Text 21384, 117 rader
Skriven 2007-10-15 17:16:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip cotd 289
=====================
DL5387 CVG ALB 1055 1242 CRJ 10D

Very friendly service from the Comair flight attendant,
who looked sort of like Rachael Ray without makeup, which
is not a good thing (though not frightening, either, the
way the real ArrArr might be). Biscoff cookies, which I
always like. Landed 30-odd late.

The Albany airport is apparently hard to get to by auto,
the signs somehow defective; I had a message from Carol
saying she would be there by the time I was out front,
followed by another saying that she had been shunted onto
the Thruway and was running out of gas. We hooked up an
hour later, during which time I toured the airport a
while and basked in the lack of sun a while.

Off in the toy 'vertible through the just-starting fall
colors (what th'? all the forecasts were saying we'd enjoy
peak) to the Vermont Country Store (she insisted), where we
oohed and ahed at the silly knickknacks and ugly clothing
and tasted an assortment of cheeses, dips, sausage, jams,
and relishes. The most notable items were a Vermont
Caerphilly that tasted halfway between the real thing and
a Yankee Candle, and some excellent caramel corn puffs,
which Carol didn't want me to buy as they wouldn't be good
for either of us. Also some sausages from Vermont Smoke
and Cure, or Smoke and Mirrors, or something, which the
gourmet publications just kvell over, but which I found
maybe a tad above average. Hey, how come does the Vermont
Country Store sell wasabi peanuts and mango-habanero salsa?
Just wondering. We picked up a few tchotchkes and pointed
ourselves north and hotelward. Still dubious foliage.

It was just darkening, but we were pretty hungry, by the
time we spotted Rosie's, just south of Middlebury. It looks
and smells like a Cracker Barrel, but we figured we'd stay
if they served drinks.

We both had the nice malty Otter Creek Octoberfest; Carol
stopped at half a beer, as we still had a half-hour drive
up; I finished hers and had a Long Trail Ale, which was
nicer than I'd remembered. The special of the day was rib
roast; I ordered my "queen cut 12 oz" rare; it was pretty
decent beef, tasty and tender, but medium-rare on one end
to medium on the other. Garlic mashed were kind of watery,
and I gave them to Carol, whose roast pork sandwich was
a surprise: it was very tender pulled pork leg in a semi-
nice gravy over apple stuffing and pallid white bread, quite
good, except that the bread was inedible unless one soaked
it in gravy. Pumpkin cobbler was pretty good as well.

Quite dark when we left, and only good guessing on my part
and fast reflexes on hers got us to our destination, the
Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain outside Vergennes. When
we arrived, we found they'd upgraded us from a regular room:
we got the wing of a cottage, consisting of a very large
living/bedroom with two double beds and a nice bathroom and
vanity room. Very comfy. And, as we discovered the next
morning, a pretty screened porch with a slightly tree-
compromised view of the lake.

At the breakfast buffet ($16+++, included in our rate), I
had Dakin bacon (very smoky), maple pork sausage (very
flabby), hash (ordinary, but I think that they sprinkle a
little maple sugar on it and brown that), and grapefruit
juice. Carol had a soggy-looking eggs Benedict and a few
other things. Service was attentive but had rough edges.

The lodge itself is warm and inviting and a comfy place to
hang out, if you want to hang out. But for us it was time
to shop. Especially as it was gray and windy and not good
for the Lake Champlain cruise that we'd been scheduled for.

Off to the Kennedy Brothers Outlet Store in Vergennes,
where there were plenty of local crafts and syrup and that
sort of thing. I zoned out rapidly. Luckily, Dakin Farms
was just a couple miles up, with numerous jams, jellies,
spreads, and chutneys on tasting (nothing jumped out at
me), as well as sharp Cheddar (pretty good, probably
Cabot), smoked Cheddar (pretty good, probably Cabot but
smoked on premises) plain and with onion (gooey and nasty;
Carol liked it and bought some), with bacon (okay), or
with sausage (okay minus). Also an array of sausages, of
which the pepperoni was kind of nice and the various
summer sausages okay. I picked up some garlic sticks
(regular and maple) and a pound of slab bacon.

What the hey, just a few miles more, and it's almost on
the way, to Magic Hat, where we sampled

Single Chain - an extremely light but fairly tasty brew,
rather like a better quality light beer;

#9 - your famed apricot-scented ale;

Fat Angel - thick and brown, quite pleasant though low
in bitterness;

Jinx - coffee, molasses, rich maltiness but with a ryelike
aftertaste and thus too cereally for me;

Circus Boy hefe - plasticky, nutmeggy, not horrid, but
I never liked this style except in the dead of summer;

Orlio organic ale - very mild, low bitterness;

Thumbsucker - weird, chemically nose, acidy on the
palate; not bad, just strange;

Roxyrolles - heavy body, sweetish, good hops; and

Big Wheat - this was in fact very big and strange - an
experimental batch, we were told.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)