After a lunch stop, our plan was to stop near Sarasota Springs and spend the night at the local Walmart. Upon arrival, we found out that this Walmart no longer allows overnight RV or truck parking due to local ordinances, so it was time to move to Plan B. Hank was ready to keep going all the way to our next stop - Randolph Center, VT. Selene called the campground and they said we were only about 3 hours away and to come on in. After a fuel stop and a stop at the Vermont Welcome Center, we headed into the Green Mountains of Vermont and arrived at the campground about 6:30 P.M. after almost 8 hours on the road. We enjoyed the change in topography, and Little House handled the occasional steep grades on two-lane roads with no problems.
We're at the Lake Champagne Campground, one mile off of I-89 in Randolph Center, VT., about 20 miles south of Montpelier. It's a beautiful place in a valley with terraced levels of campsites so you don't have anyone parked right in front of you to spoil the mountain views. The facilities are well-kept and the area is quiet. This is the view in front of us from left to right.
Thursday was a day to relax and catch up on some chores, as well as a Walmart outing to Barre, VT 15 miles to the north . We took back roads on the return trip to the campground, just enjoying the mountain views.
Friday was a day for sightseeing, but before we left, we met the neighbors on our driver's side - Jim & Corrine -seasonal RVers from Spencerport, NY - and had a nice conversation with them. The four of us are members of RVillage.com, a website that lets other members know where you are, and and allows you to know if there are RVillagers in your current campground. Then we drove to, and around, the Stowe, VT area about 50 miles away.
The cleared areas on the hillsides are ski trails. Use your imagination to picture deep snow all around and skiers enjoying the slopes.
We found the Trapp Lodge Resort. The VonTrapp family (made famous by the movie The Sound of Music) is still represented in the operation of the facility. Room rates start at about $250 per night.
The main building of the resort. There are multiple other guesthouses and cabins.
The view from the parking lot in front of the main building.
We wanted to find a lunch spot,, but many of the restaurants in the area were closed or only open for dinner. This is the slow time for the area, since winter sports are the main draw. We ended up at Piecasso sharing a good New York style pizza.
Our next stop was the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory in Waterbury Center, VT. The 20 minutes tour costs $3 for seniors, $4 for adults and includes a short film on the history of the company, viewing the production line area as the packaging process is described, and a stop in the tasting room for a free sample. Our sample was chocolate chip cookie in vanilla ice cream and it was very good. There is the usual gift shop selling different souvenirs and apparel, and an outside ice cream bar where you can purchase your favorite treat.
Our next visit was to Montpelier, the capital of Vermont. It's not a large town, but has an impressive capital building with a guilded dome.
The downtown area was full of people enjoying the many shops and restaurants.
We continued to Berlin, VT for prescription pickups at CVS. One of the clerks recommended a Chinese buffet not far away, and that's where we had supper before heading back to the campground as dusk settled in. All in all, it was an enjoyable and beautiful day in a very scenic part of the USA.
The weekend has been spent enjoying our surroundings and watching the activities in the full campground. We continue to find more reminders that we're in the north - signs for snowplow turnaround areas, thin rods on top of fire plugs and taller mile markers to show above the snow levels, and you can't miss the numerous moose warning signs (haven't seen a moose yet). Two people have said we have a southern accent - that was news to us! The days have been beautiful, although much warmer than normal, but the nights cool down quickly when the sun sets over the mountain tops.
We'll be here until Wednesday when we head to Maine.
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