Vermont - Heaven on Earth

Visiting Vermont was on my bucket list. 

I mean, how can you be so in love with Fall and not

want to go to the Fall mother land?

Seriously, it's the epitome (-- that one was for you, Pou... ; )

yes, I said the epitome, of Fall there. 

So, early in the morning, we rented a car and loaded up

two sleepy, pajamaed girls in the back seat...

after asking a few of the doormen about the best places to 

go see the Fall colors in Vermont, we decided on one that 

sounded perfect and entered an address

into our navigation system and our adventure began...

We are truly leaf peepers. 

That's a real term... google it. 

Setting out on the highway, we didn't have to drive even 30 minutes

before the color on the trees pulled the first of maybe a thousand

exclamations of appreciation for how beautiful it all was. 

We saw our very first covered bridge. Very Bridges of Madison County. 

Our destination: Woodstock, VT

A quiet, sleepy autumn town. We were probably the youngest people there

by about 40 years. The plus side of that is that everyone is really excited

to see our little girls so their loud-talking in the restaurant isn't so bad...

It is quite beautiful there. Actually somewhere I would like to raise my kids.

Outside of our breakfast joint... Mountain Creamery

I love any town where the library looks like this!!

After lunch, we walked around the town. Everyone was so friendly and nice. 

This was in front of the town spa.

The girls would take a photo and then they thought

it was fun to race to me afterwards. It was sweet 

and it made for some fun pictures...

Another race...

Ella's face slays me in this one...

It was a rainy day and I had just straightened my hair. 

Jac thought I'd be embarrassed when she took this photo.

I wasn't. Hey man, when you have curly hair, you will

just about anything to preserve a good blow-out...

There was this old church that was closed. 

We saw the big tree and were instantly drawn to it. 

I wanted to find a photographer to take photos of 

me with the girls while I was in Boston or New York

so that I'd have some good shots to treasure forever of this

amazing trip we got to go on... instead, we did a pretty good 

job of taking our own photos and I'm really happy with them.

After our visit in town, we drove a bit farther up north where

the color was at its peak and words escaped us...

it was majestic.

It almost doesn't even look real.

Jaclyne's only requests were that she wanted a photo of:

A covered bridge (Check)

A cow (Check) 

and a red barn...

Two outta three ain't that bad...

We started our trip back before the sun set. 

We got some AMAZING vermont cheese and crackers

for our drive home. J doubted that my choice in blueberry cheddar

would be good...but when it comes to cheese, don't doubt me.

It was so addictive! We have yet to find another cheese that rivals

the perfect combo of salty/sweet like this one did...

We got lost on our way home.

Or to be more accurate, Jaclyne took the wrong freeway

and lead us 2 hours out of our way. We found our way back to Boston and tried to 

find our chosen dinner spot but Boston is quite tricky to navigate

when you're hungry and tired and grumpy.

There are way too many bridges and the streets are not that well marked.

We eventually found Pizzeria Regina and had really tasty Boston pizza. 

(which is TOTALLY better than Chicago pizza

but not quite as good as New York pizza, FYI)

We ended the night with a walk to Mike's Pastry and packing 

our bags for our early morning train to NY...

I was sad to leave Boston but Kate was so excited

to get to go see New York. She's been watching the Eloise at the Plaza

movie for a couple of years now and she knows how much her Mama

adores NY so she loves it too.

Next up: the Gosselin girls take NY!!!