Our first stop was the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, about 20 minutes outside of Burlington. We were actually surprised that there is more to Waterbury than Ben & Jerry's. This was discovered after I realized that I was starving to death immediately upon arriving at the Ben & Jerry's factory. How unlike me!
Anyways, Billy worked his Yelp magic and found us a great sandwich place to go to, where I indulged on a bacon cheeseburger with fries. I was actually excited that my system was put into shock by this assault on my arteries because I've been trying really hard to eat less junk food. Obviously, it's working!
Now that we were properly satiated, we drove back to Ben & Jerry's to buy our tour tickets. We had already scoped out the novelty t-shirt situation online the night before and had settled on buying possibly the greatest shirts on earth. Without further ado, I give you the Moo Shirts:
If you're wondering what we're standing in front of, that would be a replica of the Moo Bus that matches our t-shirts. Ben & Jerry set out in the original Moo Bus across the country on a grassroots PR campaign for Ben & Jerry's. The biggest news of their trip was when the Moo Bus caught on fire in Cleveland and burned to the ground.
If you're also wondering whether Billy and I wore our matching Moo Shirts throughout the tour and our time at the Ben & Jerry's factory, the answer is yes. And yes, we did get a high five from our tour guide. And someone that passed by us exclaimed "What the hell?!"
We had some time to kill before our tour, so naturally the next stop was the free spin art station. Tragically, Billy had never made spin art as a child, so I was thrilled to be able to expose him to the fantastic arts and crafts experience that is spin art.
After completing our spin masterpieces, we strolled through the Flavor Graveyard, which is exactly what it sounds like. Not every flavor Ben & Jerry's comes up with is a success, so the Flavor Graveyard is a collection of flavors that were a bust. I was heartbroken that I missed the Creme Brulee flavor by only a year and Billy was also bereft over never experiencing Chocolate Cookie Dough Peanut Butter. It was mind boggling that neither of these flavors were universally popular.
We did actually go on the tour, where we got a peek at the factory floor and also a free sample of Triple Caramel Chunk. After further spiking our blood sugar by splitting some Phish Food post-tour, we set out for Burlington to continue the birthday celebrations!
Our first stop in Burlington was Lake Champlain. Actually, our first stop was the (very questionable looking) Burlington K-Mart when we realized we had stupidly forgotten our swimsuits. $30 later, Billy had two new swim trunks (it was buy one get one free!) and after another stop at TJ Maxx for me (everything left at K-Mart was size XL..shocker!), we were newly outfitted and ready for the lake!
Lake Champlain was stunning (see the new header photo of the blog, above). The lake was HUGE and completely surrounded by mountains. There were lots of sailboats anchored out on the lake and a great public beach to lay out on. We decided to check out the kayak rental place to attempt to burn off the Ben & Jerry's (and my cheeseburger...). The guy working there informed us they also rented paddle boards, which Billy and I have always wanted to try out. Since it was getting late in the day, we got a great deal on them and had a blast stand-up paddle boarding around the lake.
We followed our trusty kayak rental man's advice to stay close to the shoreline to see some great cliffs...I wish we could have taken our phones with us to take pictures! The trip back got a little bit tricky when we tried to cut across the inlet we were in because the wind really kicked up. I got semi-blown out to sea (well, the middle of the lake) but made it back thanks to Billy's guidance and a tremendous paddling effort. I now fully understand how Jennifer Aniston gets her rockin' beach bod from paddle boarding all the time.
Once we were back on dry land, the sun came out so we decided to lay out on the beach for a while and soak up the sun. I am forever attempting to even out my "rider's tan," which is going strong even though I haven't ridden since leaving for Vermont. My arms are very tan and my legs are very pale. Sigh.
Our final stop of the night was for Billy's birthday dinner at American Flatbread, which is basically fancy pizza. Since pizza is Billy's (okay and mine) favorite food group, it was perfect!
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| The birthday boy and our pizza! |
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