Leaving New York State via a ferry across Lake Champlain was a first water crossing for our little camper van.
On the Vermont side, you land on the idyllic island of Grand Isle. The beauty of rolling hills, farming, livestock punctuated by a couple of small towns must call everyone. Lisa had the same feelings of bliss here that she had on various parts of New Zealand. Douglas being a bit overly grounded at times, remembers that August and, say, February are too really different environments here. But the same is true in New Zealand and most of the world.
Lisa’s son asked for some observations of VT for something he is thinking about writing, so here are some:
After the fifteen minute ferry, and 30 minutes of country driving, you cross a bridge and are back on the mainland.
We stopped along the way to dip our toes into scenic Lake Willoughby with its two beaches and calm waters to kayak on. No wonder 50% of the cars we see have boats on top of them.
Our camping destination was Brighton State Park in Island Pond, VT. The actual campground is on the shores of the mostly undeveloped Spectacle Pond. In talking with an older couple who were camping there, they told us that this was VT’s best state camping park, and that they have been returning here for 30 years. 30 years….they would know. Our site backed onto the pond with a short path leading to its lightly muddy banks.
We hiked around the park, checked out campsite locations and eventually rented a canoe to do our Lewis and Clark expedition imitation. It might have been the first time we shared a canoe or kayak since our stay in Laos many years ago. On that trip, our inexperience and inability to accept the other as captain and in charge of piloting caused us to overturn several times and Lisa to lose her thong (thong as in flip-flop and not ‘floss’ underwear). She griped about the loss of her shoe for months. Years later, we found that the company that made it was HQ’d in Hawaii and every shoe store seems to carry them now. It reminds one of the ‘power’ one can assign to a thing. A tweak of brain juice and we can change the view of the world or a loss of a shoe. Grand designs.
Back to the canoe, we stayed upright, listened to the wind, to the bow cutting through the water, to the ducks courting for a mate. The next morning, our hunger for ‘lobstah’ was calling so we skipped our second night at the park (VT had a two night minimum stay) and hit the road towards New Hampshire and eventually Maine. On the way out, we stopped for coffee and breakfast along Island Pond lake and enjoyed the view, and then hit the town for some free WiFi at the public library. Our Verizon and T-Mobile service had been very ‘shotty’ in VT.
We headed east into NH and then turn south to drive through the White Mountains. There are so many lovely drives through these lush New England states. Of course we weren’t sure what to make of the homemade signs ‘Northern Pass, kiss my ass.’ The Northern Pass, is a 192-mile, high-voltage transmission line proposed by Hydro-Quebec and Eversource. It would carry hydroelectricity from Canada to southern New England, using New Hampshire as a huge extension cord through the White Mountains to bring power to Massachusetts and Connecticut. It is highly controversial and has not been approved.
Passing through New Hamphire, we found a unique lunch destination, Hart’s Turkey Restaurant. Here, you can have Christmas Turkey dinner all year long, except for Christmas Day when they close. They can pretty much make any dish using the bird. Turkey Dinner with the usual fixins’- yes; turkey nuggets- yes; turkey tenders- yes; turkey potstickers- yes; turkey chili- yes; turkey wontons- yes; turkey pot pie- yes; 10 different turkey ‘sammies’- yes; turkey, Turkey, TURKEY! Of course you can also get a burger or fish or something, but why would you! It’s about Turkey! This is a family business that started small- raised, butchered, cooked and served their own…’wait for it’…turkeys. And eventually grew so successful that they started buying up all the turkeys from the local producers and focused only on their Restaurant and catering. They can handle 100’s of customers at a time, arriving in cars and buses. Dairy stands were also very popular in these states.
For us, we sandwiched our turkey onslaught between an appetizer of the excellent tangy pickled carrot slaw and dessert of pecan pie that matched the goodness of our Austin favorite pie-house, Upper Crust Bakery.
After we waddled back to the campervan we headed to Maine whilst making a few stops along the way to enjoy NH’s lakes.
So why so quickly to Maine? Well if you can camp every night in a beautiful location, and have the choice of eating camp rations or eating ’lobstah’ while doing it, wouldn’t you choose the later?
