Yet another fantastic place to stop. The tour itself consists of you, the tourist, standing before a big glass window while the tour guide points out the factory workers and what they’re doing.
Our guide gave us an excellent tour and explained that Lake Champlain Chocolates is actually a third tier chocolatier. The first tier is the actual harvesting and roasting of the bean. The second is the process of making cocoa butter and chocolate. The third is actually doing something with the chocolate slabs. This is where Lake Champlain comes in. Yes, samples abound and the chocolate is excellent.
Magic Hat Brewing Company
(South Burlington, Vermont)
Ok, so I have to admit that we didn’t actually get to take the tour. Most of the breweries in Vermont give tours on the third Thursday after the full moon.
Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but if you want a tour, have a free week because it will be at 1 pm in the middle of a weekday afternoon but you won’t know until the last minute. And don’t trust guidebooks or brochures, we found that they weren’t right either. Magic Hat had a plethora of interesting signs and gifts. They obviously didn’t have scads of money when they started and they used their creativity and ingenuity to develop a very unique brewery with some darn good beer. Definitely more than worth a look and a sip.
Vermont Teddy Bear Factory
(Shelburne, Vermont)
Do I need to even mention that your tour group will be minimum 50 percent kids? Lots of cute bears and they show you how a bear is “born”. From the fabric cuttings, to sewing, stuffing and packaging.
You get to watch the “handmade’ process in action. And it’s quite unique. There aren’t too many places that you can watch a teddy bear made or even stuff your own bear. Worth the stop, but it is teeming with people, so unless you’re one for crowds and large tour groups, be prepared to browse and tour in about an hour.
You can also purchase just about every kind of Teddy Bear in the gift shop and clothes too if you already have a bear.
Vermont Marble Exhibit
(Proctor, Vermont)
For those of you who share our fascination with things that are considered the world’s LARGEST of their species, this is a place you do not want to pass up. The front of the building alone affords you a place to have your picture taken with the largest hunk of marble in the world. The museum itself is nothing spectacular.
We arrived late in the day and missed the marble sculptor who is in residence. There are some impressive slabs of marble and there are samples of every conceivable marble in the world. Overall, the history behind the marble makes the tour interesting, although I wouldn’t plan on spending more than an hour.
Wilson Castle
(Proctor, Vermont)
Another place that tickled our eccentric funny bone. It is the only castle in Vermont. Yet another instance of someone falling in love with Vermont and deciding to build a monstrosity of a house (see Hildene).
This isn’t exactly what I think of when I hear ‘castle’, but nonetheless it fits the necessary requirements. The castle is in bad shape in some places. The museum is looking to get some federal funding, so until then you’ll have to deal with a few crumbling ceilings. But the tour guides are friendly and a descendant of the original builder still lives in the house. Can’t beat that. Definitely worth a stop and the tour.
Robert Todd Lincoln’s Hildene
(Manchester, Vermont)
Robert Todd Lincoln, the only child of Abraham Lincoln to survive to adulthood, built Hildene. He was the president of the Pullman Car Company, which made passenger train cars, so it’s fitting that this monstrosity of a house was simply a summer home.
The guides tell stories chock full of eccentric tidbits. Though he was filthy rich, he pinched pennies until they screamed. When told of his father’s assassination, he ran through the White House collecting odd bits of his father’s personal effects. He also bought his wife a monstrosity of an organ whose pipes run the whole way up the entrance way stairwell. Of course, there are reasons and examples for all of these, but you have to take the tour to find out more.
Not so far off the beaten path, but not so much on the path to destroy the breathtaking views of Vermont’s Green Mountains.
Brookfield Floating Bridge
(Brookfield, Vermont)
Yet another great find from our pals at Roadside America. Unfortunately, the bridge is closed to vehicles right now. And there are great looming construction vehicles at the end of the bridge. But, you can still walk across and see plenty of Vermont’s breathtaking landscape.
Someone conveniently pulled out a few side rails, so that you can “jump off” of the bridge into the lake. The fall, as you can imagine, is non-existent.
Definitely out of the way, but well worth the stop. The very fact that the bridge is wooden and literally sits on the water is a marvel in itself.
Quechee Gorge
(Quechee, Vermont)
The “Grand Canyon” of Vermont. Or at least they advertise it as such. What can I say? You walk out on a bridge, it’s really high up, and oh yeah, the view is spectacular. But, you’ll be hard pressed to not find a beautiful landscape everywhere you go in Vermont.
Is Quechee Gorge worth the deviation? It’s chock full of tourists that seem to think so. And if you’re looking for a cheesy souvenir this is the place. Unfortunately, rather than being a fun and corny stop, it bordered on being a little too much. Hard to believe that could happen to us. There’s a great Scottish store on the way. And don’t forget the view from the bridge.
So is it worth stopping? Hey, we can’t tell you what to do, but this is not the Vermont that we know and love.
http://www.vacationreview.com/vermont/
No comments:
Post a Comment