Grafton Vermont

I have heard about this beautiful town named Grafton, Vermont. It is indeed beautiful and the type of town you would want to bike through, or stay in a bed an breakfast at during foliage season.  However, we picked the wrong day to visit.  You see the woman at the Nature Museum had just left on a field trip with a bunch of campers (yes there was only one woman running the place), the museum of mining and minerals as well as the history museum are only open on the weekend, the Village store was closed and Grafton Cheese was just not all that exciting.  However, it was stunningly beautiful.  

The trip could have been a total wash, however, I had made backup plans before leaving the house just in case.  

One the way down we went to The Vermont Country Store. Total tourist trap, but I have been wanting to go.  Why you may ask?  Every time we are someplace on vacation and people ask us where we are from, they go on and on about this stupid store. One woman in Virginia Beach even modeled her own store after it. Like every person who lives in the state of Vermont has been to this thing.  Both of my parents grew up in Vermont and have never been (one still lives in Vermont). We have lived here for nine years now, and never gone until now.  Total tourist trap, but Little Man had a great time sampling all the cookies, cheeses, and meats in the food area.  

 After not finding much to do in Grafton, Little Man and I went to Camp Plymouth State Park. The water was perfect, the bottom was nice an sandy, and it has a great playground area.  We swam right up until the bus full of campers pulled into the parking lot. Time to go.  Little Man's lips were blue by this point anyway. 

 Little Man had seen an add on the way out for VINS and really wanted to go.  We have been here before, and it is awesome.  Not only is it awesome, but if you arrive at just the right time, you get to see them feed the snapping turtles, bounce over to the raptor feeding (they currently have 40 different birds who call VINS home), and then go to the live raptor demonstration.  A perfect way to end the day.