Sunday came far too quickly. Erin finally let me sleep in, and we had a slow morning getting up and getting packed up. After loading up the car, we headed down to a bistro for brunch and then started the drive home.

We still had one stereotypical, quintessential Vermont activity to check off the list: a sugar house. A sugar house is where maple syrup is processed during sugaring season. We missed this year’s season by about a month or so, but many sugar houses remain open for tourists to visit. We weren’t able to make it too an actual sugar house, sadly. So, we hit up a maple sugar museum just south of where we were staying in Brandon instead.

We learned all about process of making maple syrup, and then got to try some different flavors – including chili pepper, my new favorite. We bought some Grade B syrup (used for cooking) and a maple syrup cookbook. I am most excited about making lamb and eggplant maple curry! Erin and I love love lamb – so this could be a new household staple.

And, of course, before we could leave, Erin met a moose!

She barely made it out alive…

We made it home late Sunday night, and it was back to life as normal Monday morning. We got lots of yard work done Monday night – which was lucky considering stormy weather has blown into town, and it’s been dumping rain all day. The rest of the week isn’t looking too good either, so we are missing the warm and sunny Vermont weather!

The contractor we’ve been working with in remodeling the basement came Monday, and the renovations are finally officially underway. I’ll post pictures as the progress continues. And, with any luck, it won’t take as long to finish as it has to get to this point!

Hope everyone is having a good start to their week!