A Perfect Day

So we are on a mini vacation up in Vermont. Marian found a fabulous resort hotel to stay in and it was on sale because it is the post summer/pre snow season here.

We got in late last night. Boston traffic alone took an hour.

Today, we got up refreshed, I had one of the best cinnamon rolls of my life in the lobby. We drove down into Waterbury, we had a cider doughnut, some hot cider and bought some cold cider at the cider press. We then stopped at Lake Champlaign chocolates, the Vermont Teddy Bear Store, and Cabot Cheese. We then went to a wine tasting, stopped at a beautiful hand crafted furniture store and had a wonderful conversation with the owner. We went into an art gallery of Stephen Huneck's work, look it up he is very pro-dog. The gallery we went in had a puppy black lab named Daisy and a mellow adult dog named Buddha that we played with while missing Wonderpup. We bought a T-shirt and a framed piece for the kitchen.

We stopped for a brief lunch in a great place before heading down to the Ben and Jerry's factory. Good ice cream, the sample today was Strawberry Cheesecake and we grabbed a small cup of Cake Batter, a new flavor, before leaving.

We returned to the hotel, went down to the spa for some pool time. The hotel has an outdoor pool and hot tub, an indoor pool and waterfall hot tub, sauna, and steam room. After some relax time in all, we were searching for dinner.

Marian stumbled onto the perfect restaurant for our marriage. A southern food place that only uses local, fresh ingredients. Cider House Barbecue was incredible. Marian had a cup of mushroom-potato chowder and some cornbread to start followed by BBQ ribs with cheese grits and mac and cheese. Wayne had fried dill pickles followed by Fried Chicken (I have been craving this for weeks) along with Anduoille sausage stuffing and hush puppies. We finished up with some apple pear and cranberry crisp with ice cream. They also had a hot hard cider with rum that we both enjoyed.

During the whole meal, they had a couple who were singing blues and country from my childhood. We sat next to a warm fire, it was wonderful.

While we were waiting to thank the owner, I caught up on a few scores and found out Georgia Tech beat FSU and Georgia lost to Florida. All in all a pretty perfect day.