July 7 – August 9
The next long-term stop on our massive Summer Tour saw us spend 33 days in Stockbridge, Vermont.
As we did spend an entire month-plus in Vermont, and we wound up doing way more than I thought we would, I broke the stay up into individual posts talking about the fun, adventurous things we did. This post will be a little more mundane, talking about the AirBnB, the first week that I spent alone, and how I generally feel about Vermont.
Arrival
The details of our arrival are outlined in my post on Thundering Brook Falls. As I mentioned, we were able to check in to the AirBnB a little early. I got us unloaded and set up to start working in the subsequent couple of days.
The AirBnB was a pretty nice modular home with a spacious living room, ample dining room, two reasonably sized bedrooms and two bathrooms. It included full sized laundry appliances so we were able to keep up a regular laundry schedule.
Each bedroom included a small desk and chair that were each just large enough for us to work on.
The kitchen included a gas stove, which I have missed terribly. Cooking on gas again was absolute bliss.
Weather
The house also included a pellet stove for the colder months that never got turned on during our time there. There was also a powerful window AC unit that kept the house plenty cool.
Vermont was just as hot and humid as the Midwest that I was trying to escape for the summer. The first week saw temperatures in the low 80s and rain all week kept it uncomfortably muggy.
I quickly found a large-chain grocery store (Shaw’s) in nearby Randolph. It was still a 25 minute drive to the store, but I did go my first night there so I had some food to eat.
Brandy’s Arrival
Also mentioned in my recent post, I did arrive with just Ash. Brandy was stuck in Oregon until Carson showed up on July 12, when she flew back, landing in Burlington an hour and a half late, thanks to a delay in her connecting flight. I picked her up on the 12th and by the time we made the hour and a half drive back to the AirBnB, it was pushing 1:00 am.
The week leading up to her return was pretty low-key. I spent my days working and my evenings getting high and/or drunk, and sleeping comfortably in the queen sized bed in the master bedroom.
On the Saturday after Brandy’s arrival, the 13th, we had some drinks and got nice and hammered. Sunday the 14th was a nice, lazy day, except for the early morning hike Ash and I took at the Texas Falls Recreation Area. I followed up that outing with a rare-for-me nap.
The rest of the time spent in Vermont was spent either working or doing things that are outlined in other posts (the list to follow.)
The Vermont Adventures
Here are the previous posts I made about the adventures we went on while in Vermont.
Texas Falls Recreation Area hike
The Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
Ferry Across Lake Champlain (Plattsburgh, NY)
Thoughts on Vermont
Overall, we agree that Vermont is a beautiful place and we are both excited to return for a fall leaf-peeping session. I have seen pictures of New England in the fall and it seems like the air is turned orange with the amount of fall colors on the trees. Being immersed in that is something I very much look forward to. It won’t be for a while though as our autumns of 2024 and 2025 are spoken for already. Perhaps in 2026.
I think a month was more than enough time in Vermont. By the end of our time there, I had been ready to move on. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, it just felt like by the end, we were stretching trying to find things to do. We did keep occupied pretty much every moment of every weekend so I’m not complaining, but if we were there even one week less, it would have been about perfect.
Up next, I will be talking about the brief time we spent in Maine!
Until then…
-Phil
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