“Vermont is like a hug” – Rachel, upon being welcomed by rolling green hills and warm sunshine

After I finally finished work last night around 7:30pm, we piled our stuff into the car and kissed the cats goodbye until Sunday. After 2 months away in Qatar and our opposite work schedules, we decided a mini-vacation was well earned 🙂

Erin suggested a mini-Vermont vacation a few months back while I was still in Doha. And, Erin being Erin, she started to plan. In doing research she came across the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility “Buy Local” Vermont Resource Guide and Coupon Book. The book is full of deals and coupons for Vermont owned businesses. Since we like to make sure we are responsible and sustainable travelers, we plan to check out a couple of the featured businesses in each place we stop – we found some great coffee shops and pubs we fully intend to hit up over the next couple of days!

We arrived in Brandon, VT this afternoon around 2pm. After checking-in at our B&B (1 night free compliments of Stash tea!) we wandered around the town, grabbed some lunch and did a little wine tasting. The weather is in the upper 70’s and bright and beautiful – we could not have asked for better!

This evening we plan to have dinner at a pub down the street and then tomorrow we are heading to Middlebury. The Monterey Institute, where I went to graduate school, is the graduate school of Middlebury College – so I am excited to see the “other half”.

Now – back to relaxing!