Posted on September 11, 2014
-Dan bought a hatchet in downtown Burlington to make our bonfire prep a little more smooth.
-Porkchop the pig!!
Burlington, Vermont is a city with an interesting charm, it’s like your favorite grandma’s house combined with a hippie festival. We had plans later that week with family so we only had a short time to explore here. We loved walking the extremely touristy Church St. Marketplace, a pedestrian stretch of road with coffee shops, record stores, panhandlers and musicians. You could spend a whole day there people watching and never get bored. We struggled to leave Muddy Waters, our new favorite coffee shop, it had an unmistakeable vibe. There were beams made out of old tree trunks, and notes scattered in the cracks, naturally we left our own marks.
On the way out of downtown Burlington on one of our last days, we were blasting “The Pointer Sisters – I’m So Excited” at full volume in the truck for no apparent reason. As we jammed out driving we noticed something out of the ordinary; a man with a pet pig taking an afternoon walk. We promptly found a place to pull over and made conversation with the owner, because, well… he had a pig! The owner was really cool and the pig’s name was Porkchop. Porkchop! A one and half year old mini-pig who got a ton of attention from everyone around. This duo was the perfect start to the ongoing photo series of people we meet on the road. What a couple of interesting characters.
As we said our farewell to Burlington, we stopped in Waterbury, Vermont at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory. We take Ben and Jerry’s very seriously, so this was an important stop on our Journey to Southern Vermont. We toured the factory, saw how everything was made, and then took a trip to the scoop shop to get an ice cream of our own. One of our favorite parts was the “Flavor Graveyard” – a realistic graveyard with tombstones for each deceased flavor of the past. This is a good stop for anyone passing through the area.
Overall, Burlington was definitely the type of place we like to hang out. The buzzing nightlife, music scene, and constant flow of new exciting things to do is exactly the type of energy that we like. We would love to come back here to spend some more time, we might even bring some friends.
Peace!
-D&T
Posted on September 5, 2014
-Doggy yoga!
-We met up with Dan’s sister Rita and her boyfriend Eric for this leg of the trip.
-We visited many street art installations scattered in the old city. Pool noodles never looked so cool!
-There are way less tourists in Quebec City at night.
-How do you communicate with your friends when no one has cell phone service? PRODUCTION RADIOS!
-Climbed over 400 steps to get to the top of this waterfall. It looked cooler from the bottom.
-Trading in The Toaster for one of these ASAP!
-Sunset wine tasting to wrap up the four nights in Quebec.
Quebec was nothing short of beautiful. The city was founded in 1806, making it one of the oldest cities in North America. Although the weather wasn’t necessarily on our side, the architecture and scenery were breathtaking. We made a friend on the ferry, drove loops around Île d’Orléans, the quiet farming island just a short drive away, and finally got to get in some quality time with Rita and Eric. The island was filled with adorable French speaking humans, yummy cheese factories (fromagerie), ice cream and chocolate factories (chocolaterie) that smelled like heaven, and wine vineyards for days. Île d’Orléans survives off of the tourists who visit it, being a main agro-tourism center, but it didn’t make it feel any less like home. We spent two days exploring the quiet roads and rustic farms on the island, having friends who also like to make their own raps on long drives only increases the fun of the day.
Willow’s first trip to Canada didn’t lack any excitement. She spent her second night there getting emergency eye surgery at a local 24/7 veterinary clinic and has been wearing a plastic cone around her neck since. Our house is a bit small for that but at least our kid is okay and on the mend! If you haven’t been to Quebec, start planning. Don’t forget your camera!
Au revoir!
-D&T
Posted on September 4, 2014
-Adventures are always more fun when you have to sneak in.
-Toni sporting her new, functional, and fashionable headlamp on our nightly Willow walk.
-Dan felt compelled to follow the campground trend and left our mark in the bathroom stall.
The White Mountains started as more of an in-between pit stop, but ended up being quite memorable thanks to the people around us. We pulled into a dark campground around 8PM and were instantly greeted by incredibly friendly neighbors from Newburyport, MA. They helped us illuminate our campsite with multiple flashlights and we ended up spending our night hanging around their campfire sharing smores and Tecate. It turned out to be a very small world as our other set of neighbors live in the town that Dan grew up in. The next day we met the campground maintenance man, Roland, who showed us a hidden river bed, the local gem featured above. Roland has been living full time in an Airstream for the past twenty five years with no phone and no bills. Awesome. We picked his brain and he gave us lots of Airstream tips and tricks, another amazing character on this journey. We’re excited to keep meeting people like these as we continue on our adventure.
Until next time!
-D&T
