We had a super coffee and chocolate stop at Rabble-Rouser in Montpelier today. First time I’ve ever been served a coffee in a mason jar with a lid. Worked well except for driving.
We saved the Mona Lisa in 56m 16s at the Greatest Caper Escape Room in Montpelier. Austin, the owner, has created a great room and makes sure everyone has a great time. 👏 Room 35!
Family selfie at the Vermont State House in Montpelier.
Connected Device Disclosures for Rental Properties
We’ve been staying almost exclusively in Airbnb properties for a while now. We enjoy the unique accommodations and the ability to stay in locations that are not served by traditional hotels.
As connected smart home devices like cameras and sensors get more popular it is common to find them in rental properties. I understand why owners want to have connected devices. It almost certainly helps them manage the property. We have some cameras at our cabin so I can keep tabs on the property when we are not there.
Given the frequent appearance of connected devices I’d like to see properties disclose what is in use and why. The disclosure could list:
- Device type: camera, thermostat, speaker, sensor.
- Manufacturer: who makes the device.
- Model: what is the specific device.
- Location: where in the property is the device located.
- Access: list every entity (person, management company, service provider) that has access to the device and what they can do remotely.
A disclosure would help give peace of mind to the people staying in the property while still providing the benefits to the owner. It would help answer questions when you see a device that is clearly online and is unclear what it is there for.
Vermont Road Trip Log: Day 8, Saturday
We are dedicating this day to our friend Ellen. Ellen is from this area of Vermont and most of the activities today are great suggestions from her!
Weather: Nice morning. Hot and humid in afternoon. Rain showers during outdoor theater, got plenty wet. Rain into the evening.
- 7:30a: Depart the Schoolhouse.
- 9:35a: Breakfast at Skinny Pancakes
- Shopping in Woodstock: Woody’s Mercantile, Unicorn, Collective: The Art of Craft, Vermont Eclectic Company, Woodstock Gallery, Clover, Gillingham’s General Store,
- Quick visit to Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller National Historical Park.
- Coffee stop at Abracadabra Coffee. Iced coffee, cans of cold press, and beans for home.
- 1:07p: Simon Pearce Gallery
- 1:49p: King Arthur Flour Company
- 2:30p: Depart for Glover, VT.
- 4:00p: Bread & Puppet Theatre
- 6:00p: Drive to Treehouse, defer check-in due to rain.
- 6:45p Dinner at Salt Bistro
- 8:35p: Back to Treehouse and unload in the rain, up two flights of stairs, in the dark.
- 9:40p: Treehouse doesn’t have WiFi. Went to enable Mobile Hotspot on my iPhone and to my surprise my new AT&T plan doesn’t support that. Spent 30-mins with customer support fixing that.
Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 of Vermont Road Trip.
Bread and Puppet Theater
I don’t know if we would have ever found Bread and Puppet Theater without a recommendation from our friend Ellen but it was well worth the additional drive to Glover, VT. Bread and Puppet has been putting on political theater since 1974 in this location. The performances feature funny and serious skits, people on stilts and giant flags, and of course puppets of all sizes and shapes.
The “stage” and the band warming everyone up for the show.
A flag performance.
The turkey skit was the funniest of the show.
Giant puppet that was part of the Domestic Resurrection Circus after the main event.
Mazie and I got some bread with a heavy garlic butter shmear.
Why do they serve bread with the theater?
“We give you a piece of bread with the puppet show because our bread and theater belong together. For a long time the theater arts have been separated from the stomach. Theater was entertainment. Entertainment was meant for the skin. Bread was meant for the stomach. The old rites of baking, eating and offering bread were forgotten. The bread became mush. We would like you to take your shoes off when you come to our puppet show or we would like to bless you with the fiddle bow. The bread shall remind you of the sacrament of eating.” — Peter Schumann
I also enjoyed the spirit of the Cheap Art Manifesto.
Vermont Road Trip Log: Day 7, Friday
Weather: Perfect.
- Drive to Manchester, VT. 🚙
- Coffee at Charlie’s Coffee House. Better coffee elsewhere. ☕️
- Breakfast at Little Rooster. 🍽
- Alpine Slide at Bromley Mountain. We all did it, first time for everyone but Tammy. 🤪
- Hiked a bit of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, a mile up Bromley Mountain and then back. 🥾
- Iced Maple Latte at Bonnet & Main. 🥤
- Shop at Northshire Bookstore. Great bookstore! 📚
- Ice cream at Cold Cow Creamery. Maple shake was delicous. 🍦
- Visit Hildene, family home of the Lincoln’s. 🎟
- Shopping at Orvis Flagship Store. 🛍
- We played unlimited pinball at Pastime Pinball. Very well maintained pinball machines. Metallica Pro machine was my favorite.
- Pizza outside at Sam’s Wood Fired Pizza. 🍕
- Head back to Airbnb! 🚙
Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 of Vermont Road Trip.
Pastime Pinball
If you are any kind of a fan of pinball, Pastime Pinball would be your heaven. There is an amazing collection of pinball machines over the years, and they are all maintained perfectly. Everything works, and the game play is just as it was meant to be. They even had one of my favorite machines from my youth, Cyclone. And my favorite one that I played there was the Metallica Pro machine.
Tyler playing one of the older pinball machines..
Historical pinball section, all in great working condition.
Royal Flush pinball machine with clear acrylic case.
Modern pinball section.
Hildene: Lincoln Family Summer Home
We visited the Hildene house, which was the private family house of the Abraham Lincoln’s only child that lived to adulthood, and became quiet wealthy.
Hildene House from the front.
Rear of the house from the formal gardens.
Hildene House formal gardens.
Hildene House dining room.