Vermont is beautiful country! I love our drives up there. It was sunny when we left, but even with dark clouds moving in on the horizon, the gold and orange trees glowed in the rustling wind. The emerald green farmland was laden with huge round pumpkins and golden corn. Cows grazed in fields of pastel wildflowers. Those green mountains seemed to literally touch the sky, thanks to the thick fog at their tops. Villages that go back to the Revolutionary War crowded around narrow highways, clapboard churches, and quaint antique shops with wrap around porches.
Lauren pulled into the gravel parking lot of the Vermont Country Store at Weston around 11:30. This is a vintage red farm house that sells everything from retro toys and games to old-fashioned candy and kitchen items to pastel milled soaps, herbal tonics, Vermont cheeses, maple syrups, and sausages, and lacy nightgowns. They have nifty vintage holiday decorations and all kinds of Peanuts items too, books, stuffed Snoopys and Woodstocks, sheets, games.
Trouble is, they may be practical and hard-to-find, but most of their wares are also expensive above the norm, especially their clothes. Soon as I could find it, I hurried upstairs to their sale area in the attic. Made some of my best finds here. I've only just begun to see those scratch-and-sniff stickers that were common as prizes in schools during the 80's again. There was a basket with four remaining. We're supposed to make a special Halloween theme with prizes for our tables on the day before Halloween. I hope the kids love them as much as we did! I also found a gorgeous maroon nightgown with a lace collar. Downstairs, I dug up jute coasters with a leaf and a pumpkin motif that weren't that expensive. Thought I'd try Fruit Jelly Stackers, which seem similar to fruit slices in a layered square rather than a half-moon shape.
I had just gone outside to wait for Lauren to finish her own shopping when I saw Mom had left a message on my cell phone. Turns out yes, they got the birthday card for Aurora in time for her birthday yesterday, and yes, Aurora loved the Disney gift card. She's a big Elsa fan! Mom and Keefe's wife Julia handled her birthday party. Keefe had to work on a new ship.
After Lauren came out with two bags of clothes for her and her parents and socks for her dad, we put everything in her car, then headed to Mildred's Table. The sit-down restaurant at the Vermont Country Store has been through several names and owners of late - last year, it was Mildred's Grill - but it's back in the Orton family at the moment. This is more industrial-rustic, with plain wooden beams on the ceiling and local artwork depicting Vermont scenes on the walls. Lauren had a massive grilled cheese and bacon sandwich on thick sourdough bread and a huge bowl of butternut squash bisque. I went for a simpler chicken salad wrap with lots of nuts and dried cranberries.
Mildred's Dairy Bar and Grill is attached to the back of Mildred's Table. It's basically the take-out version of Mildred's Table, with local ice cream and treats along with basic sandwiches and hot dogs. Lauren had a cup of black raspberry ice cream. I had a vanilla maple "Creamee" swirl in a cup with chocolate sprinkles. Yum! They know ice cream in Vermont. It was sweet and just maple enough.
It showered hard while we were in Mildred's, but the rain took a temporary leave of absence as we went across the street to the Christmas Shop. This old wooden house isn't as big as Winterwood in Rio Grande, but it's just as jammed full of every possible Christmas ornament that ever existed. I even saw soda can and peanut butter jar ornaments! Lauren got gifts for her parents and Rico. I didn't see anything I could carry home. Not to mention, my tree is jammed full as it is!
The Weston Village Store is next-door. It used to be Weston's town hall, but now it sells local souvenirs, Vermont-made cheeses and fudge, and novelty toys. Lauren bought Skittles-themed socks for Rico and Vermont sweatshirts for her and her parents. I just bought a small bottle of maple syrup, which is cheaper there than at the Vermont Country Store.
It was still just cloudy and windy as Lauren drove us down into Manchester. Pasttime Pinball at the Outlet Mall there is under new ownership, but it hasn't changed the experience. It's still rows of pinball history, from Humpty Dumpty, the first machine with flippers from 1947, to a lavish Elton John machine with a flashing LCD screen from three years ago. There's quite a few rarities there. I saw machines themed around Elvira, Happy Days (the original Eight Ball), Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Terminator 2, the first Addams Family film, Ghostbusters, Labyrinth, the first Toby Maguire Spider Man movie, The Wizard of Oz, and the 1994 action flop The Shadow. In addition to the recent Elton John machine, there was one from 1976 based on his Tommy character. They had Pin-Bot, Bride of Pin-Bot, Centaur, Diner, Ice Revue, Fish Tales, Paratrooper, and Space Shuttle.
Pinball can be a lot of fun, and I loved learning about the history behind the consoles, but after an hour, my hand got tired from pulling all those levers to get the ball going. I left Lauren playing every game there and went across the street to the Northshire Bookstore, dodging more heavy showers as I did. The Northshire Bookstore is in a charming old inn, but it's also a bit of a maze. I kept running into alcoves and more alcoves filled with new books, records, and stationary...but I was looking for the old books. I finally asked for directions to the used book room. It's right next to their cafe (which was closed by the time I got there). Thankfully, the used book room is much brighter and more open than the rest of the store. I finally came up with:
Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs (I don't often see the older Tea Shop Mysteries out in the wild.)
Grimm Curiosities by Sharon Lynn Fisher (Christmas-set British Victorian fantasy)
They had two American Girl Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, Baking and Breakfast & Brunch. I have a ton of baking cookbooks, so I went with Breakfast & Brunch.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped again by the time we were ready for dinner. Lauren drove us over to the small shopping center where the cozy little Japanese restaurant Sushi Boat is located. When we arrived, though...they were closed. They weren't supposed to be closed. They're normally open for dinner on Fridays.
We ended up across the street at the more elegant Thai Basil by default. They were a little pricey, but their food was good and their servings were massive. Lauren's bowl of beef pho was big enough to pass as a swimming pool. My chicken stir fry was served in a hollowed-out pineapple! Oh yum. Thai food tends to be spicy, but pineapple or no pineapple, my stir-fry was just the right melding of flavors. I had sticky white rice, too. I ate all but about half my rice. Lauren ate three quarters of that lake-sized bowl of pho.
Went straight in the shower when I got home, then watched Million Dollar Kid on Tubi. I went back a little further to the East Side Kids, when Leo Gorcey's name was Muggs, and he led a group of slightly younger hooligans that included Glimpy (Huntz Hall) and his decidedly not-kid cousin Herbie (Al Stone). They find a wallet that belongs to millionaire John Cortland (Herbert Heyes), who takes a shine to them and lets them use his son's gym. They end up helping out his family, including heading off a phony Frenchman (Stanley Brown) who is after his daughter Louise's (Louise Currie) money and getting his younger son Roy (Johnny Duncan) back on the straight and narrow.
Finished the night at YouTube with a rare animated fairy tale from Canada. The Admiral and the Princess apparently debuted there in 1990. A grandmother reads her grandson the story of a brave admiral who loved a spirited princess. They couldn't wed because she had to remain on land and prepare for her duty as queen. The king's evil advisor try to hypnotize the admiral to kill the king, but he couldn't do it. The King didn't want to kill him, so advisor punished him by turning him into a blue heron. When the king travels to a neighboring kingdom with his armada, the advisor intends to create a storm and destroy them. The princess' nurse is a sorceress and is able to turn her into an egret, so she and the Admiral can lead her father from danger. The Admiral does eventually defeat the advisor, but at the cost of his humanity. It's faithful nurse Renee who finds a way for the two star-crossed lovers to be together.
This was surprisingly sweet and even sad. The bittersweet ending and the advisor's gristly and fairly graphic demise after his blood crystal is destroyed are fairly rare in 90's animated fairy tales. Apparently, this disappeared for years before someone posted it on YouTube six years ago. The animation isn't the greatest, but it's still recommended if you love original fairy tales like I do.
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