Quechee, Vermont - September 14th to 17th, 2021

When you travel for long periods of time or full time, there are times you need to take a break from touring and take care of business or personal matters. In addition to leaving our planned itinerary for ten days to help out with family matters, we also took time to repair items on our van and figure out an efficient way to print and scan documents while on the road. But we still managed to take full advantage of what the Quechee Vermont area has to offer.

From Cape Cod, Massachusetts, we bee-lined it back to Ohio for a funeral. Twelve hours of driving in two days. Rochester, New York was about the halfway point. It was a struggle to find a place to stay for the night. It was Labor Day weekend and campgrounds were either full or required a three night minimum. One campground had an opening, but they were having a live concert that night and were charging over $100 for the camp site. We can stay at a hotel for that amount of money for a quieter stay. Or so we thought. Hotels seemed to be booked in the area as well. The one opening we found was about $240 for the night. All of our hotel points brought the price down to $160. That was a little easier to swallow. The hotel room was an executive suite, quite a change from a campground. From all of the kids at the hotel carrying hockey sticks, we believe there was a tournament in the area that weekend.

In Ohio, we found ourselves on the Ohio Turnpike, I-80, a toll road that uses the E-ZPass toll system. Since we had already been on several toll roads that use E-ZPass this season and anticipated we’d be on a few more, we felt it was about time we bought an E-ZPass. You could sign up online or find an open office to get one. The problem with ordering one online is getting the physical device to you when you are not at any one location for any length of time. Fortunately, Ohio makes it easy. At the rest plazas on the turnpike, there are vending machines where you can purchase the pass. Then you just go online to provide your information and link it to your device. So that’s what we did. If you are planning on traveling in the eastern US, we would advise purchasing an E-ZPass before you leave home.

While we were at a fixed address for a week, we ordered the Quick Set screen area from Clam (paid link). In addition to the enclosure, we also ordered three wind screens to hang on the sides for protection during bad weather. Then we taped another crack in our fairing.

On our way back from Ohio on Monday September 13th, we had a much easier time finding an open campsite. The Canandaigua/Rochester KOA Holiday campground was much easier on our wallets than the hotel. Our site was in the back, up against the woods. The sites were spaced nicely for a private campground. We were a little disappointed to find out that the hand-dipped ice cream was only sold on Friday and Saturday evenings. We settled for ice cream novelties from the camp store. Since we were up against the woods, there were a few mosquitoes around, but that just gave us a chance to try out our new screen enclosure. It went up and down rather quickly. We cooked our dinner inside the enclosure even though it is not recommended. The material of the Quick Set could easily melt or catch on fire. We used our butane stove on our camp table in the middle of the structure, away from the walls. The heat from our stove dissipates quickly so we were not concerned about the heat reaching the roof. The zippered door is a little bit of a pain when coming and going a lot, like when we were taking all the supplies in and out while cooking. However, it’s better than being eaten up by bugs. A magnetic closure would be more efficient to use, but it may not stay closed in windy conditions.

On the way to Rochester, we passed through Buffalo. So naturally we stopped at Anchor Bar again, home to the origin of buffalo wings. This time we tried beef on weck. Beef on weck is another Buffalo specialty, but unlike buffalo wings, it has not caught on nationally. We remember back in college when the chain Buffalo Wild Wings started, they were originally called Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck which we nicknamed BW3. BW3 served beef on weck in addition to the wings, but we never tried it. Evidently not many other people tried it either. Beef on weck is warm, juicy, thinly sliced roast beef on a kummelweck roll topped with kosher salt and caraway seeds. After we ordered it at Anchor Bar, Right Buddy (RB) realized it is usually served with horseradish. Luckily the horseradish was served on the side because RB is not a fan. The sandwich had enough flavor and moisture that condiments were not needed. The bun was nice and soft. Left Buddy (LB) enjoyed his with horseradish. The sandwiches were tasty. We would order them again. However, given the choice between wings and beef on weck, we would choose wings every time. But you don’t have to choose, Anchor Bar offers beef on weck with an order of six wings along with fries and a pickle spear.

From Rochester New York, we headed to Quechee, Vermont on Tuesday. Along I-87, just south of Glen Falls, is the Adirondack Welcome Center. Every now and then we come across a rest area that is worth mentioning, and this is one of them. Inside the building is a nice lounge area, complete with Adirondack chairs and a fireplace. Vending machines line the opposite wall containing all kinds of products from the state of New York, from drinks and ice cream to apples, pickles, and flavored cream cheese spreads. A nice place to stop, stretch, and pick up a little something.

When we arrived in Quechee, we stopped at the Snack Bar at the Gorge for ice cream before heading to our campsite. Since we were in Vermont, LB deviated from his usual and had a maple milkshake. The maple flavor was subtle but tasty. RB had mint chocolate chip and chocolate lover’s chocolate in a waffle cone. She was very satisfied.

After our treats, we walked out onto the highway 4 bridge over the gorge. The view was pretty in both directions. There was a chain link fence for protection along the bridge, but there were several “windows” in the fence to allow for taking unobstructed pictures of the gorge.

Quechee State Park is not very big. It is mostly just a campground with a couple of hiking trails leading over to the Quechee Gorge Trail. The campground is lovely. The large sites are spaced far apart, surrounded by trees and pretty level. The noise from highway 4 is still noticeable from the campground, but it is not too bad. We had a relaxing time cooking and eating dinner, listening to the birds and watching the squirrels drop nuts down from the trees.

Tuesday, we figured out what was causing the drawer under the fridge to stick. It was the latch itself. Due to the wear and tear of forcing it open all season, the latch finally broke off. It’s a good thing we discovered that before we took the drawer and slides apart trying to figure out the problem. Now the drawer slides open and closed with ease. Only now it will not stay shut without the latch. So on Wednesday, as we drove around, the drawer would slide open on left turns and slide back shut on right turns. Since it is a drawer, nothing falls out, but it has moved up on our priority list to fix.

The weather forecast called for rain on Wednesday, so we postponed hiking to Thursday. Instead, we drove around and visited some sites. Our first stop was Sugarbush Farm. It is a working farm that makes cheese and maple syrup. The farm is located a few miles north of the Woodstock, Taftsville, and Quechee area at the end of a dirt road. The dirt roads are narrow, but in pretty good shape. We managed to pass a tour bus heading in the opposite direction.

At the farm, you can taste several of their 14 varieties of cheese and their four grades of maple syrup along with shopping in their store. The day we were there, they only had four different varieties of cheese to taste: jack, extra sharp cheddar (aged 4 years), smoked cheese, and jalapeño cheese. They were all very tasty. We also tasted three of the four grades of maple syrup. RB liked the amber grade with its buttery taste. LB liked the very dark grade. So we bought a small jug of each of the two grades along with some smoked cheese. They did not have the lightest grade of syrup to taste because the sap season was unusually short last spring.

The sugar house was open to the public so you can see how the sap is turned into syrup. The cows and draft horses were out grazing in the pasture. A few goats were in their pens available for kids to pet.

The maple walk is a short trail through the sugarbush or maple grove with interpretive signs explaining the tapping of the trees and the system of plastic tubing that routes the sap to holding tanks.

From Sugarbush Farm, we drove over to Billings Farm & Museum. Billings Farm is a working dairy farm with historical buildings on site. The Farm and Museum operates in partnership with the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park which is just across the street. They share the same parking lot. There is a $16 per adult admission fee to get into the Billings Farm & Museum. Frederick Billings purchased the Marsh family farm in 1869 and turned it into a profitable business.

We started out going through the dairy barn filed with cows and a couple of draft horses. Strolling through the sheep pasture brought us to some flower gardens that were labeled the sunflower room. A winding path led us through the towering sunflowers. We heard the dried leaves rustling in the fading sunflower plants. Following the sound, we saw birds picking the seeds out of the flowers. Another rustling was a ground squirrel hanging from its hind legs to reach the sunflower seeds. Butterflies flew all around, landing on the other flowers in the garden. RB was really enjoying herself.

Over by the heirloom garden, a staff member gave a presentation on all the different ways to preserve food from the garden, or “put food by”. Then we stopped at the dairy bar for ice cream. RB had chocolate and maple ice cream. LB had vanilla and maple. It was nice that the museum could accommodate our ice cream needs without us leaving the property.

Next we toured the farm manager’s house. Billings built the 1890 farmhouse in the Victorian style for his farm manager and his family. The farmhouse also served as the business office along with housing a creamery for making butter. The house and many of the furnishings reminded RB of her grandmother’s house. There were some interesting, inventive items in the house that intrigued LB.

As the thunderstorm had finally reached us, we took shelter inside the main building, viewing the farm life exhibits and watching the park movie in the theater. Before we left, we went back to the cow barn to watch a cow milking demonstration as it was time for the cow’s second milking of the day.

When we returned to our camp site, the rain had let up enough that we could put the awning out and leave the sliding door open for ventilation. Since it was raining, we cooked dinner in the Instant Pot inside. The rain picked up again later in the evening and we fell asleep listening to the rain dance on the roof of our van.

The first order of business on Thursday was to run some errands. RB needed to print off, sign, and scan a couple of documents. Luckily we had a thumb drive with us. There was a Staples store just 15 minutes away, across the border in New Hampshire. They had no problem printing RB’s pdf files. After signing them, RB scanned them using the CamScanner app on her iPhone. However, it looks like RB may need to do this several times over the next couple of months while we’re on the road. So we decided to buy a small printer/scanner in order to not waste time on the road searching for a place to print documents. The smallest one that Staples had was the HP Envy 6055e, so we bought it. LB figured out a way to bungee it down securely to one of our shelves under the bed. Hopefully it will stay put and not get in our way.

Near by was a Home Depot, so we swung by there to pick up a new latch for the drawer under the fridge. LB bought a barrel bolt and installed it on the side of the drawer. The bolt seems like it would rattle, but so far we have not noticed any noise from it as we travel down the road.

After our errands, we headed over to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Unlike the Billings Farm and Museum across the street, the historical park does not charge an admission. The only fee is for a guided tour of the mansion. However, due to COVID, they are not giving tours of the mansion. The mansion was the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, the author of “Man and Nature”. In 1869, the property was purchased by Frederick Billings who developed the nation’s first programs of scientific forest management. Billings granddaughter, Mary French, married Laurence S. Rockefeller, whose family generously created or enhanced over 20 national parks. In 1992, the Rockefeller family transferred the property to the federal government to create the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. In addition to the mansion, greenhouse, and gardens, there is a network of carriage roads through the woods on the property. The park only allows hiking on the carriage roads during the summer and cross country skiing or snowshoeing in the winter. No bikes or other vehicles are allowed.

We chose a hiking route through the property that took us around the pond called the Pogue and led us up to the south peak of Mount Tom. The carriage roads make nice, wide and easy hiking trails. The views from the south peak were stunning. There is something comforting and inviting about the rolling hills, covered with trees and farm pastures. The view from the peak also looks down over the little village of Woodstock.

From the south peak, we took the Precipice Trail back down towards the mansion. The trail was not a carriage road and it was rather sketchy in places. Thick metal cable was strung between rebar posts to assist you through the rough spots. The trail was rather narrow along rock ledges. The ranger at the Carriage Barn Visitor Center had warned us that the trail was difficult and recommended taking the Billings Trail instead. We didn’t listen, but we also didn’t mind the challenge. We’re not sure what trail we ended up on after the Precipice Trail, but we ended up at the greenhouse. Just before the greenhouse, we almost lost the trail because there was a large fallen tree next to the trail which forced us to climb through the debris.

Our hike was a total of 5.4 miles with an elevation gain of 814 feet and took us three hours and 35 minutes to complete. We counted it as hike #37 of our 52 Hike Challenge.

After the hike, we walked through the gardens and onto the porch of the mansion. We sat and rocked in the rocking chairs on the porch for a few minutes, trying to imagine what it would be like to live there. It was easy to see how all of the previous owners of the property became conservationists. The surrounding nature was beautiful.

Next was a stroll along Elm and Central streets of Woodstock. Woodstock is a charming Vermont village. There are so many historical buildings along with a covered bridge. For several blocks, Central street splits, with a park between the two directions of traffic called The Green. Of course we found an ice cream shop, Woodstock Scoops. We had to ask what a maple creemee was. It is a Vermont specialty. Basically it’s real maple syrup mixed with ice cream and served like soft serve ice cream. We chose not to partake this time, but we’ll definitely have to try one before we leave Vermont. Instead, RB had a scoop of maple walnut and a scoop of chocolate. LB had a vanilla shake. The ice cream is from Mountain Creamery in West Woodstock and was pretty tasty.

On the way back to Quechee State Park, we stopped to check out two more covered bridges, the Taftsville Bridge and the Quechee Bridge. It was a little tricky figuring out where to park for the Taftsville Bridge, since it has a clearance of 10 feet which we did not feel comfortable taking our ten foot van through. We found a little parking spot along the side of US 4 just before we reached the turn off for the bridge. The Quechee Bridge was easier since it has plenty of clearance for our van and there was a nice parking area on the other side of the river. There is also a nice waterfall near the Quechee Bridge.

Back at the campground, we decided to take showers. We previously poked our heads into the stand-alone shower rooms and did not see any evidence of the showers being coin-operated. So RB grabbed her shower stuff and headed for the showers. After she got all her belongings settled in the shower room, she noticed the recessed coin machine in the wall next to the door. Not feeling like gathering up all her belongings again to go back for coins, she decided to try the shower anyway, just to make sure it really needed coins. When she turned the shower handle, the water came on. Great! No coins needed. Or so she thought. After getting undressed and starting to get wet, she realized that the water was not warming up. It was ice cold. Being too lazy to dry off and put her clothes back on to get money, she decided to tough it out. She really couldn’t stand to put her whole body in the cold water at once, so she would splash it onto herself. She was able to withstand sticking her head under the cold stream of water to wash her hair. Somehow she managed to get herself clean, but it was not a very enjoyable shower. She warned LB before he took his shower. Yup, you put money into the machine and hot water eventually comes out of the shower. A sign in a more conspicuous place, indicating the showers require money, would have been helpful.

Before we left Quechee on Friday, we hiked the Quechee Gorge Trail. Since the campground has an 11 am check out time, we packed up first and parked over at the Quechee Gorge Visitor Center before starting our hike.

There is a trail that starts behind the visitor center which connects to the Quechee Gorge Trail. There is also a connector trail that leads from the Quechee State Park campground over the the Gorge Trail. The Quechee Gorge Trail follows alongside the Ottauquechee River. Taking the trail to the south, the trail descends down to the level of the river. The river was shallow enough when we were there, that we could walk out onto the rock in the river to get a nice view up the river towards the bridge. However, there were signs warning people that the water level can rise rapidly since there is a dam upstream.

Then we took the trail back up to the north, where it crosses under the US 4 bridge. At this point the trail is back up at the top of the gorge rim. After reaching the dam, the trail follows a flat strip of land between the river and Dewey’s Pond. The dam was actually pretty. The top part of the dam is man-made, but then the water flows over steep natural rocks creating a nice waterfall. Dewey’s Pond is filled with lilly pads. We only spotted a couple of cormorants, but could imagine that it would be a great place to see wildlife. The tall plants and trees create a natural bird blind along the trail. We turned around at Dewey’s Landing at the far side of the pond.

Our hike was 2.8 miles with an elevation gain of 210 feet which took us one hour and ten minutes to complete. It was hike #38 of our 52 Hike Challenge.

As we were leaving the area, we stopped in West Woodstock to check out the Lincoln Covered Bridge. The bridge has a few plexiglass skylights in it which add natural light inside the bridge.

Despite all the distractions, we felt we covered a lot in three days. From maple syrup, cheese, dairy farms, historic buildings, covered bridges, and quaint villages, to wooded hikes, rolling hills, waterfalls, and pretty gorges, we pretty much ran the gamut. We left the area feeling like we experienced a sampling of just about everything Vermont has to offer.

Check out our related video: Quechee, Vermont

(RB)