Vermont

We have been so busy that our journal is behind! This is what we did on Thursday…


Today we stated out early to explore a few Vermont attractions. To save a time and a few miles we drove to Essex, NY and rode the ferry across Lake Champlain to Charlotte, VT. It was a fun way to get over to Vermont.



Our first stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. There we got to see all the teddy bears and how they are made. They sure had some cute ones. They also had a ton of accessories so one could dress their bear for any occasion. Notice the teddy bear weathervane on the building.

Next we drove through Burlington on our way to Waterbury, VT. The Green Mountains rose in the distance. In actual measurement they are tiny compared to the Rocky Mountains but in this area (elevations around 300 ft) they are really tall (3000-4000 ft)! The leaves are beginning to change and we saw little pockets of red and yellow everywhere. Too bad we are a few weeks early.

The reason we wanted to visit Waterbury, VT was to tour the Ben and Jerry Ice Cream Factory. What a fun tour! We learned how Ben & Jerry started their company after taking a correspondence course on ice cream making from Penn State University. Our tour guide told us that the guys scored 100 percent on their open book final! The entire company seems to have a fun loving atmosphere as they make some seriously yummy ice cream. They market about 50 different flavors –all sold in pint sizes only. Apparently Ben & Jerry consider that the ideal serving size (gulp!). We had a sample of a new flavor called American Pie –apple pie flavor complete with chunks of apple, cinnamon and pie crust.

We drove up the road from Ben & Jerry’s to the Cabot Cheese store. Cabot cheese is made locally and we got to try all their different varieties. Between the ice cream and the cheese we had almost a full meal.

It was time to call it a day and head back to our campground in New York. On the way home we stopped by the New England Maple Sugar Museum. Although the museum was closing, we got to check out the gift shop and tasting room. We had always heard about the different grades of maple syrup and we got to sample them and taste the differences. That was pretty interesting.

We had a pretty long and interesting day.