Church Dinner

Day 31

October 9, 2010

Church Dinner

I didn’t know I’d be eating dinner at the Methodist Church Chicken Dinner this morning when I put on my WSU sweatshirt with Washington State across the front, but it was a conversation starter at dinner.  But that was the end of the day.  First things first.

Our B& B is operated by a couple who came here from the UK in 1985.  They visited often, worked in California and eventually returned to run their favorite B&B the Tucker Hill Inn. Originally built in the 1940s to house skiers drawn to the area by the “new and dangerous sport of downhill skiing.”, it is our haven at the end of the day.

 It’s been through years of renovations and updates.  We wake up to made to order banana walnut French Toast served with Vermont maple syrup.  There’s the basic cereal, fruit, yogurt and granola, but the French Toast is the centerpiece for breakfast.  I have to say, though, my favorite was hot tea made in a hot pot with water that had not been heated or stored in a pot that had held coffee.  This is a true tea lover’s delight.

The day was filled with easy rides to local tourist sites that also provided us with enough samples to that we called them lunch.  Ben & Jerry’s the famous ice cream was first.  It’s a fun spot with a fun tour that showed how two guys with a vision really did well with their idea.  Best of all were the free samples at the end.  Next stop was the cider mill with free samples while you watched them press layers of crushed apples with a 2.5 ton hydraulic press.  Free samples of apple jams and sauces were the second course and we finished with applesauce donuts-pretty good so far.  Then off to the creamery where people circled around a six foot table sampling cheeses from way to hot habanero to classic cheddars.  We could barely decide what to buy for our cooler.  These sites gave us the first real crowds of our travels so we considered ourselves lucky. 

Stuffed from the tasty samples we went into Montpelier, the state capitol.  We toured the gold domed capitol building and walked the main street looking for dinner.  We’d seen signs advertising Chicken Pie Dinner along the roads we’d traveled yesterday and today.  There on main street we found the church hosting the dinner.  Big signs outside encouraged ‘walk ins’ and so we did.  All the commercial spots looked like the same mix of Cobb and Caesar salads, sandwiches and chickens we’ve seen a few times before.  So, we opted for the most local dining experience of our travels.  For $10 each we were served a big scoop of chicken and dumpling casserole, coleslaw, potatoes, gravy, squash, cranberry sauce and beet-horseradish relish.  All the water, coffee or milk you could drink and fresh homemade pie.  It was good, fresh, hot and fun.  Wearing the WSU sweatshirt was a real conversation opener and we had nice visits with the people around us.  They offered ideas on their favorite sites and scenes in the area and we left completely satisfied.  The night was still early, so we went to the movie at the Capital Theater – one of the oldest theaters in Vermont and saw Life as We Know It.  We laughed and cried our way through the movie and then home to bed.