Vermont

 The day we were leaving Niagara Falls Josh got a hold of his cousin Jes, who lives in Vermont. We decided to drive up and visit her because we had heard how amazing Vermont is and we want to visit Jes and her family.

So everyone wasn't lying... Vermont was beautiful! I definitely want to make another trip back when we can spend some more time. Even though all the leaves had changed and fallen already, it was still breathtaking. Every where you looked was beautiful scenery.

 Jes took us on a tour around the town the lives in, Waterbury, Vermont. First stop, Ben and Jerry Factory... Oh my goodness! It smelled incredible and the tour guide was hilarious!

It was udderly fantastic and quite mooooving.

 Here is Josh, Erica, and Jes eating our free ice cream, Americone Dream. Vanilla ice cream with caramel and chocolate cover sugar cones. mmmm...

 

 There was an ice cream grave yard and so many fun things to do! What a fun place to go! Highly recommend to anyone going to Vermont. We bought a few souvenirs and a delicious new ice cream, Late Night Special, vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl and chocolate covered potato chips. They also have a new one called Schweddy Balls, it looked good to.
I give you all reading this permission to stop reading, go to the store, buy some Ben and Jerry's, then come back and continue enjoying.

 After Ben and Jerry's we headed to The Cider Press Mill. They press their own apple cider! Here is Josh in front of the apple press.

They had warm cider and fresh cider donuts. There was fresh maple syrup and different jellies. It smelled so good.

 We were there at the perfect time and were able to see the guys set up a new apple press. It looked like apple vomit and shot out of a tube. They stack it a few palettes high and then smash it. I can only imagine how sticky these guys must be after work.

How cute are Jes, Josh and I as apples??

 After the Cider Press Mill we headed across the street to do some wine tasting. We tried a delicious Cranberry wine, which we bought a bottle of to go with Thanksgiving dinner. Should be good!

Then we went to do some beer tasting at the Alchemist Brewery. The folks who owned the brewery lost their home and their pub during hurricane Irene. The only thing that survived was their brewery. But they are resilient! They have a signed posted in the pub window saying "We will be back!" The beer was delicious and I hope they rebuild the pub.

 The sign above here was in their tasting room. So Josh had to leave...

Here is Jes, Erica, and Josh tasting their IPA.

 We drove around the town for a while. It was beautiful. We went to the Von Trapp house... huge! Of course they had a huge family but still!

The weather was amazing! Mostly clear skies and warm weather, in the middle of November!

 This was a beautiful waterfall in the backyard of one of their friends. Just in the middle of town.

Every town in Vermont was little, no big cities. The scenery was amazing!

 If Josh and I ever moved out of Oregon it would definitely be to Vermont.

 The next day we headed down to Burlington. We had a delicious breakfast at a little place called Handy's! Yummm! The pancakes and syrup in Vermont are so fantastic!! I don't think I can go back to fake syrup. They had fresh corned beef hash! It was great. Anyone going to Vermont go there for the pancakes and corned beef hash!

 We then went to the Magic Hat Brewery. What a crazy place!!!! It was like walking into a fun house that serves beer.

Outside the brewery there was this tower you could climb up. Once we all got in though the tower started to sway! That was a little creepy.

Here is Josh, Jes, and Erica on the spiral staircase!

 Beer Here Now!!!

They were bottling when we got there for a tour. They had signs hanging all over the place above each of the equipment. So funny! What a fun place to go. We, of course, finished the tour by sampling all their beers, including the famous #9. Oh.. I love their beer! Josh and I brewed a beer close to #9 once, but the original is always better.

We had such a great time in Vermont! Thank you Jes and Erica for showing us around, we will definitely be back soon to bug you some more.