Here’s a lesson in why you shouldn’t let your cell phone monopolize your brain while traveling; because if you become easily distracted by texting, Pandora selections, and Instagram-liking (and yes, I love doing all of these things), you may miss something REAL and more important:
Last week we took a little family skiing trip to Vermont. As I may have mentioned before, Vermont has a special place in my heart because I went to college there, met my husband there, and have always found a strong kinship with the whole Green Mountain State vibe. On our way home we decided to take a different route than our normal Rte 9 South from Burlington to Middlebury. There are so many lovely, windy country highways in Vermont to choose from, that you can pretty much take your pick and not be disappointed by the scenery. We chose to take Rte 22A and cut west through the town of Vergennes, a recently revitalized railroad town which borders Lake Champlain. There must have been something in my subconscious (stomach) pulling me to this place, because right as we were cruising through the center of town, I happened to look out the car window and spotted Vergennes Laundry. “Stop the car!” I yelled at Tim. Not because I a sudden desire to put in a load of whites, but because I realized that I had read about this place–a bakery located in an old laundry–a few months ago on the photographer/writer/illustrator Todd Selby’s website and had, until that moment it flashed by the car window, forgotten I wanted to go there one day. Since I was busy posting the following photo on Instagram of a giant Dutch pancake, I almost missed an amazing food find(but it’s worth noting that this pancake contained grated potatoes, onions, and cheese inside and was topped with sour cream and apple sauce–clearly this needed to be on Instagram):
Instead of LOOKING AROUND, I would have missed all of this:
The giant bakery oven and stacks of flours in the back part of the simple yet beautiful shop.
These “Love Buns”—little cinnamon buns baked with grapefruit and lemon zest.
And inspirational touches like the menu written on a roll of brown paper hanging on the wall behind the counter.
And most importantly, the food, like these delicious almond biscotti (and all of the other goodies pictured at top) that I brought home with me and dunked in my coffee for breakfast the next day…
Imagine what I would have missed if I hadn’t peeked up from my phone in that one precious moment? I think the moral is to NOT let Instagram and any other sort of rabid smartphone food chronicling cause you to miss an actual REAL food experience. Or even worse, the chance to eat biscotti for breakfast.
