Ron had plans again for our 3 day weekend.  You know he did.  Lots of work with our lots of rocks.  While we have the one row ready for garlic planting this year, he thinks it a great idea to start working on future rows.  The more we get ready now, the better for us.

On Friday we headed out to THF after work to water the trees.  Ron told me he had an idea.  Worrisome words.  But this was actually good.  He is forever on the internet searching for any upcoming events and he found one.  The Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival in Bennington Vt.  Just over 2.5 hours away so an easy drive.

At first the plan was to work on Saturday and then take our trip on Sunday.  Ron decided to rearrange that.  We were going to get up on Saturday, head over to our favorite local place for breakfast, The Corner Diner Too.  Ron and Jo discovered this quite a few months ago and we go there on a regular basis.  Huge portions of fabulous food make a great start to the rest of the day.  We normally head there after our 3-4 hour working stint at the farm.  Arriving tired, hungry and dirty.  They never bat an eye at our condition, just welcome us and bring the coffee pot for Jo and Ron.  I can only testify about the breakfast, but have been told them make some great burgers too.

We were the first customers at 6 am and Jon was delighted to see us again.  Ron handed him a few heads of our garlic to try.  He is already a fan of our Shiitakes.  We know the menu so well that we are able to order without it.

Nicely full we head toward Vermont.  A beautiful day with little traffic on the NYS thruway.  Not our favorite way to travel but when we are on a time schedule, that is generally the best way.  The festival starts at 10 am and being Ron, he wants us there about 9:30.    Best thing about that road is the number of rest stops they have.  Just enough.

We arrived on schedule and already there were people waiting in line.  We were parked in row 7 already.  Well organized system they had too.  Smart people, they had Port-a-potties along the sectioned off walk ways from parking lot to entrance.  We chatted with the folks in line while we waited for the opening.

After a few years of hit or miss results, we now don’t grow peppers but Ron loves them. He is all about the hot sauce.  Vendors had so many samples to offer.   Have learned my lesson last year, I stayed away from the hot garlic samples.  They are too much for my palate.

By noon the place was full of people and enjoying themselves.   Lots of food vendors to choose from and music playing in the background.  Ron and I split a huge serving of garlic french fires.  Nice and crispy and just enough garlic flavor.

Ron stopped to talk with any NY garlic vendor he spotted.  The man likes to talk and most people are happy to share advice and information.

After a final walk through to make sure we did not miss anything, we were ready to head out.  Being me, our trip had to include at least one more stop.  And luckily The Vermont Country Store was only 36 miles away.  One of my favorite places to visit.   Huge variety of products, many that cannot be found anywhere else.  Come hungry if you like cheese.  They offer a huge selection of samples.  I never leave there without a bag or two of their crackers.

Unfortunately we could not find another place to stop that was at least sort of on our way home.   Ron had already decided he was going to try and nap on the way home so I was driver.  We did not want to be directed back to the thruway, so I had Jo changed GPS settings to avoid toll roads.  Not sure that was a good idea.  We started out fine, but after about 30 miles we were suddenly doing a lot of turning.  I lost track of the number of different roads we were on.  Beautiful scenery in both VT and NY so it was not hardship.  Brought back strong memories of my Mom and her constant desire to “take the scenic route”.   As a family we had some great adventures while traveling.   I actually married a men who likes to do the same.  Finding another way to get there makes him happy.

Safely home at 6 pm.  Ready for a beer and some relaxing.  We didn’t actually “work” on Saturday but driving does take it out of you.  Sitting for hours in the same spot gets to be uncomfortable pretty quickly.

Ron promises that we will not “waste” the next two days.  After all it is Labor Day weekend.  That means more work, right?