It's all your fault!

We traveled from the White Mountains of New Hampshire into the Green Mountains of Vermont for the last leg of our adventure.  We raced through covered bridges along the way to stretch our legs.

Then we began to eat our way through Vermont stopping first at the Cabot Cheese factory, and sampling cheese until we were sick.

Moooo?

From cheese, we moved on to the Goodrich Maple Syrup Farm, where we learned what is involved in making maple syrup, and then got to sample the different grades ... yummmmy!

After the maple syrup, we moved on to ice cream at Ben & Jerry's factory!

Charlie rating the sample that we tried!

The outside portion of the tour took us to the "flavor graveyard", where old flavors go to die!

Like all good days, this one ended with a dip in the hotel swimming pool!

The next day was the day that Hannah and Ethan had been waiting for since we began our trip 12 days earlier.  We were headed to visit their very good friends who had the nerve to leave our wonderful neighborhood last year and move to Vermont!  What began as a trip to visit the Thompsons became "Around New England in 16 days" -- if we were going to go to Vermont, we might as well see Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine & New Hampshire as well!

We took a small break on the way to our friends' house to hike down the Queechee Gorge, which is known as the grand canyon of Vermont.  Ethan said that it was "gorge"ous, and he was right!

Here we are at the top on the bridge ...

Olivia on the phone to one of her besties as we hiked down the path!

After climbing down a very steep pathway, we got to the bottom of the gorge where the kids climbed on rocks, and laughed at Mommy who had to crab walk down the hill so she could get a better picture!

... and here we are at the bottom looking up at the bridge!

Finally we arrived at the Thompson's house where everyone had a wonderful visit that included a lot of laughter, delicious food, sleepovers for the big kids and plans to do it again as soon as possible. 

Ethan and Rowan were instantly up to their old antics

Olivia was thrilled to play dress-up with Georgia and try on all her shoes!

a quintessential New England church

Robert Frost's grave

Hannah and Alex deep into conversation

Charlie 1 and Charlie 2

an impromptu concert

The little kids had Mommy and Mama (and an indoor and outdoor pool) to themselves for the night at the hotel since Hannah and Ethan spent the night with their friends.

Although we were very sad to leave our dear friends in Vermont, we were looking forward to spending the end of our journey in Northampton, MA visiting our friends Becky & Amanda and their 3 children.  Even though our kids had never met, they were old friends in less than 10 minutes! 

No more photos!!!

Olympics, and ice cream and the wii, oh my!!

don't even ask!!!

 We were treated to a talent show with original poetry and music for our morning entertainment!

The younger kids had the most fun running outside in the soft summer rain,

and Hannah got to hone her babysitting skills with her little buddy Sam.

All the kids had a great visit even though it was too short, and can't wait to get together again either in Massachusetts or Pennsylvania!

Tomorrow we will set the GPS to "home" and end this summer's grand adventure, but plans are already brewing for next year.  I hope that someday my children will look back on their childhood summers with fondness, and remember the fun that they had (and forget the time strapped in car seats and seat belts).  I know that these years are so fleeting, and that, all too soon, Hannah will be eschewing family vacations for summer jobs and boyfriends, but while my kids still have no choice, my plan is to drag them across this country, and the world, as much as I can for as long as I can!