We all have our own basic food groups. One of mine is cheese. On this New England vacation, where one of the highlights was the Vermont Cheese Trail (www.vtcheese.com/cheesetrail.htm), I also had my own dietary rules: Cheese bought fresh at the dairy and eaten while vacationing is exempt from limits on daily fat and calorie intake.

I got to the Grafton Village Cheese Co. -- producing cheddar for more than a century -- too late for the cheese-making demonstration, but I made up for it in the shop, stocking up on cheddar, maple syrup and local jams.

We were on our way to a friend's cabin in the Green Mountains, and I carefully plotted our route to take in more cheese-tasting. In Londonderry, as we pulled into the driveway of Taylor Farms, I could smell the dairy cows. I bought two kinds of cheese and honey.

Further along on the twisting road, at Woodcock Farm, the cheesemaker gave us samples and told us about his life as a construction worker, pre-cheese, in New Jersey, and how he'd wanted to raise his daughter away from the city. We bought two more cheeses.

We spotted an unstaffed produce stand, put money in an honor-system box and left with locally grown tomatoes, apples and corn. Another stop for fresh-baked bread and a bottle of wine, and we had dinner: Gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato salad with fresh herbed feta, and corn on the cob.

Good thing those vacation calories didn't count!

This is one in a series of postcards by Marjie Lambert, assistant Travel editor, who has been to all 50 states.

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