VT Sites & Eats: Montpelier

When Neil and I first moved (back for me) to Vermont we ended up living in the state capital of Montpelier. While it wasn’t our favorite place to live as newlyweds it has always been one of our favorite Vermont cities. We loved living within walking distance to the downtown shops and restaurants and the co-op. When we saw a deal for one of our favorite Montpelier spots pop up on Localvore Today, a Vermont deal site, we decided to jump at the deal and planned a day trip to Montpelier.

Our first stop in Montpelier was to our Localvore Today deal spot,Three Penny Taproom, one of our favorite spots and totally worth the drive to Montpelier. When we lived in Montpelier Three Penny was just a small taproom with bar seating for about 20 or so people and the fall before we moved it expanded and now has a dining area.

VT-Montpelier-ThreePennyOutside VT-Montpelier-ThreePennyTap-Part1ofBeerMenu

While I longingly perused the three boards of beer options I of course ended up with a non-alcoholic option- Rookie’s Rootbeer. While not one of my favorite Vermont beers Rookie’s is a Vermont made rootbeer that is just so good and I have enjoyed far to many on this trip.

VT-Montpelier-ThreePennyTap-RookiesRootBeer

To go with my rootbeer I had the falafel with greens which was good. My parents had the burger, a small order of spicy wings and salad and they really enjoyed their food as well. I look forward to returning to Three Penny when I am not pregnant so that I can actually enjoy a Vermont beer. VT-Montpelier-ThreePennyTap-Falafel

After lunch we wondered around Montpelier stopping into our favorite shops which included Zutano where I picked up a few hats for baby #2, Bear Pond Books and Splash Naturals. Of course we had to make a stop at Hunger Mountain Coop to browse and pick up some of our favorite bagels.

VT-Montpelier-Splash VT-Montpelier-FamilyPhoto2

Family bridge photo!

Coming up: Adventures in Burlington and Stowe/Waterbury!

Healthy Travel Snacks

Hello from Vermont!

We are here for a few more days and have been busy, busy, busy! I wanted to stop by for a minute and share some of our favorite healthy travel snacks that we brought with us this trip. These are perfect for plane, train or automobile and are super tasty.

When we used to travel we would bring lots of unhealthy treats because I mean come on we were on vacation right? Well over the years we have changed our diet and lifestyle and instead of chips and candy we take fresh vegetables, fresh and dried fruits, kale chips, nuts and other healthier snacks.

Vegan Travel Eats

On this trip we brought:

  • Go Raw Pumpkin Super Chips
  • Fig Cookies
  • Glee Gum
  • Inner Peas
  • Freeze Dried Strawberries
  • Lots of Blue Diamond Almonds
  • Strawberries
  • Mangos
  • Bell pepper and carrot sticks
  • Hummus
  • Bottles for water

Vegan Travel Blue Diamond Almonds

We ate the fresh fruits, veggies and hummus on/in between our flights and have been snacking on the other items throughout our trip. We are staying with my parents and they live in the Middle of Nowhere, Vermont population 697 so we end up doing a lot of driving while we are here and healthy on the go snacks and bottles of water are essential.

I’m going to need to restock for our trip home so I might have a few new things to share later!

What are you favorite travel snacks?

Baby Wearing Me Out

Although Edie slept beautifully this morning I was still in need of a little pick me up so I whipped up a 5 Sparrow Snow Ghost Frappe* made with Chameleon Cold-Brew. The frappe tasted just like something you could pick up at a coffee house for an arm and a leg but it was made at a fraction of the cost at home with unsweetened almond milk. I sucked this back quick and I am looking forward to trying the other flavors that 5 Sparrow have including the chai.

After enjoying my coffee frappe I spent the remainder of the day nursing a baby who just couldn’t eat enough; today was one of those challenging nursing days.  When I was finally able to take a quick break and Neil was able to have a little daddy-daughter time I whipped up two big salads for Neil and I for lunch.

Ingredients:

leftover potato-summer squash-chickpea hash

radishes

heirloom tomatoes

greens

shredded cabbage

red onion

mushrooms

Drew’s Roasted Garlic & Peppercorn Salad Dressing for me and Lemon Goddess Salad Dressing for him

After lunch I was back at my nursing station on the couch for a few more hours.  In between feedings I was able to get a little bit of work done on the computer and played with Edie when she wasn’t fussing to eat or needing to be changed (we went through so many diapers today!).

As a snack I decided to try a Good ‘n Natural bar but after one bite (that I couldn’t finish) it ended up in the trash bin; the texture and flavor was awful.  Neil tried the other two flavors that we had but after a small bite of each he came to the same conclusion- they were all awful.  So instead I had a KIT’s ORGANIC bar instead which I already knew was tasty.

Once Neil finished up working for the day (he is working from home this week and next) we decided to head downtown to the local wine shop to pick up a few bottles of wine and use our Living Social deal. When we arrived downtown we put Edie in the Boba wrap and she fell asleep instantly so we headed to the wine shop and picked up two bottles of red and a beer for a gift.  Since Edie was still sleeping peacefully we decided to stop into American Flatbread for a beer. I had a 6oz pour of Juhlia which is a sahti (for you beer geeks) and Neil had a pint of the TLA IPA (and about 1.5oz of my Juhlia because it was a high alcohol beer).  It was amazing to sit outside and enjoy a beer with Neil while Edie just slept peacefully.

This evening I bathed Edie and put her to bed while Neil made dinner (veggie burgers and homemade baked potato “chips”).  Now it’s time to sit back, relax and watch a few shows on Netflix before heading to bed.

Today on Naturally Family check out our post on our DIY Nursery Art.

Disclaimer: 5 Sparrow provided me with their product at no cost. I was under no obligation to review them if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.