Ben & Jerry's

Last week marked our 10th Anniversary!

Did you know we haven't been on a vacation together - just the two of us - since our honeymoon?!
Sure one overnight in St. Jacobs - but that was it.  Everything else we've done, and everywhere else we've gone, has been with the girls.

Nothing wrong with that - but for my 10th I wanted just the two of us.
I wanted no responsibilities and I wanted to get away.

Only problem...  travelling is expensive and with both Hubby and Chloe's birthdays, not to mention Christmas, coming up - there really wasn't any wiggle room for a decadent getaway.

BUT
I have always wanted to go to Vermont during Autumn.
It's been on my wishlist for years - a Fall Foliage tour through the mountains and small towns.

So we did - 8 hour drive from London, ON to Burlington, VT and we had our adventure!

More on that tomorrow - but for today, I'm going to show you one of the (many) amazing places to visit in Vermont:

Ben & Jerry's.

In Waterbury, Vermont lies a Ben & Jerry's factory.
It might be the original factory, but I couldn't find confirmation online.
You know health-conscious, always dieting, no-sugar added people like us had to go and see what the fuss was about.  (that was written sarcasm in case it didn't translate)

From selling ice cream from a bus that they travelled the country in - to worldwide recognition - this must be some good ice cream?

I've only ever tried "Chunky Monkey" before (banana ice cream with chocolate chunks) - but check out the number of top sellers!
Our visit, and taste test, gave me a new favourite - New York super fudge chunk (chocolate ice cream with white chocolate chunks, chocolate covered almonds and I'm guessing some chocolate fudge - although it was lost in all the other chocolate going on).

They even have a flavour graveyard where there are stones to mark those flavours that didn't quite make the mark.

We’ve made a lot of euphoric flavors over the years, but, for better or worse, some of them have moved on to the great waffle cone in the sky. Tears of sadness are shed for our dearly de-pinted flavors, and we receive several thousand requests each year from our fans begging us to rein-cone-ate their favorite fallen flavor.      ~ benjerry.com

Now I know this ice cream is expensive - not more expensive than other premium brands - but expensive compared to the $5 four-litre version we usually buy BUT I have a new appreciation for why:

1.  Ben & Jerry's has a set group of farmers that they work with - these farmers are under contract not to feed their cows any types of hormones or steroids so that the milk is as pure as it can be.
2.  Ben & Jerry's supports "fair wage practices" which means that they pay their farmers a premium wage (both the farmers in Vermont and all over the world eg. Cocoa from Brazil etc).  This means that not only do they get the best ingredients, but also that the people providing those ingredients are also making enough to live on.  
I hadn't thought of the totem pole before - but this is something that we should all support.  It really is in our own best interests all around.

So maybe we have to buy less ice cream in order to balance out the cost - but hey, no one's waistline was hurt by eating less ice cream - and this is a much, MUCH better one.

We called our tour "Eating our way through Vermont", and this was the photo we sent home to the girls:

Aren't we mean parents?! lol  

Have a great one!
  
 


(note:  This is not a sponsored post.  Information included was just what I learned and wanted to pass along.)