Wednesday 16th October

Today we drove from the capital of Vermont, Montpelier to the capital of New York State, Albany, a 3.5 hour drive through the Green Mountains - as opposed to the White Mountains we have been touring over the past few days.

We decided to visit two places before we headed off. Stop #1 was the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks, an 8th generation sugar farm run by the Morse family. Not long after arriving we entered the "Wood Shed Theatre" to watch a DVD presentation on how they produce their Maple syrup. It was very entertaining and educational with a big helping of Vermont humour! The DVD featured Burr Morse, currently 71 years old and is part of the 7th generation. Just as the show finished he walked into the Wood Shed and we had a brief conversation with him. Burr hates Vermont winters !

As luck would have it, a bus load of tourists arrived and Burr gave a live demonstration of Maple syrup production to the group and we sat in. It followed much of the same content as the DVD but was just as enjoyable a second time around. Maple syrup production is not a major earner and needs to be supported by other farm activities.

Our 2nd stop was the Ben and Jerry's Ice cream factory! We hadn't planned this, neither of us has ever had Ben and Jerry's Ice cream, but a couple we met at a covered bridge suggested it...so off we went. We were able to join the next tour of the factory starting 10 mins after we arrived - great! Unfortunately production was not in progress, they were in between batches and in the process of cleaning the machines. We were not surprised though, the Mint in Philly was not printing the day we visited, CocaCola in Atlanta was not bottling when we toured and there is often scaffolding around some significant buildings which can spoil the photo opportunities. On the tour we did learn about the history of the factory, and importantly we were able to sample the ice cream on the way out (only 1 favour of the day). But yummy!!

We did learn that over the years of growing the business, Ben and Jerry's supported a number of causes and charities, including incorporating sustainable and environmentally oriented practices. On that basis, and the taste test, we resolved that when we treat ourselves to quality ice cream in the future, it will be a Ben and Jerry's!!

We then continued on our drive to Albany through the Green Mountains, a very scenic drive, but we did notice that the Fall colours are not as intense as they were in Maine and New Hampshire. There were also more trees that had lost all their leaves and were bare. It appears that the trees here may have peaked earlier in the season and highlights how much difference a few days can make! It also reinforced how lucky we have been with our timing on visiting the areas we did to see some of the five colours we did!

A scenic drive we completed before the rain set in, and looks to be here for most of tomorrow as well.