Our latest adventure was a trip to the East Coast. Brittni & Jim live in Billerica, MA, and Nicole & Brian live in S. Royalton, VT. W were excited with the prospect of getting to see them both in one trip. So bright and early on Saturday morning (I have given up on ever getting to sleep in on a Saturday)we were headed to the airport. We had to fly different airlines as we were using frequent flyer points. (Alan's traveling for work comes in handy). So Kaitlyn and I (Judy) flew Delta into Boston, and Alan & Eliza flew Southwest into Manchester, NH. We beat the other two in by a few hours so we headed to a fabric/yarn shop that was going out of business. Brittni is quite the knitter, and has also pieced her first quilt top/tree skirt. It is gorgeous!!
Sunday morning found us headed up to VT to visit with Nicole & Brian. Brian is in the Master's program at the Vermont Law School. Next year he hopes to continue on to the Law school part of his education! As much as I hate to say it- for you Brian I will- Boy Power!! Nicole works at the School, but exactly what she does I am not sure. But she can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan... Girl Power!!
We spent some good times in the outdoors. The weather was great, the colors were magnificent, and a good time was had by all!!
Sunday afternoon found us at the birthpalce of Joseph Smith in Sharon, VT. Nicole and Brian live less than 10 minutes from here.
Nicole and Eliza with a colorful background.
Eliza and Kaitlyn in front of the J.S. monument.
Nicole & Brian. Can you believe it took six shots to get this one?
McKinna, this one is for you!! It was right down from the J.S. memorial. I made your Dad stop the car so I could get a few pics for you!! I know, I'm just nice like that!
We also visited the booming metropolis of S. Royalton and visit the Law School. I am sure the Law School is at least 4 city blocks big!! And the phrase "don't blink or you'll miss it" might have actually been coined for the town of S. Royalton.
Kaitlyn & Eliza -future college students
A specialty of the Vermont Law School is environmental law. While we visited the school Nicole took us to see the special toilets they have in one building. She said they even have had outsiders come and take tours of the 'facilities'. I'm with you- pretty crazy. I have pics of the toilet, but this is a family friendly blog so will just show you the sign above the toilet-
The next set of pics are Kaitlyn playing in dry leaves. Some years, at our house, we can't even play in the leaves as they are soggy.
Then there is Alan doing what one should do on vacation.
Alan and Judy decided to try out the 'golden years' for a minute.
Monday our adventure took us to Quechee Gorge. We hiked down to the bottom and then back up. It was a nice walk and the scenery was beautiful.
Next we headed to Woodstock. On our way we stopped at a really cute little bakery for a little breakfast. In Woodstock we walked around, had some delicious sandwiches, and then ended it with pumpkin pie ice cream. I, for one, could really learn to love visiting all the small towns. They all have such great architechture, fun little stores and fun photo ops (ya, I couldn't resist that one).
After our time in Woodstock , we hopped back in the cars and zoomed off to Rutland. Here we used our navigational skills to find our way through an enormous corn maze. It took us over two hours to get through both halves, get our cards punched (of course we are expecting a prize in the mail soon for all our efforts), and make it out just in time for the last hay ride before the place closed. It was a great farm. If we had had time we could have gone into a smaller child's maze or into a storytelling one.
We stopped and bought pumpkins on the way home. We also bought stuff to make a picnic for the next days trip. I had packed our carving tools and took them east with us, just for the occasion.
Brian- hoping he doesn't hurt himself with one of my carving tools and sue me!!
Eliza- I am excited to see what she chooses to make hers look like!!
Nicole serious about her pumkin carving
Kaitlyn demonstrating what her pumkin might look like when she's done.
STOWE
On Tuesday we were off and away again. This time with picnic in tow we headed North to Stowe. This is one of Nicole's favorite places. After having visited I can see why. We ate our picnic at the ski resort. The leaves here were past their peak. You can see in the picture that a lot of the leaves had already fallen from the trees.
As we drove up to Smuggler's Notch we went through this tunnel of trees. On our way up the wind blew and the leaves were falling off the trees and dancing in the wind. They provided us quite the show. It was quite a fun thing to experience.
I was hoping it would happen again on the way down, but it didn't. 
We climbed up the rocks. They seem to have fallen in quite a unique way so as to make many cave-like areas where you can climb through and then come out a different place. I could see that it would be fun to spend a day there having a marvelous hike/climb.
Nicole, Strong-woman Eliza, Brian, KD
Nicole 
KD
Alan
Eliza- sometimes there is an easier way to get down!
Eliza- these boulders aren't heavy at all!!WATERBURY
On the way back down to Nicole & Brian's we stopped in Waterbury. Our first stop was at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. There we had the best tasting cider I have ever had. It tasted more like drinking an apple than you can imagine. Of course we had to buy some cider and some cider donuts. A tasty snack!!
COLD HOLLOW CIDER MILL
Cider Press
girly apples
Parental unit apples
They also had bees inside. Ya, I wasn't getting that close.
The bees outside must have been cold cuz they weren't moving very fast. They also didn't seem scared or annoyed by people. After all I put my lens practically right on top of a couple of them.After eating the healthy stuff we stopped at a chocolate shop and had a few samples. Then we sampled maple flavored goodies at another little tourist stop. Our final stop was an the Ben & Jerry's Factory.
We took the tour, had ice cream and checked everything out- including the flavor graveyard 
of all the flavors that are no longer available. I have pics of every headstone, but I will not bore you with them.
This is one udderly sad looking cow!
Choc chip cookie dough ice cream. I see that this dough has a couple of nuts in it.
After a full day we headed back to Nicole & Brian's and played games, and then fell into bed. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our East Coast adventure!! I know, I know, you just can't wait!!
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