NE Trip 2016
Day 4 - Wed Aug 31 2016

The day started with breakfast at Trader Duke's,  I got the Grilled Oatmeal, Janice got an omelette.  We ended doing what we are calling a "Monica" - that's where we split our dishes so we can share.  Then we checked out.

We went back to Burlington to visit the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory.  Gourmet or high-end chocolates made with the best of Vermont's ingredients - and of course cocoa brought up from the tropics.  Lots of samples and a pretty good narrative as to how chocolate is made.  We got there a little early for the next tour, so we took a walk to the "Earth Clock".  Reminded me of Stonehenge!

It was only a 10 minute walk away.  We met a local and asked about Oakledge State Park and decided to go there after the chocolate factory.

By the way, Lake Champlain Chocolates was guarded by a huge spider!

We got to Oakledge about 2 and stayed for about an hour.  Very nice place.  This was also a property formerly related to the Webb family from the Shelburne Museum.  There was something called The Forever Treehouse, and a short walk to a cove the looked out across the bay to Burlington.

We took off north to the Champlain Islands.  We had a reservation for dinner at the North Hero House Restaurant and Inn.  We'd heard that Bernie Sanders had recently bought a place near there and had dined there.  Our waitress told us that he never did.  He did visit the small General Store just a 5 minute walk from there.  We ended up doing that too because we were early for our reservation.  Very nice place on the water (northeastern part of Lake Champlain).  Janice got a salmon dish that she liked.  I got sea scallops - probably the best I've ever had!

After dinner we took off for Montreal.  Took about an hour and 20 minutes.  We crossed the border into Canada - a really small border station with a friendly Canadian border guard.  Thanks goodness for GPS.  The signs are all in French - a smattering of English once in a while.  And hitting the city about 7:00 PM - a little daunting.  We got to the hotel, checked in, settled ourselves and then on advice from the concierge Walked a few blocks to the Maison du Jazz - House of Jazz.  Very cool funky place with a great quartet.  Got back to the room about 11:00 PM

Hoping to see Theo for dinner tomorrow night.  We'll explore during the day.  Probably Mile End.