road trip -- burlington, vermont to niagara falls, new york -- day 1

there are many ways to approach a road trip, anywhere between super organized to fly by the seat of your pants. i am a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of gal, but csv is not. so we did a nice compromise -- we planned out the nightly stops, got some maps, and looked up some places to eat, but we didn't get hotel reservations and everything was planned so loosely that we could change anything at a moment's notice. 

 

 

our plan was to leave burlington, vermont on a monday and arrive in flagstaff, arizona the following friday. that's over 2500 miles in 5 days. which isn't so bad; only 500 miles a day, but we had stops planned along the way which was going to make our days longer. but it seemed necessary to hit some of these places (niagara falls, the arch in st. louis, route 66, etc.) to make it a proper cross-country road trip.

 

  


our itinerary, including things to see & eat, and states that we would pass through:

monday: burlington, vermont to niagara falls, new york
things to eat:buffalo wings in buffalo, new york
states: vermont and new york

tuesday: niagara falls, new york to louisville, kentucky
things to see: niagara falls, walking to canada, desilu museum (in jamestown, new york)
things to eat: cincinnati chili and kentucky fried chicken
states: new york, pennsylvania, ohio, and kentucky

wednesday: louisville, kentucky to tulsa, oklahoma
things to see: louisville slugger museum, churchill downs, the arch in st. louis, route 66 in kansas
things to eat: ted drewes concrete (st. louis, missouri)
states: kentucky, indiana, illinois, missouri, kansas, and oklahoma

thursday: tulsa, oklahoma to santa fe, new mexico
things to see: route 66 museum
things to eat: calf fries, 72 oz. steak at the big texan (amarillo, texas)
states: oklahoma, texas, and new mexico

friday: santa fe, new mexico to flagstaff, arizona
things to see: santa fe, the painted desert, the petrified forest
states: new mexico and arizona

saturday, sunday, & monday: flagstaff, arizona to tucson, arizona
things to see: the grand canyon, csv's new apartment (phoenix, arizona)

these pictures are from day one: burlington, vermont to niagara falls, new york. all were taken from the passenger side of a moving car. not too shabby, huh?

the von trapp family lodge: a little of austria. a lot of vermont.

another place csv never had a chance to visit during her time at uvm was the von trapp family lodge.

you remember the von trapps, right?

from the sound of music.
(cue "the hills are alive with the sound of muuuuuusic!")

apparently after they dodged the nazis in austria (something that only happened in the hollywood version of their lives), they came to vermont. because it looked so much like austria. cool, huh?

 

check out those green mountains!

  

even after the von trapps moved to america, they continued to travel the globe as the von trapp family singers. and in their down time they ran a music camp, and eventually started a hotel, which is still open today.

some fun facts i learned about the von trapps:
1 -- there were 10 children; 7 from the baron's first marriage, and 3 from his marriage to maria. (intense.)
2 -- they continued to wear lederhosen well after it was appropriate (like at home, in the 1960s and 1970s).
3 -- the sound of music was totally a glamorized version of the von trapps' real lives. (boring.)

  

another important thing i learned on this trip is to not get too close to the wires surrounding a pig pen -- they're electric. 

(i may have been actively getting electrocuted while taking the picture above. oops.)

 

   

you have no idea how badly i wanted to take one of these suckers home. especially the fatty who's eating while laying in the trough; a pig after my own heart.

ben & jerry's ice cream factory

a month or so ago i went to vermont to watch my good friend graduate from med school. it was a nice weekend -- the weather was awesome, i got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and we had the opportunity to see some pretty cool places.

csv spent four years in burlington, vermont, but in all that time she never went to the ben & jerry's ice cream factory. crazy, huh? so in her last 48 hours, we went. and not only did i get to try a fun new flavor, cinnamon yum, but i also learned some valuable ice cream making tips. 

 

tip #1: make your ice cream flavor but let it sit overnight before putting it in the ice cream maker and freezing it. it will help the flavors meld and become even more awesome.

tip #2: freeze your ice cream fast. by this i don't mean put it in the freezer very soon after making it (although you should be doing that), i mean get a freezer that gets/is very cold. so that when the ice cream is put into the freezer it becomes solid and super frozen super fast. this will prevent ice crystals from forming and will help with both the flavor and consistency of the ice cream.

now all i have to do is convince rcg to let me buy a mega awesome freezer!

unfortunately we went on a weekend, and even though they still hold tours you don't actually get to see them making the ice cream. (super bummer.) but it's still worth the trip, especially for the huge ben & jerry's fans out there, because each tour ends with a homemade flavor that isn't on the normal menu. and they have an extensive shop that sells most, if not all, of the flavors that b&j offer. delicious. 

what's your favorite ben & jerry's flavor?

(mine is mint chocolate cookie!)

2013 -- week 20 -- we have a doctor in the family!

when i think of vermont i think of deathly cold weather. like stay under the covers, make lava cakes, and watch movies all day cold. and it is. but only during the winter. the rest of the year, vermont is crazy beautiful -- it's so green, has awesome farmer's markets, and the blueberries are spectacular. and for the past four years one of my good friends has been living there attending university of vermont's medical school. this past weekend she graduated, so a bunch of us came to celebrate her hard work. and yet again, vermont was green and beautiful.

we spent the weekend doing all of the last minute things she hadn't gotten a chance to do in her four years of living in burlington, like visit the ben & jerry's ice cream factory and check out the von trapp family lodge. it was a great weekend with friends, good food, lots of laughs, and a new doctor!

sorry for my absence, but i made you a gif(t)!

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

sorry for my absence this past week -- i've been in vermont for my friend's graduation, and then subsequently on a roadtrip from vermont to arizona.

but that means i have tons of blog posts in the works. and they'll be extra pretty because i just bought a canon rebel sl1!

meanwhile, i hope you enjoy this fun little gif i made of her graduation. 

i went to vermont and ended up in a lesbian domestic partnership

since my life has hit the chaos train recently
i decided to take a small break and visit cv in vermont. 

we didn't really have any plans, 

but she had 2 days off 

(crazy)

so whateverz,

let's play. 

well, 

we kind of went crazy domestic.

like 1950s domestic. 

in the heart of hippy granola vermont.

and it was fabulous.

we went blueberry picking. 

and then we went raspberry picking. 

and then we came home and made a blueberry pie. 

(um, hello gorgeous. get in my belly.)

and then we decided to make raspberry jam. 

um, 

i'm pretty sure we are adorable. 

times a million billion.