum by tempting them with food. We sauntered down to Main Street where we found the Mad Taco. This was by far my favorite part of the trip. The food was amazingly fresh and delightful and for the price, not bad considering the portion size. In addition to all that, the man working the cash register was incredibly excited about the food they were serving (always a good sign) and great with all kids (also a good sign). The kids loved the bar stools at the table and the moms were able to sample some of the salsas/hot sauces. All very different from your usual salsa/sauce fare and very good. However, we did not venture past level four.
Bellies once again full, we ventured back to cars, not wanting to run out the meters. The kids, however, were able to convince the moms to stop at a Woodbury Mountain Toys on the way, it was just too tempting not to go in. An end to a wonderful day with friends.
Stay tuned for the following day's adventure.
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