Before we left home yo head north, we had planned to meet Rhys's best-friend-of-all-time (and his family 😁) in Vermont where they were going to be taking their own little summer vacation. You may remember from one of my previous posts that Rhys' BFF's family had moved to Boston a few years ago. We have been to Boston proper to visit them. Last year we met at another halfway point, at a state park in New Hampshire (you can (re-) read about that adventure here). Naturally, this year we thought we'd expand our radius a little into Vermont 😆. We both mapped out where an approximate halfway point for both families would be and came up with Quechee State Park in Vermont.
Interestingly, the day before we were to head to Vermont to meet them, I receive a text message from my step-sister who coincidentally also happened to be in New Hampshire! She was staying near Dartmouth (which is right near the Vermont border) with a friend and was wondering if we were anywhere nearby. I told her that we were actually heading in her direction the following day. After lots of coordinating with her and our friends, we settled on meeting for breakfast at King Arthur Bakery, also in Vermont. As an avid baker, I was over the moon to check out the bakery and to get to visit with my step-sister who I hadn't seen for quite a while. When we arrived, I ordered up and down their cafe's menu: orange crumb cake, chocolate croissants, a lemon muffin, a ham and cheese croissant, honey buns, a baguette, a brownie for me. We never get to enjoy bakeries, primarily because of all of the nuts (our boys have food-allergies), but they had everything labeled and had quite a bit available that was safe for them. So, as a splurge, I went for it with the idea that we'd have stuff for lunch, the baguette for dinner, perhaps some for the next day...but nope, no. The boys were devouring their treats in record time. At a certain point, I became increasingly alarmed and had to hide the brownie and baguette by locking them in the car. Sheesh! But the visit with my step-sister was such a wonderful surprise and we got to spend the morning catching up while sipping coffee and eating pastries- score 🍩!
Not only did it live up to the hype, it arguably surpassed it.
Gettin' after those chocolate croissants!
My step-sister and I 💖
After visiting for close to 2 hours, we drove about 15 minutes further into Vermont and met Rhys' best friend and family. We started out at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS). What a perfect place to take our animal and natural world loving boys! VINS specializes in research, education, and outreach in the natural sciences. It is full of walking trails, exhibits, gardens, and had many "Animal Ambassadors." Animal Ambassadors are generally animals who have been brought to the center to be rehabilitated (injured in the wild), but after rehabilitation have been deemed unfit to be returned to the wild. Therefore these animals are used in programming to teach kids (and adults!) about that particular animal/species. While we were there we visited all the exhibits, saw a hawk presentation, and walked through wildflower gardens. All of the photographs that I took within VINS were in the amazing Forest Canopy walk that had levels reaching a staggering 100 feet into the air providing unparalleled views.
Rhys and his bestie reunited!
Taking in the view from up high.
This "Spider's Web" was about 60 ft. off of the ground.
(Reluctant?) photo cooperation 😍
Selfie with my big boy!
After spending a few hours at VINS, we walked over to Quechee Gorge
where the boys played in the water hunting frogs and looking for fish.
This is a view from the bridge that you see in the photo below.
Trying to eke out those last hours of sunlight 🌄
Want to revisit last year's shenanigans involving a terribly grouchy old man at Bear Brook State Park? Find it here.
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