Scout and I at the Silver Maple Lodge and Cabins in Fairlee VT
My birthday is the day before Scout’s so my mom decided to purchase one awesome gift for the two of us to share, a gift card for a bed and breakfast. Being that I have been extremely stressed out over these last five months since starting a full-time job (my first one ever) and a part-time job I was really ecstatic to have a prepaid vacation to look forward to! The most difficult thing Scout and I had to do was pick a place through bedandbreakfast.com. After tons of research we decided to go to Vermont.
I was born in New Hampshire and have visited various states in New England almost every year of my life and am just partial to that part of the country. Scout on the other hand hadn’t been to New England in years so we thought that would be a really nice place to visit, especially during the winter when there are so many fun outdoor sports we could participate in. It took Scout and I a couple of weeks to pick a Bed and Breakfast in Vermont that we could drive to on a Friday and be home by Sunday without killing ourselves with too long of a drive. We found a really nice B & B in Fairlee Vermont, near a Lake Morey which I have always loved and wished to spend time near.
We found the Silver Maple Lodge & Cottages in Fairlee and just knew that it would be the perfect place for us to spend a nice quiet and fun weekend away from Jersey. We decided that we would prefer to stay in a cottage since it was away from the main house and hoped that that meant we would have a little bit more privacy. We originally booked a room with a queen size bed but later after looking at the B & B website I saw that there were cottages with fireplaces!
Once I saw there were cottages with fireplaces I decided we needed a fireplace too and asked Scout to call up the B & B to see if we could switch rooms. Understandably, the people who run the B & B prefer that people who rent the cottages with fireplaces stay three or more nights and since we were only staying two nights we would have to wait until we got up there to see if one was available for us to rent. Unfortunately, when we arrived all of the fireplace rooms were booked but the owner, Scott, was sorry and awesome enough to upgrade us to a room with both a king size bed and a twin bed and the best part was it was at no extra cost to us!
I was able to take the Friday we planned to leave for our trip off which worked out really nicely because we were able to stop in Deerfield, Massachusetts and do some fun things that I always use to do with my family on our vacations. We stopped at both Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens and the original Yankee Candle Store (use to be the original factory before the company got huge). I was so excited to share these two places with Scout since again they are places I went to over and over again as a child. I just want to take the opportunity to share some of our photos from these two awesome locations here.
Scout at Magic Wings
Scout at Magic Wings
I thought this was a really cool plant and it matched Scout’s sweatshirt, made for a nice photo!
Pretty Butterfly
I was so excited to get this photo! I have been to Magic Wings three times and this was the first time that a butterfly didn’t land on me so I was excited to have at least be able to get this close to one!
Scout was intrigued by these cute little quails running around Magic Wings and I have to admit they were pretty darn adorable
I thought this was awesome, a butterfly on the top of a leaf and one on the underside
I believe this tree was called a Powder Puff Tree but if you know what it is please let me know, I loved it!
I am so frustrated I know this butterfly was called a something sunset butterfly and can't remember what country it is from or its full name! Anyhow, these two were mating.
Speaking of butterflies mating here is a photo of a nursery at the Magic Wings Conservatory.
Butterfly Nursery
Scout and I purchased both a Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly cocoon and Praying Mantis cocoon while at Magic Wings and come April both should hatch! They are currently lying dormant in my fridge until the weather is warm enough to set them outside and see what happens! I hope they both work and in the future I can share the results with everyone!
Now for the photos from Yankee Candle, this place makes me feel like a little kid and I absolutely love it!
Scout on the King's throne at Yankee Candle
Throughout the years my mom, dad, best friends and I have all taken many photos here, maybe one day I will dig out the old ones to share but then again maybe not!
Me on the throne
I look absolutely diabolical in this photo and am thankful that I have never been put in a position of authority because maybe I would become evil…
Yankee Candle has so much more than just these thrones and I really wish I had taken more photos. Moving on to the B & B and those photos and story of how that all went!
Ok, so we got to the B & B at about 6:30 Friday evening, checked in, unpacked our car oh wait! Hold on I need to back up for a second. So before Magic Wings and Yankee Candle, Scout and I packed up my car Friday morning at about 8 am and headed out. We made it a mile away from home when all of a sudden my car radio died! I looked at Scout and said “Oh no! We can not drive 5 hours without music, we are turning around and going back home to see what my dad can do.” My dad looked at the car and couldn’t figure out right away what was the matter (later learned it was just a blown fuse). Anyhow, my mom told us to just take her car so we took everything out of mine and put it into her car and got back out on the road at about 9:30 am. Again, we hit Magic Wings and Yankee Candle and then VT.
After unpacking our car we walked to an Italian restaurant conveniently located oh about 5 feet away from our cottage called Leda’s. The food was pretty good and the beer was even better. Each table had Trivial Pursuit cards and Scout and I had a blast quizzing each other before, during, and after dinner. After we paid our inexpensive bill we walked back to our cottage to watch a movie and get some sleep. The only complaint I had about the cottage was that it was attached to another room and you could hear everything going on in the room next door, I mean everything! You could even here microwave buttons being pressed in the room next door! Other than that I had no complaints. Here are some photos of our beautiful room!
Scout in our room at the Silver Maple Lodge and Cottages B & B
Me looking like more of a college student than I did when I was actually in college!
While checking into our room we looked around the B & B and saw that there were many fliers hanging, announcing upcoming events in the area. I had come prepared with snow-boots and ice-skates (decided to leave my cross-country skis home due to the lack of snow). I was so excited to see a flier announcing an event for the next day at Lake Morey! From 12-2 on Saturday 5 local restaurants were going to set up outdoor locations around Lake Morey and for a $10 dollar fee guests could skate around a 5-mile loop and sample each restaurant’s food. Needless to say I decided right then and there that we lucked out being in VT right next to Lake Morey during the time of this event. Scout and I agreed that we would wake up early the next day so we could make arrangements for him to rent skates and participate in this once in a lifetime event.
We woke up Saturday at 7 am and checked the weather, it was -8 degrees! After getting dressed we went outside to warm up the car. It wouldn’t start. We figured it was just because it was extremely cold out and decided to go to the main house of the B & B for some breakfast, let the sun warm the car up, and then try again to get it started. Well an hour later we walked back over to the car and attempted to start it up again and nothing.
The engine didn’t even sound like it wanted to turnover. Surprisingly, I remained calm and called AAA. Withing 45 minutes a man showed up with a jumper box and tried to jump start our car. No luck. He said he had another job to run to but if we would reimburse him he would go and buy a can of ether and come back to try again. It seemed a little strange that I would have to pay for the ether considering I had AAA Plus and should be provided with whatever it took to start the car but we were desperate and agreed.
The guy came back about an hour and a half later and tried starting the car using the ether and jumper box. Again the car didn’t even sound like it wanted to start. The guy decided to try to use his own car to jump our car but I had to provide my own jumper cables, again this seemed weird since he was sent out to save us but we were desperate and didn’t ask questions. The car didn’t start.
Now I was beginning to panic. The guy had other jobs to get to and left us there stranded so once again I called AAA, this time requesting a tow truck. 45 minutes later the same dude showed up but this time with a tow truck. He loaded our car onto the bed and asked where we wanted the car to be sent. I had told the AAA dispatcher that I wanted the car sent to the nearest AAA certified shop and he said he would take care of it. Obviously, there was a failure in communication so now I had to figure out where to have my car towed to. Well, after the tow truck guy called some of his mechanic buddies in the area he informed us that it didn’t matter much since every darn shop in the area was closed until Monday! I had to be home Sunday in order to make it to work Monday so now I was really panicking! Scout and I decided to just have the car towed to the closest shop which was about 1.6 miles down the road.
We then spent the next 2 hours calling every body shop and car parts store in the area and found out that the only place open was 40 miles away in NH. Considering we didn’t have a car there was little hope of us making it 40 miles away to buy a new battery and tools (granted the battery was even the problem). Thank God my Uncle Bobby lives in northern Vermont, about two hours from where we were located and was able to come down and offer his services. My uncle came prepared with a new battery, tools, ether, jumper cables and dry gas. After putting the dry gas in the car and the new battery it started right on up, phew! Unfortunately, it was already 4 pm and the Lake Morey restaurant event had been over for two hours. I can’t express how disappointed I was that our trip was basically completely ruined.
Dry Gas, oh yea!
The only thing Scout and I were able to do that evening was go out for dinner. We went to an awesome restaurant called the Third Rail Restaurant and Pub. For an appetizer we ordered a brie cheese with apricots and a thyme compote with warm pita, the presentation of the dish was absolutely gorgeous, shaped like a sun and I am so upset that I didn’t have my camera with me otherwise I would have definitely taken a photo of the dish. For dinner I ordered a vegetarian pasta dish which had tons of fresh veggies and tons of flavor, mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Scout ordered a scallop and shrimp scampi dinner, it looked and smelt so darn good that I almost tried some of it after not having any meat including fish for the past 13 years. For desert Scout and I ordered a slice of carrot cake, I can’t even describe how delicious it was, so moist and yummy. That dinner made my day just a little bit better and temporarily took away some of my disappointment from the previous events of the day.
After dinner Scout and I retired to our cottage for an evening of Scrabble and wine. We tried to make the best of the trip even if I did cry a bit.
Scrabble
This photo says it all.
What word can I make out of these 7 letters? hmmmm
We woke up the next morning and headed on home. I guess the one good thing was that my uncle was able to get my mom’s car started and I made it home on time and didn’t have to miss any work. But I still need a vacation!
Shelby
scoutoutabout