So after a long first day in Vermont - we had to regroup our original plans once we made it back to the hotel room (of course bidding momma bird goodnight along the way.) Teacup took a shower - then I did while she pulled out the map/cluesheets and the master notebook. We had missed a few stops on day one - and we needed to head back before we could go forward. The problem was - what do we cut out???
As I took a shower - Teacup went to work. We knew we were meeting friends for breakfast, so we had to get things planned around our 8am breakfast. Papers were pulled, tossed around, crossed off the list, changed in priority - and then rerouted on the gazateer. Once again we had a plan. So finally closing our eyes - we managed to get a nights rest.
Not wanting to lose a moment - we were up bright and early the next morning. Okay - maybe not so bright, but it was early. After stopping to fuel up - me, not the car - we headed north. On our list was a visit to Isle La Motte. We had a couple on our list - and frankly I just wanted to get as close to the Canadian border as possible without actually crossing it :) Of course this was NOT Teacup's idea of a fun time and every time we saw a sign that mentioned Canada - deep breathing exercises started to commence in the passenger seat.
But the weather was picture perfect and the drive was fabulous. After spending part of Friday in the rain and traversing mountains, this area was very different. No rolling hills, but flat picturesque countryside. Well maintained lawns and manicured fields, charming towns which rolled into one another and fabulous views of Lake Champlain. As we crossed the bridge - practically alone, we made an impromptu u-turn so that we could visit the memorial in the center. The water was serene and the skies were picture perfect. Dusty clouds danced overhead while we enjoyed a moment to enjoy where we were.
With another u-turn - we continued onto the island. Gently rolling roads that took us across beautiful and quiet landscapes. Other than one local - who clearly needed to catch a boat to somewhere - we had the road to ourselves. We navigated along, just enjoying our early Saturday drive - making our way closer to St. Anne's Shrine. Once there - it was an amazing sight to behold. Of course locating the box first - we then took a few minutes to enjoy the shrine. We also visited the Champlain statue (He was a BIG guy!) which had a wonderful view of the lake. Being the rebels that we are - we pulled into one of the parking areas that was clearly labeled no parking and took some quick photos - heck - even the birds hadn't had their second cup of coffee yet!
Back we navigated, stopping to take photos of signs and historic locations while we made our way to our next box. We just had to find out "What does the crew ask the Captain?" So we meander a bit and find our way to our next stop and are instantly floored. There had to be close to 500 colorful bird houses hanging all around where this plant was located. We were mesmerized - we were in awe - it was a colorful magical destination. Whomever did all of the work - made our trip to South Hero colorfully perfect that morning. We took photos - even of the whimsical dinosaur playing amongst the birdhouses as we sought that which we were after. And we did find out the answer... but I'm not telling you - if you want to know - you'll have to visit this magical destination yourself! But alas, we couldn't dally - we had friends waiting for us and we were behind schedule.
We had another box on our list - but had to pass it up as we were already going to be late to meet up with greenmountainhiker, grrly girl, and early rizr. So we made our way back across the landscape, stopping to take photos of the breathtaking scenery where we could and bid Isle La Motte goodbye. We pulled into the parking lot of the diner with no time to spare. Sure they were waiting for us - we hustled inside to find out that we beat them! Breathing a sigh of relief, we collected our wits and talked about our already adventurous morning.
We were not to be alone for long - in came our friends and we shared our adventures with them, giving them details of our exploits thus far - and keying them in our plans to come. We ate a wonderful and hearty breakfast and enjoyed our visit. No mind you - when Team MudCup slinks into an area - we usually do without notice. So this was a BIG deal for us. But we so enjoyed our breakfast and chatting with friends - that it made the break in our usual pattern so worth it.
But we had a list - a very long one - and as it was, we were backtracking to some spots we missed on Friday before we could head south. While we could have lingered longer - our list was long, and our time was short - so with some guidance from friends - off we went to track down some flying monkeys, a brewery, and some ice cream.
So we pulled out our maps, pulled up clue sheets and set off to get some nearby ice cream. We navigated to where the gps took us, pulled into the cemetery as the directions led us and stopped short. There - laying directly in our path - and blocking the stairs that accessed our box below, lay someone snuggled up sleeping in a sleeping bag. Now - we've seen people sleeping in sleeping bags... but in a cemetery? At the top of stairs? Okay? Not to be deterred - we navigated back around to the lower section and Teacup jumped from the car with clues and boxing supplies in tow. The plan - I would circle her until she found it and then I'd pick her up again... but I found a perfect parking spot across the street and waited her out. She ducked behind stones and found what we needed - scored some early morning ice cream and then I hustled back through the intersection and picked her up so we could venture ahead.
Next up - Lakeview Cemetery. We had a few we were going to try and collect here... so we pulled out the sheets and started navigating towards our first find. We took bearings, we walked a bit farther, We looked at stones and enjoyed the view of Lake Champlain. We read clues and drove in circles, we pulled out our compass again and counted paces and steps. We couldn't find daisies or a cardinal - but did manage to locate Artemis and a lovely Civil War medal. A bit bummed about our lack of success - we opted to leave something for the locals to find. We took more photos and decided we needed to move along. Hearing tales of flying monkeys - we drove through downtown Burlington (or what we thought was downtown Burlington) and navigated closer to our next destination.
I had beer on my mind and a stamp itching to be planted. Traffic had picked up and we slowly navigated our way through the city. Passing down some wonderful street - trying to figure out why someone wouldn't prune back that claustrophobic evergreen from their porch - enjoying the sunshine on our arms - with the gentle breeze keeping us from over heating while we navigated through traffic. When out of nowhere - SPLOTCH! Right dead center in the middle of the driver side of my windshield I was presented a gift which clearly had to have come from one of those professed flying monkeys (which we believed were a myth up until this point.) To this - all we could do was burst into spontaneous laughter, roll up the windows and set the wipers to try and clear my view. A few moments and a few choice words to those monkeys - we made it out of the downtown area and headed off to the brewery.
Now - neither of us being beer drinkers - we opted to pass on the whole beer bus tour. Besides - that would mean talking to people. Not only that - but we still had boxes to find and places to go - so we took a few snapshots of their wicked cool vans, waited for the power company workers to move out of sight and hastily parked where we were strictly forbidden to do so - company van only parking - yup, we are rebels of the worst order! But I managed to get my box planted and off we went - of course pulling over to take a picture of their very cool sign - and headed east.
Back-tracking to Stowe... we headed off to pick up where we left off on Friday... with the gazetteer opened - we made our way to try and track down a few on our list and get to a location for another plant. Back navigating through the rolling hillside - it looked much happier in the sunshine than it had in the rain the night before - we were able to enjoy our drive back to Stowe. Up the mountains we went - making our way to visit the Trapp Family Lodge. We played tourist for a bit, taking photos of the lodge and the views before heading back down the hill - pulling over to briefly plant something for future visitors.
Then all hell broke loose! While chatting and navigating, I rolled through what was clearly a stop sign as a Canadian screamed at me and flailed her arms! I was a driving cad of the worst nature! I felt bad - but it was an honest mistake. I thought the stop was further down the hill and simply rolled though it... I'm sure I'm not the first to do it - and probably not the last - but no one was hurt and that screaming Canadian woman probably had lost her voice over the whole event - but we continued on. Mea culpa, mea culpa. Consider me chastised!
But we didn't have time to dwell on the screaming Canadian... we had to move forward. Onward in search of an Inky Boy, some missed Green Mountain coffee and a few more Civil War images. We also had a plan to track down a Phantom and a mysterious Tower. So off we went. Looking at our watch - we realized time was quickly ticking away. So we opted to grab some coffee first. Okay - we skipped the coffee and had a yummy snack instead. But we were good - we did split it!
Fueled up - we were ready to tackle a few more clue sheets. We went in search of a few more boxes and realized we needed to completely reroute our trip from what we had planned. But we worked our way south. Finding some, not finding others and of course planting a few along the way. As we stopped to pick up a few more Civil War images, we plotted around the cemetery while a solo gentleman purposefully plotted from one grave site to another. Placing flags upon those fallen while protecting our country. We had to stop and go around him, but we also felt like we should stop and help him. At one point - our paths could only cross - so we did offer to help him complete his task. He very politely declined our offer. He must have had a process in his head as he navigated from one section to another. But it allowed us a moment to pause and be thankful for those that had given so greatly so that we could have the freedom to travel to cemeteries such as the one we were in and do what we were doing. We managed to make our way out of the cemetery, leaving him to finish his honorable task in the sun's basking silence.
Further south we tracked, the sun was sinking lower in the skies and clouds were beginning to darken by the time we made it into Middlebury. We went off in search of a place to spend the night. Thankfully - even with 2 school buses in the parking lot, we found a room. After we registered - we took a quick drive so I could take a photograph for Christopher and then started to look for a place to have dinner. We had officially run out of steam - so we just headed back to the hotel. As we unloaded our gear, the skies started to open up. We made it in, went down to the hotel bar/dining area and ordered our dinner to go. Back in our room, we ate - which turned out to be a pretty good meal and set out to regroup for the next day. We had pages and pages of clues we had missed or decided to pass on to ferret through.
With dinners finished, showers taken and feeling satisfactorily tired - we started to plot and plan day three of our grand adventure. I wonder where we'll head to on Sunday? Don't you?
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