Weekend Visitor

This past weekend our good friend Jennifer came to visit. She and I used to work together at WIC in San Diego. Coincidentally we both moved away from San Diego around the same time - she went to Wisconsin, we came to Vermont. The first time I had seen her since San Diego was when Marc and I went to Green Bay last December. Luckily this year not only did she come visit us but we will see her again at her wedding in June.  

Having a friend visit was the perfect excuse for us to get out and visit some of the places we have been meaning to go to. First on the list was showing Jennifer our maple syrup making process. So we put her to work on Saturday morning and had her help us bring in the sap from the maple trees. After that we decided to finally explore the trail across the street from our house. On our hike we were able to see more of the river that runs under our driveway, a waterfall that was partially frozen and this tree.

After our hike we drove up to South Royalton to try out Worthy Burger. I had heard about it when it opened a little while back and Marc's coworkers have all been raving about it but we had yet to make the time to visit. It is a craft beer and burger bar located in the old freight house right along the railroad tracks. We took advantage of the warm weather and sat in the sunny outside dining room. The sunshine combined with the wood stove in the enclosed porch meant that Violet could kick her socks off and I could sit there in my tank top. It was gorgeous and the food was delicious! I especially liked their pickled green beans and pesto mayonnaise.

Speaking of Violet, I had been saving the giraffe print onesie (a hand-me-down from Violet's cousin Josie) for Jennifer's visit because I knew she would appreciate the pattern and it would give me an excuse to squeeze a headband on our little girl (Marc's not the biggest fan). Little did I know that I would finally get the opportunity to also catch a smile on film. I think we're going to have to convince Marc that headbands are okay to use. 

On Sunday we headed down to Windsor for lunch at the Harpoon brewery. Afterwards we stopped by the sustainable farmer, which is located next door. They often have weekend events that I've always been meaning to go to. Specifically I have been wanting to go to their mozzarella making class or experience one of their beer and cheese tastings. Unfortunately neither of those were happening on Sunday but we did sample quite a few cheeses and came away with a jar of maple butter. Afterwards we drove into Windsor to drive across the covered bridge. 

I'm not exactly sure what we were doing in the above picture but we might have been yelling "bridge"! Regardless it's obvious we were having fun together. On Monday my amazing husband offered to stay home with Violet and a bottle of expressed breast milk so that Jen and I could enjoy a leisurely brunch together. On Marc's suggestion we headed to Four Aces Diner so I could finally have the Eggs Benedict I had been looking forward to during my pregnancy. The diner did not disappoint. Sadly, after brunch Jennifer had to hit the road to make it back to Manchester in time to catch her flight back to Wisconsin.

I had such a great weekend exploring new sights and hanging out with a good friend. I am also really glad that Violet got to meet Jennifer before Jen's wedding, as I'm sure that weekend is going to be very busy! It was the perfect preview of spring and a reminder that despite having a newborn we can still have a great weekend out and about.