Vermont

We ventured to Vermont a few weekends ago, a long weekend with Canada Day. We stayed at a resort in the mountains planning on hiking and lounging around a pool the whole time. We noticed how green everything was and enjoyed driving through the state. Unfortunately, Vermont has been encountering the same weather patterns as us. We arrived at the Stowe Mountain Lodge to a downpour and after driving up the wrong side of the mountain, we made our way to the bar. Some nerve-calming drinks and some dinner were in order. I ordered a salmon burger without the bun and it also came without the specified sauce because it contained something with gluten.

 

This is what we saw outside our window when we woke up

We woke up the next morning to more pouring rain and the clouds were so low they blocked out most of the mountains. Hiking was ruled out and so was hanging out by the pool. Over breakfast we decided to spend the rainy day at Essex Outlet Mall in nearby Essex Junction. We found some good deals and had a nice lunch at Sweet Clover Market, a natural food store at the mall. I got a roasted vegetable & goat cheese sandwich on a gf bun. The bun was really nice, but I was expecting more vegetables. 

While waiting for our lunches to be made we browsed a bit and found a nicely stocked gluten-free section. I recognized many brands and products, but many more were new to me. Both The Honey and I were pleased and surprisingly, the prices were good. I stocked up on some items to try and got a few gf beers for the evening.

With the afternoon approaching we talked about what to do over our lunch The temperature was nice and warm and perfect for sitting at the store’s patio tables. The sky had cleared but dark clouds were on the horizon. For all we knew it was still raining at the resort. Burlington was just 15 mins down the road so we decided to check it out. We had a printout of some restaurants that had gf options so we’d check one out for dinner.

We found Church St, put money in the meter and began our wandering. Church St was full of restaurants and stores and life. Unlike Sparks St, Church St was full of people out enjoying the weather and out on patios. We thought “If only Sparks St was like this’. We walked down to the waterfront and along it for a bit. We came to The Ice House for a drink on their back patio. When it clouded over and the wind picked up it was a little chilly, but nothing a sweater couldn’t handle. 

We continued walking around and popped into My Little Cupcake where I picked up two little gf cupcakes; vanilla cake topped with chocolate and raspberry icing. They were good, but they were vanilla cake. As a celiac I can get chocolate or vanilla cake; give me something to sing about! 

We took a peek at the menu at Sweetwaters and it looked good, and Das Bierhaus had a few gf beers. We had our plans.

Dinner at Sweetwaters was great. Their gf menu is extensive; whatever is on bread is offered on a gf bun. I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and it was good and extremely messy. The cider was a little too yeasty for my liking so I got a Redbridge; better than nothing. The sun was shining again and it was warm out on the patio. After dinner we moved onto Das Bierhaus were they had 4 gf beers and 4 ciders – talk about exciting! I decided on a Ciela made by Ipswich; a smooth beer with strong flavour. It was really nice. 

For The Honey, they had almost a dozen on tap and a long page of domestic & European bottles, some even in a ‘sharing size’ of 750ml. We lamented that we couldn’t stay longer as we had to drive back to the resort and of course as we drove up the mountain it was raining, and not just a light drizzle. Apparently, we wouldn’t have gotten any hiking in anyway. Instead of heading to the bar, we decided to stay in and enjoy the beers and snacks we picked up.

  

Our day two was a bit of a disappointment. We had planned on going to Burlington our second day and although The Honey still wanted to go hiking (the rain finally let up), but after a few hours of it we’d be too exhausted for the 3 ½ hr drive home. I talked The Honey into visiting Ben & Jerry’s in Waterbury and he was surprised by the number of people there. For $4 you get a tour of their small factory and a sample of ice cream at the end. That day it was a new flavour and I wasn’t impressed as it had blueberries (not my favourite fruit). They had many flavours that we don’t get here so I checked out the labels for one I could try (the mint chocolate patty sounded good), but most had a gluten item in some form; even the chocolate mint patty. We went outside to a get a cup/cone of ice cream, but as we got closer to the list I realized that the only flavours I’d be able to have would be the same ones we could buy at home, and for the same price as a tub. The Honey was stunned and we left ice cream-less.

For the rest of the day we did some more shopping, picking up items we wanted and returning to some stores. Hannaford’s was surprisingly disappointing with their lack of gf items and Shaw’s had many varieties of my beloved Woodchuck cider (B&J’s was the same price as a scoop!). Our day ended pretty uneventfully with The Honey being all shopped out and we began our journey home.