Fantastic Caverns was a ride on a Jeep drawn cart through old underground caves. There are very few of these around that are accessible by Jeep.

The formations are pretty cool and provide a fertile imagination with many ideas.

Out of the natural beauty into the man-made scenery of Zio’s Italian Kitchen. I found the floorplan and decor quite interesting.

Krissy’s grandfather picked us up late in the morning and we headed back up to Springfield to the Fantastic Caverns, one of the few underground caves you can ride a Jeep through.

The tour was quite interesting. We were told about the rate of growth of stalagmites and stalactites, and were then told to approximate the age of the cave by the length of the stalactites. Using this equation, they are old.

The caves were quite historical, found during the Civil War (I believe) and kept from the government’s radar by the finder so they weren’t used by troops. They were underground storage areas, bars during prohibition, KKK meeting areas, and entertainment areas, with a full bar and stage. Yes, one cavern was actually that big!

We were quite hungry upon leaving the caverns, so we headed to Zio’s Italian Kitchen. The fare was probably Olive Gardenish, but the decorations were even better. It was an open floor, with Italian columns and ambiance. My salmon was a bit fishy tasting, but it was an overall enjoyable experience.

On the way home, we just had to stop and experience for ourselves the wonders of Andy’s custard. In our Bangor, Mainer minds, it was just a slightly different version of a Dairy Queen. The Blizzards are called Concretes. I had mine with peanut butter cup, and it was delicious.

Sunday night we just lazed around the room, which became our normal evening habit. This is when I got most of my reading done. I finished two books (one I had started before we left) and started another during the entire trip.

We dropped my car off at the Doughty’s house so we wouldn’t have to pay a week’s worth of parking fees at the Portland airport. Scoob brought us to the Courtyard by Marriott where we had one night in a beautiful room and only a couple hours, all said and done, when we were conscious to enjoy it.

Our checked luggage was 61 lbs, so Delta was going to charge us an extra $90 fee. We decided to juggle some items around and transferred 12 lbs into our carry on. The carry on became rather bulky.

The flights were perfect. I thought the first one, to Atlanta, was actually kind of roomy. I had an aisle seat and my wife sat in between me and a young man who has been in the Marines for about a year. There were a couple of his Marine buddies on the plane and an older man in fatigues. We were safe from terrorists.

We were starving and had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta, so we hit Popeye’s for a meal and Ben & Jerry’s for dessert. Popeye’s was at 10 AM, but we had already been up for 6 hours, so it didn’t feel like chicken and biscuits for breakfast.

Atlanta had wifi, but I couldn’t get a good connection. It had electrical outlets for the laptop, but I didn’t see it until it was almost time to go. I read while Krissy tried to nap. We were both rather distracted from our goals by everything that goes on in an airport. Plus, there was a Delta credit card booth by us and the workers were constantly trying to get passers-by to sign up. Sucky job.

The flight from Atlanta to Springfield was smaller, but I had a window seat. Unfortunately I was too tired to really spend much time looking out. I sorta, mighta barely fallen asleep a couple times.

The Springfield airport is rather small, so we had no trouble finding Krissy’s grandfather and our checked luggage. As far as we could tell, nothing was missing from the luggage. Success.

We were planning on being treated to Lambert’s, home of the Throwed Roll [sic], however the wait was almost an hour. We were driven to Branson and taken to Panera instead. I know people really like their Panera, but when you’re expecting Lambert’s, Panera just isn’t all that.

We got a bit of a road tour of hilly Branson before we made it to the resort. We unpacked and then were taken to Harrison AR to get the truck we were borrowing. The drive is through the Ozark Mountains and is quite scenic.

We got back to the resort, unpacked, and got comfortable. I tried to set up the internet connection, but the computer wasn’t playing nice (it does that sometimes, even when the internet connection itself is fine). I got tired of fiddling around and we read the rest of the night.

12/24/09 – Went to my mother’s for her birthday and to swap Christmas gifts.

12/25/09 – Christmas at home. Then the wife’s dad and sister came over for gifts and lunch. Then to her mom’s house for gifts, and then to her aunt’s house with my wife’s entire family.

12/26/09 – We stayed inside all day. What a happy Saturday!

12/27/09 – Church in the morning, and then the Doughtys came a day early to stay with us! We went to Asian Palace II. It’s not all that.

12/28/09 – Got together with friends to have a prime rib dinner (delicious!), exchange gifts, and play a board game.

12/29/09 – I’m not sure we left the house for anything…the Doughtys were still here, though!

12/30/09 – The Doughtys left. We went to church that night. Then we drove to my wife’s work to look at the Christmas picture she painted on the window there.

12/31/09 – Lunch with my father and half-brother (on his side). It was great to catch up and get to know them a bit better. We stayed up until midnight, logging on to the computer just in time to watch the ball drop in New York.

1/1/10 – We didn’t leave the house. A great New Year’s Day. There was much computer time and much reading time. That’s my idea of a great day.

1/2/10 – We went to lunch with my mother and went grocery shopping, despite the snow storm that has been raging for two days, because we needed to get out of the house. Apparently the wife goes a little stir crazy sometimes.

1/3/10 – Another day without leaving the house. I think life is grand.

In my mind, living at the foot of one of those mountains would offer a lifetime of healthy exploration. Imagine being a child growing up with a mountain beside you. The trails, the streams, the trees, the places to make cabins. Oh, my childhood!

However, unless that’s all you like to do with your life, Vermont is probably not for you. There are few attractions that really aren’t all that exciting to do over and over and over your entire life. Decent shopping, whether for groceries or at departments stores, can be quite far away. So can reasonably priced restaurants, depending on where you live.

It was definitely a nice, serene place to visit, but I would not want to live there. Next year I hope to be on to bigger and better places.

Odd thing: Apparently Vermonters use little kids dressed up in silly outfits to attract people to their yard sales. I thought it was merely odd the first time, but thought I saw a pattern the second time.

Other than the long drive for lunch (and a book, and a couple CDs), we just stayed in the suite and read/played video games. We definitely wound down the last couple of days here.

Today…it’s sunny and bright. Not a cloud to be seen. And we have to leave. Sweet mother of irony.

Took a shower around 6…PM. Only got dressed because my skin started sticking to the wooden chair where I was sitting playing my computer game. At Oreos for supper and Ben & Jerry’s for dessert around 11 PM. Payed for it by 2:40 AM.

Krissy read 2 Nancy Drew books and the Reader’s Digest we brought. Today we really have to get out.

Day 5. Lazy day. Stayed in the suite quite a while reading and playing the computer game I brought. When we finally left, it was to drive 10 miles to a bookstore without any interesting books, then drive back to eat at a restaurant which turns out to not be a restaurant. Then we drove back and forth trying to find a place to eat before setting on a little roadhouse whose specialty is burning the food.

Finally we headed to a grocery store which charges more for Ben and Jerry’s than even the price-jacking store on site here at the resort. After that we decided to just come back, relax, snack, and go to be relatively early. I’m hoping against hope that today will be better.

On another note, I decided that if I ever had to build a 1,500 square foot one level home, this would be a great design to copy. Seriously. Two bathrooms, one with two sinks. I jacuzzi in the master bedroom’s bathroom. Three bedrooms, either of the spares plenty big enough for an office. A fireplace. It’s all very nice. I just need a two car garage attached and I could live here for quite a while to save up for my dream home.

Trapp Family Lodge. When the Von Trapps left the set of the Sound of Music, they settled in Vermont. Now their lodge is a timeshare. There is a good bakery on-site, though. We bought 4 things for under $10. They were all good.

Ben & Jerry’s Factory. We went through the tour again, just like last time we came to Vermont (2002?). I could not pass up the opportunity. Some people have a beer belly, I have a Ben&Jerry’s belly. Our free trial was raspberry cheesecake. It wasn’t too bad. I probably won’t buy the flavor, but it wasn’t too bad.

Cabot Creamery Annex. The actual Cabot creamery is a bit out of our way. The annex is rather nice, though. They have a new building all to themselves since we were here last. I sampled many cheeses. The smoked cheddar was rather nice.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill. The cider is good. It tastes like apple juice. Maybe I’m missing something. The doughnuts were pretty good, with their hint of apples.

Three Mountains Lodge. Despite the name, this is a restaurant. One of those rather expensive restaurants with strange things on the menu. We chose a lot of variety, but not an overwhelming amount of food for $35 (not including tip). I was stuffed for the rest of the day, though, by the end of the meal.

Sadly enough, I couldn’t find a decent, open restaurant all the way between Essex and here to take my wife out for dinner on her birthday. We’ll go tonight, instead, to the restaurant that’s open Wednesday through Sunday.