N.E. Road Trip Day 6

Day 6 we finally set foot in the cold cold water of New England!  We drove through Kennebunkport and stopped by for a little foot dip in the ocean water!

Then, because why not, we stopped in to see the world's largest chocolate moose!  Who even knew things like this exist...

We decided to use some extra time before our Lobster boat excursion to go on a short Narrow Gauge train ride.

After walking around the town of Portland, we headed over to the dock to get on the boat and I loved this lock bridge that we saw:

This was not a simple excursion, you have to do work, so we got these sporty outfits:

The boat takes you out to various traps around, so you get to see the traps hauled up, and help re-bait them before dropping them down and then helping to band the lobsters.  It was cool to get a first hand account of what a day in the life of a lobster man was like!  And of course you could buy lobster right off the boat, so when in Maine, right?

Here is Larry our Lobster.  I really really wanted to release him back into the wild after we had bought him but CJ was right, we needed to try lobster, so...

We did!  And in case you cant tell from my face, I was not in love...

Thumbs down for the lobster for me, but at least I can say I have done it...oh and next time, I would definitely release one into the wild!  Totally worth the $6!

N.E. Road Trip, Day 5

Well we started off another full day at the Von Trapp Lodge.  We had plans to "sleep in," but to us that is usually only like 8am, so we were  up and moving pretty early again!  So we made a quick stop at Cold Hollow for some apple cider donuts (and maybe a quick photo op)--DELISH!!!

Then we stopped at Cabot cheese to pick up some more of that great Vermont cheese to enjoy on our trip.  This has been a great tradition since we did the Wisconsin cheese trail a few years back.  We stop to get cheese and crackers for lunches along the way.  And we ultimately found some of the best cheeses ever this way.  My bible study will agree with us on the Alpine Cheddar, as they all tasted it last week (p.s. for all you Richmonders, your local Food Lion likely stocks it, if you wanna give it a try)!

Then we were able to meet up with my sweet friend, Heather and her family in Burlington.  They moved up a few years back and though I get to see them every once in awhile in Richmond (when they are visiting family), it is nice to see them in there stomping grounds too and great to see Mr. Connor growing up!  We had lunch/brunch at The Skinny Pancake, which I HIGHLY recommend!

After we parted ways with them, we went to tour Magic Hat Brewery....

 ...hit up Fat Toad Farm for some delicious caramel (here I am with the goats that they use the milk from to make the caramel)....

 ...then it was on the road again, this time to New Hampshire!

And of course in New England you gotta see Lighthouses:

And old Homes....

And boats by the water.....

Then we got into Maine!!!!

And stopped at the 24/7 LL Bean Flagship store:

After a little shopping experience, we went to Boothbay Harbor, this adorable fishing town in Maine.  We decided to have a nice long (long enough to watch the sun go down) dinner and to get our picture with this epic Fisherman statute....

Of course google had to make a video of my sunset experience:

Simply beautiful:

On our way back to the car, I was trying to re-do the picture from earlier (since Amanda told me I had a tree coming out of my head) and while CJ was taking the picture, a sweet lady crossed the street and offered to take it for us!  Seriously we met so many sweet, nice people like that on this trip!  Made me fall in love with New England!

Small town, USA:

Day 6 has at least one lobster sighting....

N.E. Road Trip Day 4

Well day 4 was pretty jammed packed so it gets its very own post!  We started off the day at the only zoo in all of Connecticut, the Beardsley Zoo!  What makes this zoo so special you ask?  Well they offer Camel rides!  YUP, we went all the way to Connecticut to ride a camel and for the super sweet prices of just $5 (with paid zoo admission)!  But alas, we arrived and the camels were not yet ready so we had to make ourselves busy seeing the rest of the zoo....

turtles

hello camel!

tiger!

anteater

warthog??

fox

wolf

Then we eventually got back to the camels for our camel ride!  It was a quick 5 minute ride around the area, but interesting!  Quite bumpy as you might imagine

After the zoo, we were off to the PEZ welcome center.  You actually have to pay like $4 to get in, but you then get a $2 store credit, plus you can do a scavenger hunt to win a free PEZ dispenser (which we obviously did).

Biggest PEZ dispenser

PEZ motorcylce, because why not?

You're not famous until they put your head on a PEZ....

well I guess I am famous now!

After PEZ, we were en route to Vermont, back through Massachusetts and on our way...

We made a surprise stop in Springfield, MA at the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Gardens:

The Cat in the Hat

Oh the places you'll go

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

Horton

Thing 1 and Thing 2, which is fitting if you remember the twins baby shower

After our brief stop off at the Sculpture Gardens we were on our way to Vermont:

And of course, what trip to Vermont is complete without a trip to Ben and Jerry's???

Hello Hydrangea--these blossoms were HUGE!

If it's not fun, why do it?

We got to sample the Milk and Cookie ice cream while there and loved it so much we got a hand packed pint to split!

Of course we had to say "Hi" to the cows while we were there!

After a LOOOOONG day of driving, we settled into the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT for the night.  CJ was geeking out a little bit over being at the lodge of the famed Von Trapp Family, from Sound of Music, but it was simply beautiful there!

What ever will tomorrow bring?  You will have to wait and find out....