Vivian has, but I have not been to New England. Yes, you heard that right – Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island – nope, nope, nope, nope, nope and nope. Not even Boston. I’ve been close; upstate New York and New York City, Baltimore and other parts of Maryland, somewhere in New Jersey, somewhere in Delaware, D.C., and Ocean City. I’ve road tripped over much of the U.S. before owning an RV and since Vivian and I began living fulltime in an RV, have racked up over 44,000 miles around the contiguous states. Somehow, New England escaped me.
Until June 7, 2024, my thoughts of mysterious Vermont could be condensed to the following – maple syrup, picturesque fall scenes of the green mountains, Chunky Monkey, Larry and his two brothers named Darryl from the Newhart TV series, and a photo-turned-meme of Bernie Sanders huddled to keep warm while wearing thick mittens and a covid mask.
I am happy to say that I can get beyond my initial judgement of Vermont because I have finally been to a genuine Vermont Sugar Farm, watched Ben and Jerry’s factory churn out pints of Cherry Garcia,
toured Vermont’s State House located in the smallest capitol city in the country,
stood in awe in front of Albert Bierstadt’s 15’x10’ painting hanging in the St Johnbury’s Athenaeum,
The Athenaeum was built in 1871 as a library and art gallery serving the people of St. Johnsbury. 
It is a working library in the front, an art gallery in the back. 
The oldest unaltered art gallery in the U.S. is filled with several Hudson River artists’ paintings. 
Albert Bierstadt’s ‘Domes of Yosemite’. 
‘Hiding in the Old Oak’, 1873-74, my favorite from the collection – artist John George Brown
huddled with Vivian under an umbrella to stay warm and dry while overlooking the world’s largest deep hole granite quarry blanketed by drizzly fog,
One of the deep granite quarries in Vermont. A paid tour gets you to this lookout. 
Rock of Ages is where handcrafted cemetery monuments are made from Vermont granite. 
Cut granite on its way to some place far away. 
You can see the work of artisans at the Barre, VT Hope Cemetery where all grave stones are created from Vermont granite. 
stood on a green mountain overlooking Lake Champlain while wearing shorts and t-shirt, and walked around the most populous city in the second least populous state.
Not only is Vermont the sixth smallest state in the country and could easily fit within Texas’s panhandle, but its population is also lower than the metropolitan area of nearby Springfield, Massachusetts. I can imagine Vermont gets crowded during its peak season, which we missed by visiting in early June. But we enjoyed mostly empty country roads and smalltown sidewalks, and downtown Burlington barely crowded by college students hanging out in coffee shops. By the time we arrived in Vermont, the sap had runout and the sugary syrup was bottled and ready for purchase from one of many sugar farm shops in the beautiful green mountains. But the fruits and veggies were few at the farmers markets, which offers its greatest variety in August through October. And we missed the active music and art festival season that gives local musicians and artisans an outlet for their Vermont-inspired creativity.
Within a total of six days in Vermont, we experienced a wide range of temperatures (both heater and AC were useful) and only on one day did we see prominent blue skies. But Vermont offered us a break from long distance traveling and allowed us to explore some of its old charm and beautiful countryside without the crowds. There is one more place we visited during our time in Vermont, but since it has an interesting story to be told, we’ll save it for the next blog.
One New England state down, three more to go on this trip.
Changing Views From Our RV 
A scene from one of the recent Star Trek movies used the E.L. Smith Quarry as one of its backdrops. Vermont is a very beautiful and charming place. If not for the brutal winters, it would be a great place to live. Btw, have you camped in Delaware yet???
LikeLike