Ice Crash: Antarctica by Lynda Engler

Author:Lynda Engler [Engler, Lynda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Nick – Vermont

The car engine started at the push of a button, and we set off to play tourist in the Green Mountain State. I had wanted to head back to Massachusetts but was overruled by two persuasive teenage boys. Liam’s arm in a sling canceled our mountain adventure, but we could explore areas we had not seen before and revisit our favorite tourist traps. If Liam’s arm started hurting too much and he was no longer having fun, we could always just head home.

From our Bed and Breakfast in the center of the state, we headed north to Waterbury, to make our annual pilgrimage to the Ben & Jerry ice cream factory, for a tour and free samples.

We had done this tour so many times that I was sure I could recite the process of how the ice cream was made, not to mention that I also knew every joke the tour guides regaled us with. Before we left, we walked through the Flavor Graveyard outside the factory, took photos of the boys with their heads stuck through the holes of the stand-up cut-outs of the founders, plus had ice cream in the Scoop Shop, before driving to a nearby local pub in the quintessential Vermont downtown. I was dying for a good burger.

Liam’s arm was aching even after a dose of Tylenol, so we opted out of visiting the cheese shops and apple cider store, even if there were free samples at each. We were stuffed from lunch anyway, and we had no way to refrigerate any cheese we bought anyway.

I turned the car north. As the car engine sang to the country roads, we ventured further than I had ever visited, to the Northeast Kingdom town of St. Johnsbury, or Saint J as the locals called it. We spent the afternoon in the town’s elegant Athenaeum, perusing old books and looking at the art gallery.

“Why don’t they just call it a library?” asked Liam. “Athenaeum is pretentious.”

I mock scowled at him and said, “You uncouth barbarian!”

The boys laughed at my feeble academic joke. “It’s more than a library or art gallery. It was founded as a cultural center, but along the 19th century belief in lifelong learning. It gets its name from the Roman school for literary and scientific study in ancient Athens.”

Sebastian proved to me why I was grateful that he was my son’s best friend. “The Victorian architecture alone is worth looking at, along with the wooden circular staircases. And the gallery that looks down on the first floor is just cool! There aren’t a lot of libraries around anymore, since you can read almost anything online, but the books here are really old and they let you touch them! Thanks for bringing us here, Mr. Whitson.”

Perhaps there was hope yet for this generation.

We ate dinner that evening in a decidedly unpretentious restaurant before driving south to our Bed and Breakfast. I decided to call an early end to our adventure regardless of the kids’ complaints.

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