Alternate Vacation in Manchester, Vermont

"The best laid plans..."

We were planning on traveling to Austin, Texas to attend SXSW. We went last year and had a great time. My wife again received a stipend to write about the movies shown at the festival. This was just when the Coronavirus was starting to rear its ugly head. Large gatherings of people were beginning to get cancelled. We were hoping the date of SXSW would be early enough so it would not be cancelled. Unfortunately the festival was cancelled by the City of Austin, not the organizers. As much as we were disappointed, we realized this was the smart course of action. Testing was not even being talked about at this stage and the 100,000 attendees were coming in from around the world. Also, traveling in a hermetically sealed aluminum tube for 4 hours with recycled air would not have been the healthiest decision.

We still had the approved time off and wondered what we should do. My wife suggested Manchester, Vermont. She and her mom were visiting Bennington, Vermont years ago. They decided to take a ride north on 7A to look for Todd Lincoln's summer home in Manchester, Vermont. Afterwards, they continued north into town for lunch. She was so enamored with Manchester, she remembered the town years later. Hmmm...the Green Mountains, a quaint New England town, long, open stretches of open road...I'll start packing!

In the end it worked out perfectly. We went to bucolic Vermont, we had no schedule, we visited Bennington for an afternoon, and just chilled.

 My wife executing a pincer move to secure a piece of bread.

Local Vermont cheese? Yes, please!

I ordered the Shepard's Pie with braised ribs and my wife tried the Caesar's Salad with shrimp. 

The cost of the breakfast buffet was included in the price of the room.

North Meadow Farm

The only stipulation my wife had for the trip was she wanted to visit a farm. Since it was winter, the farm was closed for the season. However, the owner saw us wandering around and was kind enough to let us feed some of the animals.

Hello!

Zoey's Double Hex Restaurant

Meatloaf with rice pilaf and green beans for me and fish with the same sides for my wife.

Ponce Bistro

These sandwiches were made from local vendors and were beyond delicious.

Porsche Cayenne GTS

BMW M5 (F90)

The Battle of Bennington

No relation to Tony.

Madison Brewing Company

The security guard for the ATM.

Buffalo Chicken Salad for her and the Brats for me. 

The International Boxing Hall of Fame

Driving west on Route 90 in 2018 on our way to Toronto, we passed The International Boxing Hall of Fame. This year on the way to Toronto, we built in time to stop and tour the HOF.

The hall was really just one big room. Although it is well curated, the amount of memorabilia on display is small.

Boxing or a form of hand-to-hand combat in its simplest form is millennia older than all these other sports. The Boxing HOF website states,"...the shrines to baseball, football, and basketball are located in the ancestral homes to those sports. But boxing has no such geographical origin" or timeline that can be at least traced. Since the other major sports could trace their geographical origins their HOF are much older than boxings. Here is a list of the years the other major sports established their HOF:

Baseball 1939
Hockey 1943
Tennis 1954
Basketball 1959
Football 1963
Boxing 1989

The International Boxing Hall Of Fame

Rocky Marciano

"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler

This is the pavillon used for the induction ceremony

This was a nice touch! The actual 82-year boxing ring from Madison Square Garden.

2019 Canadian F1 Grand Prix, Part II: The Food

The Farmhouse Tap and Grill

We stopped in Burlington, Vermont for lunch. My wife suggested this place from a recommendation on Foursquare. A local hard cider, then cheesy biscuits for the appetizer, and a vegetarian sandwich for her and the ground pork sandwich for me.

yeah...no thanks!

Souvlaki Bar Restaurant

We were missing our yearly Greek Festival tradition back home, so we had it for dinner. It was good, but nowhere near as good as the food from the festival.

yeah...no thanks!

The antipasto plate at Dunn's

Dunn's Famous Delicatessen

This delicatessen made the smoked meat sandwich famous. It is similar to pastrami and corned beef.

How could we not eat at Jean-Talon, surrounded by all that delicious food?

Campo's

She found a place that specializes in poulet portugais (Portuguese chicken). 

Le Blumenthal

It was challenging finding a place to eat in Montréal as there were thousands of hungry race fans who also wanted to eat. We found this brasserie on Saint Catherine Street and she ordered the pasta of the day and I chose the burger.

Carlos & Pepe's 

Our last night in Montréal found us at a chain taqueria. Since we had eaten food from Greece and Portugal, we thought to throw in Mexico as well. The beef burrito and the shrimp fajitas were ok. Someone wanted me to hurry up and take the picture as she was very hungry (check out the hands!)

Henry's Diner

On the way home we stopped in Burlington, Vermont for a late breakfast. I ordered a Denver Omelet and she ordered the amazing Breakfast Skillet (I wished I ordered that as well!).