I found this in my email box the other day from a hiker I met on the Vermont Long Trail. Owen (trailname “Roots”) is “good people” as my friend Rick likes to say. I’m always surprised where chocolate takes me and the kind folks it introduces me to.
If my email to orders@DancingLion.us is directed to Rich (also known to hikers as “Chocolatier“) then I should like to send my hellos. Though it seems it must have been ages ago (at least to me) I do recall having walked from the Vermont border with Massachusetts, to the Inn at Long Trail while in the company of some very cool people. I was lucky to have run into “Chocolatier” and his neighbor, “Just Mike,” not only because of the exotic chocolate that was shared, but also because they were good people.
Chocolate – especially chocolate from Guatemala – was perhaps the most unexpected form of trail magic that I encountered in an entire month of walking in the woods. It was a real treat. And not only did I get to taste chocolate from Guatemala, I also got to learn about it. I certainly never expected that either.
I apologize, since I understand this is not the place to tell stories about hiking. My real concern here is tracking down some more of that chocolate. As is usually the case for me, I am having trouble with the giving part of the holiday season, that is, I’m having trouble knowing what to give. So, I turned to my memory of chocolate on the trail. I recalled that Rich’s enterprise was known as Dancing Lion Chocolate, and, naturally, I googled it. Now I know what to give. Thank you.
Thanks Very Much,
Owen (aka “Roots“)