A couple of weeks ago, I visited my 40th and 41st states: Vermont and New Hampshire. After attending a wedding in the Adirondacks, we boarded a ferry, crossing into Vermont in the midst of Lake Champlain. Spent a couple of glorious days in the Mad River Valley, then took the roundabout way back to New York via New Hampshire so that I could dip my toes into one more state before it was all in-laws all the time.
Lessons learned: (1) Vermont has exceptional beer. (2) I really shouldn’t take red eye flights anymore—especially when there’s a wedding on the other end. Being awake, and worse, amusing, for 42 hours straight is kind of miserable.
To focus on the positive, a partial beer list from the trip:
Hill Farmstead Harlan IPA
Hill Farmstead Excursions #4
Hill Farmstead Society & Solitude #5
Lawson’s Finest Super Session #2
Lawson’s Finest Equinox IPA
Lawson’s Finest Equinox Sip of Sunshine IPA
The Alchemist Heady Topper
Prohibition Pig in Waterbury was a good place to find stuff on draft, as was Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier. As far as I know, Hill Farmstead does not can their beer for distribution, but Lawson’s Finest Liquids and The Alchemist have delivery schedules to stores in the region, like Craft Beer Cellar, if you’re driving through and want to grab a pack (in which case, check out the schedule online and go on delivery day else they’ll be sold out).
We interspersed our beer consumption with hiking. The trail up Burnt Rock Mountain was a steep, root-riddled climb with, so they say, some of the best views along Vermont’s Long Trail. I wouldn’t know but it was pretty.
The peaks in the background with obvious ski runs are Mad River Glen and Sugarbush.
Husband and one of his best friends from high school, who lives in the valley.
The northeast was in the middle of the heat wave, so we stopped by Warren Falls after the hike to jump off big rocks (after being shamed into it by a ten year old). Very refreshing!
I have a firm boots-on-ground, airports-don’t-count policy for states to be “visited”. So, in the spirit of being official about it, we also checked out Madame Sherri Forest in Chesterfield, New Hampshire.
The grand stone staircase is one of the remnants of Madame Sherri’s chateau. Born in France in 1878, Madame Antoinette Sherri was a costume designer for the Zeigfeld Follies and other Broadway shows in the 1920s, and she threw infamous parties at her country estate in the woods near Chesterfield. The house burnt down in 1962.
Overall, the trip to New England was pretty and green. Also, buggy and humid.
