The Green Mountain State

What do I know about Vermont? Not much, I know that I stopped at a rest stop there with my mom in August of 2002 on our way to Maine. I know that it is the home to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and that they have lots of Maple Syrup. I know that my childhood neighbors Howard & Leanor would always bring us back Maple Syrup from their trips to Vermont. So why all the interest in Vermont? Well one of my dearest friends, let's call her Julie Foster our favorite Dairy Queen employee from Columbia, Missouri (she was employee of the month for like 5 years straight, however she never was working, how does that work?), and her husband are moving to the Green Mountain State, I was pulling for him to get a residency in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, however Mother Nature and an ice storm foiled our plans and forced his flight to be canceled and when you are a medical resident it turns out you don't have a lot of free time to make more trips. I am saddened, however, I decided to devote myself to learning more about this mysterious "Green Mountain" Ice Cream Natural Toothpaste state in the northeast. So I spent the evening after the gym with my good friend Wikipedia, were all good bloggers go to find accurate information, that in the vacation Vermont website.

Here are a few things I have learned about Vermont, our 14th state however it's the 49th smallest state in population, only state smaller in population is Wyoming. The state bird is the hermit thrush, flower: red clover, state tree: sugar maple, that's a nobrainier , state pie: apple, they have both a state cold water and warm water fish, neither which I will name here, state mineral: talc, state beverage: milk, remember these people are healthconscious with their natural tom's toothpaste you will not find soda on this state's rooster and finally the state mammal, the Morgan horse, there are more but it's my blog and those are the ones I care about. Here are a couple of notableVermontinians or are they Vermonters, hmmm... none the less here they are: Ted Bundy, serial killer, Calvin Coolidge, 13th President, Howard Dean, former Presidential Candidate & Senator and head of the Democratic Party, Bob Keeshan a.k.a. Captain Kangaroo, & of course our friends Ben & Jerry.

The Vacation Vermont website (which is very slow loading for me tonight) is still promoting snow, which makes me wonder how long their winters are. I told Julie Foster tonight that she must embrace snow, love it, start skiing or snowboarding, because it's either that or spending most of the year wishing you were in a warmer state, which brings you down. That was my plan for Michigan this winter, which only got as far as getting a ski coat for Christmas, maybe next year I will use it for its intended purpose. As I read more about the weather it is know for it's mild falls, cold snowy winters, with annual snowfall up to 100 inches and it's mud season also know as spring.

Vermont however is offering to fuel your vacation. Which of course I have entered, because I am now planning to go there. However, I am intrigued by the Green Mountain Film Festival which is currently ongoing in Montpelier, the capital. They promote the bohemian lifestyle with art, music, winter sports and lots of maple syrup. So I must say, Julie Foster, I am very excited about my visit and maybe I will get to put my new ski jacket to good use.