A Real Dairy and Maple Sugar Farm

Each cow has their own stall and is waiting to give milk.

When they want a drink they push on the yellow hose and water comes out, how cool is that!

Of course you need cats on a farm.

The brown one is a dog (kinda funny having a weiner dog on a farm)  The others are little kitties.

So the idea is that the bar keeps the backed up to the trough so that their business doesn't go all over.  John needs some additional training.

They have 600 dairy cows and 700 acres.

This little guy was born just a few days ago.

This property is in Vermont just a few miles from the Canadian border.  It is so beautiful and green, the only thing was one of the momma cows was ready to give birth and mooed all night long. Not any worse than staying at the Flying J gas station and listening to the trucks.

They get sap from their maple trees and process it to make maple syrup.  It takes over 20 gallons of sap to make a gallon of "real" syrup.  They gave us samples of the different grades, some is so sweet you can not drink it, that they use in baking.

Just taking a break, the tour is over and we get to stay the night.

Yep thats us, right there on the farm.  John don't go getting any ideas about a silo or hay barn.

MIssisquoi ( no not Mississippi)

Tinkers Barn, very cool lots of "stuff", John bought a  water pump.

John went up the hill to see the "cow"

John ran down the hill, it was a bull with very little fencing.

This was the trail we took in the Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge.

This park is in Vermont near Swanton.

Yes we both came on the trip, we have so few pics of us together, have to remember to use the auto feature of the camera.

John's favorite part of the hike.

Vermont Farms and Lakes

Meet Zach, a Scottish highlander, who now  lives at Mazza's Fruit and Flower Farm.  We stayed overnight here and helped them out by buying many bakery items.  

This is Annie, she liked the carrots, the goats did not.  Cute pony, Julia ask Grandpa to get you one. 

His own office supplied by P & P company.

John is just a natural farmer....there is a letter missing, is it an E? 

Our own private campground, they allow 2 motorhomes to stay, you can help on the farms or buy products.

He wasn't so scarey afterall, just BIG!

Lake Champlain Vermont.

Thank you to all our military who have protected and served America.

Apple Island, part of a chain of Islands that run up Lake Champlain.  New York to the West,  Vermont to the East.  We played the 9 hole course twice.

I couldn't edit the pic before downloading, but for all you tool buffs. Over 3,000 tools dating back to colonial days.

Kayaks tomorrow.

Sunshine, yes finally we can use the tablecloth and sit outside!

missed my putt and lost by 1, rats!

Where in the world is Keeseville

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Hi from Keeseville New York in Upstate across from Vermont and Lake Champlain 30 miles from Canada.  Shannon lived there in the first and third grades, 2 different houses in the Adirondack Mts. The ferry from Burlington to Keeseville does not run until June 1 so we drove south and took the Charlotte to Essex NY. It was a fun ride, a little rough from the storms and a lot windy.  FYI, I am now using Megan's old MAC computer, I hope things look OK so let me know if the pics are like weird.  They are BIG to me and I am not really sure where I am writing.

Ok, so now I don't know how to move the pics around so this is  the forest right behind my house.  My brothers had me convinced that this was a snake pit and that millions of snakes lived here.  I had a re-occuring nightmare for years about this pile of rocks.

Keeseville dates back to the early 1800's and is famous for it's bridges and the Au Sable River and early manufacturing of horse nails.

John getting a birds eye view of the landing.

I rarely went to church, only Sunday School but the time I remember this is the pew I sat in.  Today was Trinity Sunday and everyone was given a bowl of neopolitan ice cream during the sermon (even the pastor ate while she talked) to explain the sermon, there were about 25 in attendance of the one service at 11.  Needless to say John really liked this Church.

Down from the rock pile, right behind our house was this pond.  It was a great source of fun for the 4 Downey children. Ice skating in the winter  or letting Laddie our collie dog pull us on the sled.   In the summer we would float our galvinized tub only when it wasn't full of polly wogs.

I think this is the second house we lived in, although they were pretty much all the same, I can tell by the distance from the freeway overpass.  We would sled down the hills with all 4 kids and it would make it up the hill to the other freeway lanes an turn around and do it all over again.  My sister use to walk across the freeway on the railing which sent all the area moms calling our house in hysterics.  

What a fun "swinging bridge" only about a mile through the woods from our house and we could really get this rocking and rolling.  It was a raining and about 45 degrees today.

The stone bridge in the background is a single -arch bridge made from sandstone built in 1842.  This is the second longest stone span in America today. 

Arnold's is still here, his father ran it before him.  With mere pennies Tim and I would cut through the forest and come for chum gum, hot dog bubble gum, lincoln logs and various other penny candy.  

John is stirring the soup and getting ready for a feast!  Sorry Megan, I forgot to give you your tomato soup so we have to eat it for you.

We are spending the night with one of our "Harvest Hosts" they are farms and such that allow RV's to stay, you can help pick or work in various ways including making purchases.  So we had to buy some cheese bread, eclairs in addition to our lettuce and fruits.  The alarm is set for 6:30, they open at 7 with homemade donuts and they tell us there is a line.  The sun came out!!!!  5 days of rain (which has not stopped us from having fun) but we are looking forward to sun and 60 degree weather tomorrow.  

Drowning in New England

There is a reason it is so green in the New England States, all that rain.  We are trying to bring some home, luckily it is pouring only at night, just raining during the day.

Concord is the state capital of New Hampshire

We took a scenic train ride through the White Mtns with entertainment by Hobo the clown.

The only adult on the train.

Rivers everywhere, water everywhere. 

We have seen about 5 covered bridges, this one we think was made for golf carts.

No, not New Hampshire, this is Montpelier Vermont.

Now you know, bring your pooches in for their free dish.

Ben & Jerry's began in Vermont, they have 2 factories here.  We did the tour, they have over 60 flavors at a time.

Our free sample of Chia ice cream, it was really good but not on the market yet.

This is where the retired flavors go, to the graveyard,  hundreds of flavors. We did buy a huge jar of hot fudge and that will be our dinner.  Another week gone, tomorrow we will visit my childhood home of Keeseville New York and attend the church that Jesus called my name. We miss our family and friends and hope you enjoy this little bit of America we are seeing together.