Since we'd all been woken up in the middle of the night, none of us had had the best nights' sleep, but we put this behind us, focusing on seeing Vermont. Our first stop, however, proved to be a challenge--we'd marked to check out the Burlington Earth Clock, 14 granite stones that are arranged to tell the time and serve as a compass, but it was tricky to navigate within the park. We even got out and asked an elderly man for direction--he'd never heard of this clock, despite being born in Vermont and living here all his life! We eventually figured out where it likely was located, but it proved to be too challenging for us to keep circling around to stop and see it.
Instead, we checked out the more accessible World's Tallest Filing Cabinet, made up of 38 drawers all welded on top of each other to stand over 40 feet (12 meters) tall. Apparently there is an installation in Napa, California, though that is taller at 65 feet tall. This artwork was called "File Under So. Co., Waiting For..." and was built by Bren Alvarez to symbolize the delay that she gathered while working on a local street project. There are stickers on the filing cabinets (clearly some were put stuck on before they were welded together, as they're way out of reach), and apparently birds have been known to nest in some of the drawers!
Water Creatures
Perkin's Pier is on the Burlington Waterfront, and is a charming park with a boat launch, marina, and views looking out over Lake Champlain, which we had already traveled across yesterday coming from New York. Like many lakes around the world--such as the famous Loch Ness in Scotland--Lake Champlain has its own mythical sea creature that lives in its depths, called "Champ." There's a tombstone-like granite slab dedicated to Champ, with an image of what he apparently looks like engraved on it (he looks rather friendly!).
Speaking of ocean creatures, at the Technology Park in Burlington, a commercial business park close to the airport, is a sculpture made from 36 tons of African black granite of 2 whale's tails, as if they were apparently "diving" into the park's depths. Called Reverence, the sculpture is meant to symbolize the fragility of the planet. There's a hill to walk up to it and get a bit of a view of the surroundings.
Charming Local Scenes
As we were on our way to our next stop, we passed what looked like some local markets just before crossing an adorable little red bridge. We walked back, hoping they'd be farmer's markets, but today the Richmond Farmer's Markets were focused on arts & crafts, including a section for kids' art that was being sold. It was still cute to see the handmade jewelry, clothing, accessories, and paintings being sold, and get a chance to wander across the little bridge. There were a lot of families out and about, and it seemed like it was a very local gathering, with folks saying 'hi' to each other and getting a chance to catch up.
We'd parked next to the The Old Round Church on the other side of the bridge to the markets, a very rare, 16-sided structure that was built between 1812-1813. It was initially used as a meeting place for the town, as well as 5 Protestant congregations. Today, it's a National Historic Landmark thanks to its uniqueness and its very well preserved state, and is available for weddings and events. The church is open during the summer and early fall so we were able to go inside and take a look. It's a very simple interior with 2-stories, and volunteers are around to answer any questions and tend to it when it's open for the season.
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
One of the most popular brands of ice cream in the US is Ben & Jerry's, which was founded in Vermont in the 1970s. While the company was acquired years ago by Unilever, their headquarters are still in South Burlington and their factory is in the town of Waterbury. We went to the factory, where we could see the huge vats holding dairy and sugar.
For us, one of the highlights was Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard, which was atop a hill separate to the factory. It's a funny visual way to show the different flavors of ice cream that are no longer being produced--each flavor has its own tombstone, description (in the form of a short poem), and the dates that it was available. There were some ice cream flavors that have had multiple "deaths" (such as coconut almond fudge chip--it sounds delicious, and should probably be resurrected a 4th time!). Others we're hoping don't come back, like "Economic Crunch" that was around in 1987 for the stock market crash, and "Schweddy Balls" (inspired by the SNL skit in 2011, maybe this rum and malt-filled concoction can be renamed if it's revitalized?).
We didn't go on a tour of Ben & Jerry's and we didn't have an ice cream either, because we were going to be trying a local Vermont ice cream later today (we'll get to that in a bit)! We figured that we could easily get Ben & Jerry's ice cream at a grocery store at any point later, if we're craving it.
Route 100: Vermont's Famous Fall Road
One of the most famous roads in Vermont is Route 100, which stretches from Massachusetts to near the Canadian border. It's considered an incredible scenic drive through Vermont's mountains and quaint towns, and is known for being the best drives to see beautiful fall foliage. When we were on the Lake Champlain Bridge yesterday, a local had told Michael that we were still a week or so out from the leaves being at their peak, and while there were a ton of gorgeous trees, they definitely weren't as developed as the ones that we'd seen in upstate New York, with their richness and variety of colors. But don't get us wrong--they're all still absolutely breathtaking!
It was busy in parts of Route 100, as we were there on a weekend and traffic was banked up in one spot due to an event that looked like some kind of fall festival, selling apple cider donuts and other seasonal goodies. One eye-catching building was a huge red barn, with a shiny silver silo at the front--it's been converted to now be Vermont Artisan Tea & Coffee, a family-run business that's been around for the last 20+ years. We ended up driving past here again to have a coffee stop, sitting outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather with Sheila, and getting a chance to stretch our legs. Michael ordered a flat white, which was pretty decent--it's always good when a barista knows what that is, as it's still not common to see in the US!
Before we went back to this coffee shop, we'd driven up through the hills which were alive...with the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort! We learned from the same local that Michael talked to yesterday that the actual von Trapp family from "The Sound of Music" classic movie settled in Vermont (they had toured the US as the Trapp Family Singers), and ended up opening this Alpine-style mountain resort, with Bavarian-style rooms, a couple of European restaurants, a bakery, brewery and a wine cellar. There are also tennis courts, pools, and access to cross country ski trails from the property. We had no idea that this is where they wound up--and that the family still runs this resort today!
The drive up the hills (they're probably mountains, but let's call them hills in keeping with The Sound of Music theme), was lovely in itself, as we passed fall foliage, farms, and dairy cows on the roads leading up to the lodge. It was a nice view from the top, and we went into the bakery, which did indeed sell a variety of European pastries and German treats like chocolates. But we're still saving up on dessert to have.. a creemee!
What's A Creamee?
Ok, so a creemee is a soft-serve ice cream, Vermont style. It has a higher butterfat content, making it richer, creamier and denser in texture compared to a normal soft-serve, and is also made with local ingredients like Vermont cream and maple syrup. The classic flavor of a creemee is the maple creemee, but there's also flavors like vanilla, chocolate, black raspberry and pumpkin (the latter for the fall season, of course).
We went to Canteen Creemee Company, which had consistently shown up in lists as one of the top places to get a creemee. By this time, we were starving as it was well after our usual lunchtime, but Canteen Creemee has an extensive food menu, so we got a fish sandwich (Lisette) and fried chicken (Michael), and they were both delicious! However, it did take eons to have our food ready, and Lisette was at the hangry point when we could finally get the food and have it land in our growling bellies.
We had already paid for the creemees (we both got maple flavor), but when we went back to say they could make them as we'd finished our lunch, they'd just run out of maple flavor! Luckily there was someone who was whipping up a fresh batch, so we just had to wait. But, by this time there were quite a few other folks waiting too... so it was a long, long time until these arrived! We get it, it's a popular joint because the food is yummy, but they definitely seemed short staffed to handle the steady influx of customers. Fortunately, the maple creemees were well worth the wait--the servings are very generous, so Lisette was happy to have ordered a kid's size, while Michael (even with his sweet tooth), felt that he could have ordered the same, as the small was huge (you should have seen the large size!).
Granite History and Hiking Trails
While neighboring New Hampshire is officially nicknamed "The Granite State" for its abundant granite formations and quarries, Vermont has a historic granite quarry in Barre, Vermont, called Rock of Ages, which had tours for the public since 1924 to see the quarry in operation and even take home a piece of granite. Unfortunately, they stopped doing this at the beginning of this year, which was a bummer! We still drove to the site to see if we could see a bit of the quarry, but we couldn't really see much.
We were continuing to drive through the town of Barre, when we suddenly gasped when we saw a little park--the Lower Graniteville Playground--looking jaw-droppingly beautiful, with the sun glistening through trees with vibrant yellow leaves, with some falling onto the ground. Because we were here during "golden hour" everything looked like it was radiant and glowing. So we pulled over to take a few photos (ok, many photos), including (and yes, this may sound kitschy), Lisette next to Sheila, throwing leaves up into the air. The photos were great, although our favorite one may be when one of the leaves that Lisette threw fell on Sheila's face, and Michael captured her look of sheer surprise and disgust! There was nobody at the park when we were there, so this experience felt extra special.
We passed Milestone Hill--a barn that's perfect for weddings and other celebrations (and unsurprisingly, there was a wedding taking place when we drove past), to get to Little John Trail, a moderately challenging hike. We didn't really do the hike as it was getting late, but we did chat briefly with a lady who was taking her dog for a walk, and who mentioned she felt lucky to live near here and get to trek around everyday. It would be cool to see how the scenery changes across all 4 seasons!
Hello, New Hampshire!
As the sun was setting, we crossed into New Hampshire (woohoo, state #40!), where we noticed the towns fade, and the scenery become more rural, with less houses that were further spread apart. Because it was so sparse, we were fairly easily able to find a place to stop along the road, parking under a canopy of trees and on top of their fallen leaves. The sunset around 6.30pm and once it did, it didn't take long before it was pitch black--such a big change for us to now feel like it could be midnight, when it's only 7pm!