Vermont!

We got to go to Vermont for Thanksgiving, which was lots of fun. It was also the first year ever that I went without seeing my family and that I cooked a substantial amount of food. I brought two pies, sweet potatoes, and squash to Lelani and Jon's. Jake brought a cranberry salad. I also made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes while we were there. Lelani made lumpia (egg rolls) and potato salad. Jon made cheesecake. Lelani and Jon were awesome enough to go out and buy a free-range turkey from a local farm. We named him Stephen. He weighed 18 pounds. He took a long time to cook through. Here is his picture:



On Friday, we made our way up to Middlebury, VT. On the way, we stopped at the New England Maple Museum. While in Middlebury, we went to a bunch of little shops, saw Otter Creek Falls, and toured the Otter Creek brewery (which also produces Wolaver's Organic Beer).

On Friday evening, we helped out at the Boys and Girls' Club. A whole bunch of kids were there to see Santa. Jake and I had the job of giving each kid that sat on Santa's lap the choice of a cheap toy out of a basket. Most were OK (pencils, punching balloons, little plastic cameras with Xmas images inside, etc.), but there was one toy that I wished wasn't in there. Mini-sticky hands...oh my. We had the problem that one kid actually thought it was candy and started to eat it. His parents were like, "Is that food?", and Jake and I had to be like, "NO!"

On Saturday, we drove around to Woodstock and Quechee. We saw the Quechee Gorge, which is advertised as the "Grand Canyon of Vermont". Here's a picture:



Saturday night, Lelani and I got into a debate over whose eye Mallory Nelson shot acid into while we were in high school. Lelani though Andy Disterhaft, and I thought Andy Wesner. We wound up calling Bill and asking him. Bill thought Andy D., so I lost that bet.

Jake and I had to take off for home early on Thursday morning. Sadness...