One of my goals for the year
was to discover a place I have never been for each of the 12 months of 2017. Whether
it was within my own city or elsewhere, I wanted to be able to see the world with a different viewpoint and so far, my eyes have taken in so much and it has been quite exciting.
I had been dying to visit the green
mountain state. I had been looking for
vacation information for Vermont for a little while so that I would visit it sometime this summer, but never expected to find
my way there so soon until this week while visiting beautiful Lake George which is just about a little over an hour south of Vermont. Very happy I decided to take the trek up there. I now know why they call this the greenest state in America.
Vermont has to be one of the
loveliest places I have been. It was easy to get to. Little traffic and
not many cars on the road made the ride very peaceful. I drove there and it is not that far.
From NYC, it is about a five-hour drive. It is said to be the seventh coldest
state in the United states but luckily, it was not so bad in July. I didn’t
even need my jacket to keep warm for even a little bit.
One thing I noticed driving
through Vermont was that there were barely any traffic lights. You simply drive
through while ascending and descending the natural inclines of the mountains and experiencing the calmness of the green mountains.
How nice was it to breathe in
the natural aroma of mountain breeze, not in a can. And cool to see the many
maple farms while making our way through the different cities. Vermont is said to be the leading producer of
maple syrup.
Vermont borders Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Canada and New York. The 6th largest body of fresh
water known as Lake Champlain, separates Vermont from New York. Its name, Vermont, is a French term, Les Ver
Monts, named for the 15,000 feet tall green mountains that run most of the 159
miles length of the state.
My quest was to visit Bromley
Mountains. It is a resort there with a cool little theme park located in Peru,
VT which I was interested in visiting. And so, I did. One of the best parts of the park
was a trampoline, bungee jump ride. You get on and jump about two minutes
which is fun, and great exercise.
The other is the ski lift which brings you about
1100 meters above ground and gives you a gorgeous view of the mountains while ascending. The
view is even better going down. However, I chose to be a bit more adventurous
and slide down the slope on the alpine slide that brings you 2/3 miles down the
slope at about 35 mph +/- depending on your maneuvering ability, which I though was
really cool.
Okay, I will admit it. The
real reason I was so interested in seeing Vermont was to see what was so
amazing about the state that caught my attention in the the unofficial state
song; the haiku -like tune, “Moonlight in
Vermont,” which was written by John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf in 1944. I wanted to experience the moonlight there so I could actually sing the song with meaning and conviction of having seen it. Vermont is such a beautiful place. I made myself at home in this very quiet oasis and Vermont became part of my heart; beautiful in so many ways. Definitely
worth the visit and worth visiting again.
Traveling by Car
Knowing that the drive would
be long, I made sure to carry a few snacks and drinks that we could all enjoy
on the road. I know there are rest areas along the way but it is not such a bad
idea to make good tasting home-made sandwiches to pack and keep fresh in a
cooler that you can enjoy instead of the foods at “high way robbery” prices found at the
rest stops. And so, I was pretty happy to have
my 60-quart Igloo Ice Cube Roller Cooler.
It is very spacious. I was able to
put a good number of things in it and did not have to worry about it being too
full or the foods going sour. The cooler fit snuggly in my car and I could easily roll it out to where we would settle for the moments when we needed a break from cruising down the Vermont 7 highway. If you are interested in getting one for your next road trip, get it at Amazon today:
Keeping the cooler cool is easy. You can simply fill it with ice and voila, your foods that need frigid temperatures are kept at a healthy temperature for a good amount of time. I however chose a different
way of keeping my foods cold other than the ice.
I decided to go with 3X Lg.
Zero°F Cooler Freeze Packs 10"x14. The cooler shock replaces the ice. You
simply add water to the bags, seal them and put them in the freezer.
They take
up less room and keep the contents of the cooler cold. It felt good to not have to load, empty and reload ice trays all day. The freeze packs were easy to fill, light to carry and the best part about it is that they are reusable.
There is not too much
thinking or worry involved in this which made my travels even better. These ice packs might be just the thing you need to make your next road or camping trip that much easier. Here is the link if you are interested:
Don't worry, I will share with you about Lake George in a future post because that part of
upstate New York is worth talking about also. I just thought it as a nice thing to have met a
travel destination goal for this summer and to have really loved it more than I thought.
Thankful for every moment and even more grateful to be able to share my experience.
