Catching a Basketball Game

Timing worked out perfectly for us to see Johnny Witkowski (6'5) and the Tilton Rams beat Worcester Academy 76-63. It was a great game with amazing basketball players. I have never seen high school boys that tall. It felt like I was at a college game. We then ate with Ski, John, and John's younger brother, Packy (6'3). I felt pretty tiny being only 5'2. It was good to spend time with people we have alrighty met and know, after only seeing other strangers. 

Photographic evidence of how tall the guys are compared to me.

The "Maine" Event

Dad heard about a truck stop in Maine that had good pie, so we stopped in for breakfast. The truck stop is called Dysart's. Delicious blueberry and raspberry pie AND amazing pumpkin pancakes. Peppermint whoopie pies for the ride home were a bonus. 

Acadia National Park was beautiful, and freezing. The sidewalk by the car was covered in a sheet of ice that gave me a good scare getting out. It's the craziest thing, though, going from crunchy, white snow to soft, golden sand. 

you can see the snow and sand touching here. 

Vermont

Even though Vermont is small, it is filled with cool destinations!

Our first stop was Sugarbush Farm, a family run maple syrup and cheese factory. You walk up some creaky wooden steps into a small building with a bunch of women packaging cheese. A very kind girl asked us if we would like to sample cheese. We obviously said yes. We tried very strong cheddars and smoked cheese and horseradish cheese (all very good). Then we tried all the maple syrups. Our favorite was the strongest one and we bought a small jug of that! 

Next was a quick drive to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science where they nurse injured animals (mainly raptors) back to health. It was early and cold so we were the only visitors. The birds were very interactive. 

I adopted this adorable little screech owl. 

In Norwich we stopped by the home of King Author Flour. They have been milling wheat since 1790. You can see people baking tasty treats in a kitchen that are availible in the café/ bakery. Obviously we tried some. 

Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury was the next destination (today was not a day to do Lose It). We took a tour of the factory and saw that they are remodeling the factory to make even more ice cream. At the end of the tour was a free tasting. Believe it or not, the flavor of the day was mint chocolate chip, my favorite ice cream flavor. Fate or fate? 

delmonico's

Cannolis for an appitizer, a mountain of chicken fettuccine alfredo and peppermint cheesecake for dessert? Have I died and gone to heaven? Not exactly, but it sure felt like it eating at Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse in Utica, New York. Awesome food, great service, and in walking distance of a Best Western, it couldn't have been any more perfect. 

 

MANATEES!!!

Since I had never seen manatee (and its on my bucket list), I decided that we needed to go to the Columbus Zoo to see some! The zoo was filled with cool, unique animals. AND it was decorated with Christmas lights since it was their annual Wildlights celebration. I learned a lot about manatees and saw some pretty cute critters! 

A mama and her baby

Sleepy tiger

Snake necked turtle

Another sleepy kitty!

Niagara Falls

We got to go up on a sort of bridge type thing near the falls to take pictures. The sound of the rushing water was so loud! I don't know what kind of crazy person would want to go over it in a barrel! It was freezing! But it was really cool that you could see Canada just across the river! 

Hershey's Chocolate

We got to go to Hershey's Chocolate World in southern Pennslyvania. There is a factory in there, but you can't take a tour of it. We didn't get to do much because we were running from bad weather. But we did get to (of course) shop! We looked at all the many chocolates and Hershey's kisses. I got mint chocolate truffles (which are delicious). We also found huge bottles of chocolate syrup.