We started out over roads that we had traveled before. Then, we turned onto one of the black line roads. Up hill is an understatement. It felt like one of those roller coaster rides where you are practically on your back. Not really, but some embellishment here makes for a better story. Soon, we left the paved road. There is photo evidence of this non-embellishment segment of the story.
Driving on the unpaved road was a real hoot (we are in the toad, not the rv.) It reminded me of bygone days in West Virginia - except these road were relatively smooth and not like what they called the hard road back home, that is, a dry creek bed. It seemed like we were going up forever, but the fun part of going down was soon to come.
We took a wrong turn, of course, but as frequently happens, it was an interesting one. We stopped at a small, roadside community that basically had one store. They sold unique things as we had seen in many other places in Vermont. The one I was most interested in - not to purchase, but to marvel at how it was done - was a ceramic birdhouse. My interest attracted the proprietor of the store who happened to be the creator of the artistic birdhouse in question. She explained a lot about it and probably more than I wanted to know.
Off we went in the correct direction for the Warren General Store. Got there and found a place to park right in front of the store. Park is a general term here with the front of the car nearly touching the porch of the store and the bumper nearly on the road. There was a crowd there and it did not look like there were many places to park. It was an authentic general store that was old, really old. The floor creaked, was worn and nowhere was there a level square foot in the whole store. Once again, there were many unusual things for sale. Women on the second floor were paying big bucks for clothing that was nice and probably homemade for the most part. Gin may correct this when she reads this, but that was my impression.
I think I learned something else here. My enthusiasm for general stores was waning...
On our way to Woodstock, there was a scenic place to view. An enterprising, older gentlemen who certainly had a business that Obama's government made possible, was selling maple products. You could taste the various types and grades of maple syrup and there were maple candies to sample too. We bought some syrup and asked for a recommendation for lunch. He said there was three places up the road apiece that he could recommend. Two were normal and looking right squarely at Gin, said that the third one had "natural/healthy foods. He spit on the ground after saying that. Not really, but I was getting kind of bored with this and wanted to express my opinion of health foods. At any rate, he said that at one of the places they should be told that Uncle Bill of Mom and Pops Maple Products had sent us.
We ate at one of the places and had a fairly good lunch. The interesting part of the lunch was the original soda fountain in the restaurant. There was a mix of tourists and locals, but mostly, it was tourists. Judge for yourself.
Woodstock had been recommended by the campground office person. We got there and traffic was bumper to bumper. Found a parking place and walked back into town via the town square. There was the ubiquitous fund raising campaign in a small area for a local soccer team. We had been on a pie kick and decided to split a piece of apple crumb pie. It was so good, we got another piece. Yum!
The stores in Woodstock were actually more commercial and much more numerous than in Stowe. However, they had many items that were unusual. As an aside, when does the unusual become usual? Gin bought a bottle of chocolate red wine - go figure, and a toy for a future gift for Tommy. It was a future gift because it was so - here we go again - unusual and we determined through a scientific process, that it was something so good and unique that it would never be found again anywhere. Or, maybe it was the sugar from the maple samples or apple pie that affected us...
Next was the Quechee Gorge. It was a gorge. It was a gorge. Although I was impressed, it was a gorge.
We were beginning to come to an understanding that we had reached the end of internet as a commercial once portrayed. Everything was beginning to look the same, even the unusual stuff. In the touristy shopping area associated with the gorge, there was a sampling area of different Cabot cheeses. Some people were treating it more like dinner. We did end up buying some cheddar seasoning to put on popcorn. Got it home and it was not the same. Concluded that they must have put a lot more on the sampling popcorn then we could manage at home.
It was a long day and we headed back to the campground.
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