Around and around in circles today-

 Today, we started toward Burlington, and wound up going in  complete circles...for hours.  I forgot how when you get close to the Canadian border, the phone/internet signal drops.  

First stop in Bernie Sanders state was Ben & Jerry's.  My cone was so big I had to throw half of it out. I got Cherry Garcia flavor. It was okay.

Here's the outdoor mall in Burlington.

Here is "The den of antiquities,"- advertised as the biggest and best antique store in Vermont.

Vermont is a very very very liberal state, but in front of this General Store or two benches one for Democrats and one for Republican. The whole time we were in Vermont we only saw like for Trump signs and one Harris sign and most people were just promoting local elections.

Today the breakfast spot I wanted to take Penny to was closed as was everything else in town because it was Wednesday and everything is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday because businesses are open for the weekend.

We looked unsuccessfully for moose and deer. I saw one deer. No moose.  

The lunch place I wanted to take Penny to was also closed as was the tram at the top of Jay Peak due to the heavy winds. It was a day of flops. Prices are excessive along the highway.

The signal kept dropping on the GPS so when it would pick up it would take us back where we've been, resulting in us going in circles after circles after circles all day long.

A simple hour and a half trip to Burlington took us 3 hours. It rained and it was dark outside so Penny didn't get to see the full effect of the vibrant leaves in the trees against the mountains and the winding ribbons of roads.

Finally, we had breakfast at the top of Jay Peak Ski Hill in the resort. Sixteen dollars for two eggs and burnt Hash browns . There were  like six people there at the whole ski.resort. I think the population of Montgomery is like 2002!

The restaurant where I had the best fish of my life was also closed so we went to some Pub and ate pub food for dinner.  Well, actually Penny had a salad and a glass of wine and I had a beer and a piece of carrot cake. More chocolate when we got home.  So much for losing weight on this trip.

Once in Burlington, we shopped the four blocks of outdoor malls. The only thing I found was an octopus soap holder for the bathroom. Everything, all the prices were astronomical. The ice cream cone cost $10, a cup of coffee cost $10-, where are all these people getting this money? The mall was kind of a has been place with lots of homeless people wandering aimlessly trying to panhandle although no one was interested in giving money. A lot of homeless teenagers and young adults.

We were supposed to stop and see Jonathan my old colleague from Oak Park but he was busy teaching as he had come out of retirement. He worked in Burlington.

We stopped at "the largest antique shop in Vermont" only to find the biggest rat trap there it was a place which  looked like it might fall over as Penny climbed over the boards and took pictures.

It was only 40 minutes out of the way.  Then we kept losing our signal all the way home to Montgomery from Burlington. We wound up deep in the woods in a pitch black Vermont night at about 7:00 p.m. I promised to get Penny home safely although she was sighing and starting to shake.  We laughed ourselves silly finding our way home as we kept going in circles upon circles. Then we realized we were looking for Mullen Road instead of Mullen Street on our GPS, so we finally got home in about 8:00 p.m. those curling ribbons of highways are not easy to drive in the night, but we made it.  

We got home and ate cheese curds and crackers and more chocolate. Penny keeps to be pulling an unending supply of that stuff out of her ears every day. 

We laughed ourselves silly on the road during this crummy, no good, horrible day.