One-year anniversary trip to Vermont

So that year went by pretty fast, huh? It has been an awesome year, full or so many adventures and a ton of love. Luke and I decided to celebrate our 365 days of wedded bliss by making the short drive (3 hours) to his old stomping grounds in Vermont. Last week we packed the car and headed north to see the leaves change colors. I have seen an autumn before, but never to this magnitude. The mountains and hills were covered in trees, all with distinct colors of red, yellow, orange, brown and green. It is really something you have to see in person to truly appreciate.

To spare multiple posts, I will give you the highlights and link you to our Shutterfly account so you can see all of the pictures.

Day 1: We left early in the morning to beat the Friday rush hour traffic. In a little less than an hour we were already in New Hampshire. We stopped off in Hanover to see Dartmouth College, or what we could make out with all of the rain. A major storm hit the New England area that day dumping 6-8 inches of rain. After driving by the college, we made our way up to Bradford, Newbury and East Corinth. I got to see Luke's old schools, his adorable old house on top of a hill, went shopping and ate at the Perfect Pear Cafe. The drive was interesting as we drove by the river near Bradford and East Corinth. The river was almost at eye level in some areas, whole trees were floating down the river and we even drove across some water. We had to stop about 500 yards before Luke's old house because a whole chunk of road had been washed away. Despite my concern, Luke was adamant on seeing his old place (I would be too) and hit the gas as we drove over what was left of the road and a muddy ditch.

The big hole in the road about 500 yards from Luke's old house

The foliage, just past Luke's old house.

After visiting Luke's old town, we headed to Montpelier. A mall popped up on my GPS, so we headed there to kill an hour or so before check-in time at our bed and breakfast. This mall was pitiful. It had a fabric store, Bath and Body Works, Maurices and even a Wal-Mart. I love Vermont, but if we ever move there we will be coming back to Boston to go shopping :)

When the clock struck 3 p.m. we made our way to Waitsfield, Vermont to check in at the Wilder Inn Bed and Breakfast. It is a cute farmhouse built in the 1800s and nestled between the bottom of a hillside and the Mad River. The innkeepers, Linda and Luke, were great and so was the breakfast! We loved meeting the other guests and even plan on staying in touch with a couple of them. Luke is also a professional potter and has his own studio called The Naked Potter. We picked up a couple beautiful mugs during our stay.

The Wilder Inn

For dinner, we headed over by the Sugarbush Ski Resort to Terra Rossa. We had a 10% off coupon toward the restaurant and Linda and Luke recommended it to us. Luke and I had a couple of local brews and personal stone made in an authentic pizza oven in the middle of the restaurant.

Day 2: We woke up to homemade wheat pancakes with our choice of pumpkin, blueberry or chocolate chip. Luke went with the pumpkin and I had to go with blueberry. I could have eaten the ginormous portion, but when I saw that I was beating Luke, I decided that I might need to slow it down a little :)

After breakfast, we headed to Ben and Jerry's to see the factory and go on their short tour. The factory is so tiny that the tour only took about 10 minutes, five of which were spent watching a movie and 2 were spent getting a free sample of ice cream.

We then headed west to Boyer Orchard in Monkton, Vermont. We picked apples from rows and rows of apples (11 different varieties), got some homemade jam and baby pumpkins. Since coming home, we've had two of the apples and can say they are the best apples we've ever had. We plan on going up to Vermont next year, even if it is just to get some of these apples. In the afternoon, we headed back over to Montpelier to check out the cute shops and state capitol. The town reminded us of Flagstaff with the original buildings and old-time feel.

Doing some apple picking at Boyer Orchard with my new hat from a cute store in Bradford.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary, we ate at the Millbrook Inn and Restaurant for dinner. The actual dining area of the restaurant is an old living and dining room. The food was amazing and full of local ingredients. For dessert we had blueberry and raspberry pie—so good that the dessert chef wouldn't divulge her recipe.

A covered bridge just outside of Waitsfield

Day 3: The next morning, we had eggs, warm cereal, homemade toast and potatoes for breakfast. We hit the road and I didn't need lunch. Those breakfasts were so filling. :) We decided to stop off in New Hampshire to pick up some tax-free wine. The guy at Hanafords gave our IDs a long look. Probably not every day you get two people in New Hampshire that are from Arizona.

To see more pictures of our trip, go to our Shutterfly page.