After breakfast on Monday, we started driving north and stopped at Lakeview Orchard for some apples, cider donuts, and cider. From there, it was on to Mt. Greylock, the tallest point in Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, autumn in New England apparently means dense fog, so we were not able to see the promised foliage vistas of the surrounding area.

Disappointed, we went on to get lunch in Bennington at the Blue Benn Diner, said to be one of the best diners in the state. As luck would have it, they were closed for Columbus Day. By this time, all the setbacks had me feeling that I had planned an awful trip for my family, and didn’t really care where we ate. We had passed an interestingly named shop on the square called Your Belly’s Deli and so waited several minutes for our sandwiches due to the lunch crowd and limited staff. We took the sandwiches to a park and ate with a view to several mallard ducks roaming the area for scraps.

After Bennington, we had a long drive up to Colchester and our hotel near Lake Champlain. But first we stopped for a picture of a covered bridge and a somewhat steep hike to see some hidden falls and another opportunity to stretch our legs in Middlebury, where we were treated to a nice view of the falls there.

It was dark by the time we got to Al’s French Frys in Burlington for supper. Jeff really wanted to eat inside for the 1950s decor, but there was such a crowd at the counter, the rest of us didn’t feel safe eating inside. Fortunately, they had set up outdoor seating using small greenhouses, so Jeff brought our burgers and fries to us and we ate in an enclosed space all to ourselves.

Jeff and I like kitschy hotels, and the Starlight Inn was on our list of places to sleep for this very reason. The gimmick at this small motel is movies. Adjacent to the motel is a four screen drive-in theater, and if it hadn’t been a little cool and the movies hadn’t already started, we could have watched them for free. Mama and my sisters shared the Marilyn Monroe, while Jeff and I had the Julia Roberts room. I can’t say I was thrilled with the big Pretty Woman era poster of her in the hooker outfit that was right beside our bed, but I did like the smaller Steel Magnolias print. We were set for a good night’s sleep until I woke up with my right leg throbbing from my foot to my knee. I have pretty bad heel spurs in both feet that can cripple me if I walk too much, and the right one has always been worse, but I have never had that much pain with it. I honestly thought I had broken my heel because this was the first time it had failed to bear any weight at all when I tried to stand. Jeff got me a couple of Tylenol and I tried elevating it on a pillow until I finally cried myself to sleep with it. Sleep never lasted more than an hour, and each time I woke up, I would force myself to put weight on the foot and use the bed and wall to hobble to and from the bathroom to try to loosen up the tendon. In the morning, Jeff and Laura found a Walgreens and bought some lidocaine patches, an Ace bandage, and an ankle brace to try to help it.

After Laura wrapped my foot, we got some breakfast at McDonalds, some more groceries for the road, and set out for a look at Lake Champlain, where everyone except Mama and me got out to explore the nearly empty beach. In the summertime, this place must be brimming with people, but with the chill in the air, the city had already packed up the picnic tables in preparation for the long, hard winter.

After that, we headed for the scenic drive through Smuggler’s Notch. Here we saw the reds, golds, and oranges despite the hordes of people parking in every available nook and cranny to do the same thing. I knew I would not be able to get out of the car on this day, but Jeff and Makala managed to walk around a little.  From there, we drove to Moss Glen Falls that ended up having a tiny parking area in relation to how many people were there. It’s on a residential road, and apparently tourists are a problem, because while we were waiting for Makala and Jeff to make the long, steep climb to see the falls, we heard a lady further up the street chastise a car that had used her driveway to turn around, one of over a hundred she had endured already that day.  After Makala and Jeff returned sweating, huffing, and puffing, we decided to find a picnic table in Stowe to eat our lunch. When you think of Stowe, think of Gatlinburg level crowds in a smaller space. Finally, after dodging pedestrians, Jeff got the big SUV to a parking place and everyone helped me limp to the table. After lunch, Jeff and Makala looked around the town while the rest of us stayed at the table. 

The next stop was one I had been looking forward to because ice cream is one of my favorite things in the world. We knew the Ben and Jerry’s factory tour was closed due to COVID, but had heard we could still see the Flavor Graveyard and get some ice cream from the scoop shop. I had never had Ben and Jerry’s and wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. Apparently, it’s a big fuss, because the hordes of people were here, too. Jeff and Makala got pictures of the Flavor Graveyard, but when they went for ice cream, they found that the line was an hour long.

Any ice cream that is worth waiting an hour in line for better come in a 24k gold bowl that you get to keep. So we determined we would get ice cream another day from another place, and moved on to see the Vermont State House before the sun set. Montpelier is a tiny capital city; what we saw was maybe the size of Gallatin, TN.  Jeff was on a quest to see yet another capitol building, and since all he really wanted was a good picture of it, we parked in an empty legislator’s parking place while he ran across the lawn and up to the building to get the shot and get back as quickly as possible. Some random guy running towards the capitol didn’t look suspicious at all!

From there, we drove on to the hole-in-the-wall hamlet of Ludlow, where we ate some excellent pizza from Ludlow Village Pizza and stayed at the rustic looking Timber Inn, tired and ready for sleep.