Sunday Sep 16, 2018
Map and road video – Killington to Barre, VT via Burlington
In my opinion, today’s drive was even more scenic than yesterday’s as I headed further north along Vermont scenic byway 100 and then cut back west across the Green Mountains on scenic 125. This section is more open so you can see the mountains instead of just the forest. The only stop I made in this section was at Texas Falls where the Texas Brook drops 35 feet in three stages. Having seen green mountains this time, I hope to see red, gold and yellow mountains when I return in about three weeks.
My main stop of the day was at Shelburne Museum. This is a very difficult museum to describe; the official tag line is “Over 150,000 works in 39 exhibition buildings” or, unofficially, “a collection of collections” but it had rave reviews so I had to see it for myself. I would describe it as almost anything and everything made or used in Vermont. Its collections include sculptures, pottery, paintings, firearms, carriages, bird decoys, dolls, trains, buildings, farm and construction equipment, printing presses, quilts and so much more as well as a covered bridge and The Ticonderoga paddle boat that used to ferry passengers along Lake Champlain. A fascinating place.
My next planned stop was at Waterfront Park in Burlington but it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and there were no parking spots to be had within 5 blocks so I headed back east to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury for a tour. Even though this was on an interstate highway it was very scenic and relaxing.
The “tour” consists of an eight minute video history of the company, about 10 minutes of looking down on the factory floor while the process was explained (but no ice cream visible) followed by 10 minutes eating samples. Perfect!
Texas Falls in Green Mountains National Forest. The green patch you see in the water at the base of the first fall is not due to vegetation but a green mineral that is common here.
Shelburne Museum’s feature item is the Ticonderoga which is the only side paddle steamship of its type left in the US. To transport it the nearly two miles from Lake Champlain specially designed rails were constructed across roads, fields and a swamp.
It is unusual in that it is powered by a steam engine with one huge piston that drives paddle wheels each side, but under, the ship.
Although it was a ferry the conditions on board were pretty nice.
To give some idea of the variety in the museum I picked just a few photos of the 88 I took there. This is the first steam locomotive built in the US.
This building, one of 39, contained one of only three remaining horse drawn omnibuses in the US among other early Vermont vehicles.
This weather vane collection was considered sufficiently important that the US Post Office issued a series of postage stamps featuring them in 2012.
And finally – a perfect place to tour on a hot afternoon. The samples were delicious.
The waterfall looks spectacular! We missed you at the retiree party – it was fun to catch up with everyone!
Yes, it was a shame to leave just a few days before the get-together but, if I kept delaying for events, I’d never leave. Glad you had fun.
You always manage to find really interesting places. We really liked Ben and Jerry’s – particularly the flavour graveyard and memorable were the looks on Americans’ faces when they were shown the tiny UK cinema pots, never sold in the USA as too small!
I didn’t see the UK cinema pots but I can imagine that they might not be a reasonable portion for us Americans. There were some samples left after everyone on the tour had taken their’s and we were invited for seconds. I was one of the first to accept 🙂
Thanks for reading.
OK….. What was your favorite flavor???
Unfortunately, I was not paying attention when they told us the names of the day’s samples. I had two and both were really good.
Thanks for reading, I really will call you when I get home.