We woke up about 6:30 am to a nice day. Had breakfast, cleaned up and took it easy, then headed out from camp about 8:30 am. We took route 107 through Woodstock, VT to Quechee Gorge where we stopped at the visitor centre to gather some information on sights to see. We then took the trail from the visitor centre down to the gorge. It is a fairly steep hill down, but easily manageable as the distance is about 0.5 mi down. Once down we wandered out on the rocks to get a better view of the gorge and let Tessa play in the water.
At the bottom we headed up the trail past the entrance to the visitor centre to the dam to see the waterfall there and then on to the pond.
After the hike it was time to explore the area. We drove through Quechee Village and stopped at the Simon Pearce Glass Blowing studio to see the artists at work. They had some beautiful glass blown items as well as pottery at the studio for sale. Unfortunately we did not have room in the vehicle on this trip to be able to pick up a piece. There is a nice little waterfall off the rear of the studio as well.
After our short stop we continued on our way to Sugarbush Farm (http://www.sugarbushfarm.com/)which I had seen mentioned in a number of different posts on the internet as a place to see. At the information centre they also recommended this so we figured me better check it out. The drive is very nice and scenic out to the farm. You will pass by some high end resorts and gorgeous old mansions. The staff there are very nice and friendly and there is an old lab that wanders the property named Max. They were very open to letting us tie our dog up in the shade near the cars and Tessa and Max laid near each other just checking each other out while we went to try some cheese and maple syrup. After trying a number of cheeses we decided on the 8 yr old cheddar and the sage cheddar. our daughter liked all of the cheeses she was offered to try. We enjoyed the maple syrup tasting as well and picked up a couple different grades to take home with us. After tasting and shopping we went out to the petting zoo area which is near the entrance. They had a calf tied up and various small animals in their pens which you could see. Our daughter wanted to pet all of the animals.
We decided to continue on the backroads back into Woodstock where we wandered the main street, checking out some of the shops and we stopped for lunch at one of the local cafe’s.
Once we were shopped out we headed back to camp so our daughter could take a nap before we decided to hit up the beach. It is a small sandy beach with a nice park area around it. The water was the perfect temperature with a nice sandy bottom. There were many families there with their kids. Our daughter was having so much fun swimming in her lifejacket and watching some of the older kids play in the water.
That evening we cooked dinner at the camp and once our daughter went to bed we played some more sequence.
It rained overnight, but thanks to the lean-to our tent was nice and dry.
To see what else we got up to on this trip check out the links below:
