Canada to Vermont, New England

From Montreal in Quebec, Canada, we headed for Vermont in the USA. It took a while to get out of Montreal and we were at the US Border Station Highgate Springs in 90 minutes. There was no real sign of leaving Canada as there was no immigration and I only realised we were in  no man's land when we were queuing for the US immigration and I saw this sign -

Immigration was relatively quick, thankfully we were the only coach and we all had an ESTA linked to our passport. After having all fingers and thumbs printed and photo taken, the passport was stamped and we were free to go. 

The countryside became more interesting. On the Canadian side it was flat farmland, mostly maize and one other crop,  but on the US side there were undulating hills and more trees. We were in Vermont state, in the New England region. The New England region is comprised of six states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

As it was 11.30 we stopped for lunch at what our guide said was a very good American diner in St. Albans

It wasn't anything special. I wasn't hungry and thankfully didn't order a meal as they were large. instead I had a piece of maple cream pie which was rather nice but probably with a million calories.

We went on to Ben & Jerrys at Waterbury for a tour of the factory. It was packed with visitors and we were led around like a herd of cows! 

 

At the end of the tour we were given a sample of ice cream. After my sugar load at lunch time I had no interest in buying a cone. And they weren't cheap and the items in the gift shop were also expensive. I think it's the first time I've had Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I learnt that the company has been taken over by Unilever. Interestingly, although they are present in Thailand and Singapore, they are not in Malaysia (maybe because they have links to Israel?!).

That evening we stayed at the Commodores Inn at Stowe, a very friendly family run hotel. Unfortunately the foliage hadn't really started changing colours

Next morning we went to Montpelier. Montpelier  is the least populous state capital in the United States. Lots of what looked like houses but are government offices. 

And the State House, 1859 -

From Montpelier, we went to Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks. 

Firstly we tried sugar on snow - you pour the liquid maple syrup over ice, twirl the fork around so the syrup hardens and eat! There were small pieces of doughnut; gherkins to provide a sour taste after the sweetness.

We then had an entertaining talk on the production of maple syrup. The surrounding area, though unfortunately the morning mist wasn't good for photos -

An intriguing sign

© Liz Price