Vermont: Chasing the fall colours

VERMONT: 18 OCT - 21 OCT 2012
If you have noticed, I have been blogging rather frequently these days.

Not because I have nothing to do right now, but I have lots of backlog to clear before heading to the West and I want to blog about these places when my memories are still fresh!

Alrighty!

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the United States. The peak fall foliage in Vermont is in early October. There are various fall foliage tracking platforms available on the web for tourists to plan their trip. As fall is a season which comes and goes really quick, any date later than the peak will definitely make your trip a disappointment.

There were a total of nine people embarking on this fall foliage hunt. Like other US states, a car is necessary to get around. However, we made do with taxi rides since I refused to rent a car with my licence and let another person without a licence drive the car.

So for the first day, our first stop was a visit to the famous Ben & Jerry's factory. Ben & Jerry's originated from Vermont by the way.

 

 

 

 

Is your favourite flavour on the list?

 

The place where you can see all the past B&J's flavours

The tour entrance fee was US$4 if I am not wrong. Basically it was a thirty minutes tour, showing the manufacturing process of the ice creams, and the machinery used. At the very end of the tour, we got the chance to taste the flavour of the day ice cream. In our case, we each had a scoop of the Late Night Snack! When the tour guide mentioned the ingredients that fill this ice cream, I was feeling super grossed out. Potato chips, brownies, chocolate chips etc.. These definitely sound gross to you too right! However, how can you ever doubt B&J's? My first spoonful of the ice cream had potato chips wrapped inside chocolate bits and tiny brownie bits as well. The taste was so eccentric that I finished my serving within a minute. Some tourists went for seconds since there were extras prepared.

After B&J's factory tour, we headed off for lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Stowe.

Duck Quesadilla

Oyster tacos

Finding duck cuisine in any US restaurant menu can be a tough one since duck is not a popular meat. It so happened that the duck quesadilla was on the special a-la-carte that day, and we decided to give it a shot! In the end, both dishes turned out really well and tasted really delicious. I personally prefered the duck quesadilla to the oyster tacos though (:

After lunch, we headed to a biking trail nearby, which was one of the famous spots for viewing the fall colours, and entered many little local shops along the streets. Sad to say, we embarked on this trip a week after it peaked, and so many of the trees were already bare.

 

 

 

I cheated by using the colour enhancer effect in my camera. Haha!

 

 

The second day went on as usual, with me refusing to rent a car. Haha! Whatever.

We decided to rent bicycles and try out the biking trails located by the sea. I certainly did not regret renting the bikes since the view that it gave me was indeed priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful sight to see in just two hours. Right after biking, all of us headed to a teddy bear factory! This factory was the place that kicked off my pin collection, although I was already building up my postcard collection. Haha!

 

 

 

 

This place definitely suits me since I love soft toys! But none of the bears suited my likings, which is a good thing! Haha! (:

Anyways, the teddy bear factory concluded our touring in Vermont. We headed to Boston by bus that night and we were stuck in Boston for ten hours 'cos we couldn't get a taxi back to school. It was a totally insane experience since I had to experience the worst customer service ever and I had to sleep at the bus terminal. That station gave me bad memories, and when we re-visited that station again when we returned from Orlando, all those crazy memories shot right into my head again.

Nevertheless, Vermont is a really slow-paced state like Connecticut. If you wish to see awesome fall colours and embark on a ski trip, Vermont is definitely a good choice!

- - - -

Last saturday, I went for my first American football match!

" UCONN..! HUSKIES..! HUSKIES..! UCONN..!"

Students face-painted in blue and white!

 

 

 

 

And..touchdown!

The atmosphere was just the one I wanted to feel. A whole stadium of spectators cheering out loud for the Huskies on the field. Although it was freezing cold since it snowed a few hours before the game, the students were all hyped up for the match! I stood in the student's section through half-time and it was so cool! Hearing their conversations, hearing them shout "first down" with the MC and seeing them take their keys out to jingle them in unison during "third down" was a sight to me! And when UConn finally touched down, I exclaimed together with the rest of the student body! Natural reaction of mine when I watch sports, haha! (:

Although I left during halftime because the cold was too unbearable, the ninety minutes of fun I experienced was invaluable to me. My last UConn sport match will be the women basketball that will be held in school! Can't wait to watch the match on thursday!