Want the Vermont Secret Sauce? Here's the Scoop (Just Like Ben & Jerry's)!

Flannels by the Airstream = Camping in Vermont!

The secret to enjoying the best that Vermont has to offer? Travel with a Vermonter!  We shared a terrific week in Vermont with native Vermonter, Sue Orr (and her trusty sidekick and husband of 40+ years, Mike Feazel). We highly recommend touring with friends who know their stuff. Not only did we see most of what the internet told us we “must-see” of Vermont, we shared lots of laughs, some cocktails, Cabot Cheese Soup, Creemees and other assorted local fare. The top three items on the Vermont Must-See List by https://yourguidetowandering.com/what-is-vermont-known-for are Ben & Jerry’s, Maple Syrup and Craft Beer…done, done and done! Full disclosure, we did Ben & Jerry’s twice and some of us enjoyed more than one craft beer! Farm Fresh Food and Cabot Cheese also made the “Wandering list” and we eagerly crossed those items off too!

Our Foursome at the Smith Quarry.

Skiing, snowshoeing and all things winter sports also made the list, but thankfully, we were not here for the snow (uh, no, thank you!). We did hit the slopes with a visit to Stowe Ski Resort and a ride up the mountain on the gondola, which allowed us to enjoy a craft beer at the top! Thank goodness the company was great, because the day we were on the mountain, fog socked in the area, blocking what we are sure is a fabulous view!

Before our gondola ride, we shared lunch at the Trapp Family Lodge. Even before I realized that the von Trapps settled in the area, I was humming "the hills are alive with the sound of music!" We can see why the family felt at home in Vermont. The area reminds us of Bavaria.

Mike and Sue got our Vermont visit off to a sweet start with a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. This factory is the first Ben & Jerry’s factory (built in 1985) and the only factory to offer tours. There is another factory in St. Albine's, Vermont and a factory in Hellendoorn in Holland, which distributes ice cream throughout Europe. Some 350,000 pints of Ben & Jerry’s are produced daily in just the Waterbury location! Ben & Jerry opened their first Scoop Shop on May 5,1978, in an old gas station in Burlington, VT. That gas station has sadly been torn down, but there is a historic marker—Tony snapped a photo of that.

Yes, Please! Cherry Garcia for me!

The 30-minute guided portion of our Factory Experience began with a quick MOO-vie to learn about the company culture followed by a short walk to a mezzanine overlooking the production room floor.

I loved learning that founders Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield met in 7th grade gym class in Long Island in 1963. They were apparently the two slowest kids in class—they are my people! Tony liked learning that on April Fool’s Day, the factory taste lab creates and serves “joke” flavors, like Broccoli/ Cheddar Ice Cream! Yuck! All four of us enjoyed the Flavor Graveyard where we paid our respects to the “Dearly De-Pinted” with graves marked with Vermont granite (of course!). The grave that got the most laughs was from the ice cream inspired by the 1998 SNL skit “Schweddy Balls.” That flavor was creamy vanilla ice cream with just a hint of rum, the countless fudge-covered rum and malt balls.

We enjoyed Ben & Jerry’s so much that we visited again on our last day together for a sweet treat! We started and ended our six days in Vermont with Mike & Sue and our new friends, Ben & Jerry.

Vermont is known for more than Ben & Jerry’s.Vermont is also known for its beautiful, covered bridges—we walked across the covered bridge at the Quechee Gorge and drove across another bridge with Mike and Sue. After our fabulous hosts returned to Lake Monticello, VA, we were so inspired that we found more covered bridges to explore! While seeing the Moxley, Flint, Larkin, Mill,Cilley, Howe, Hyde-Kingsbury, C.K. Smith and Braley Bridges was the highlight of that beautiful Sunday drive, we also enjoyed driving past the Tunbridge World’s Fair. 

The World's Fair is held every year in Vermont?? Say, What??

As with most of our exploring, when we returned to the Airstream, we “Googled” what we just saw. Some fun facts: Vermont boasts more covered bridges per square mile than any other state. The Tunbridge World's Fair has been held annually for 156 years. After the Civil War, the fair opened in Tunbridge in 1867, where a "speechifying" former lieutenant governor called it “a little world's fair,” and the next year the fair began using the phrase on its promotional handbills. It has been known as the “Tunbridge World's Fair” ever since. When we drove past, the fair was packed! Cars were lined up all over the little town and filled nearby fields, so we didn’t stop! 

More fun facts…The covered bridges of the Green Mountains star on postcards, on social media and in stories about Vermont for a reason –they're beautiful, historic, and unique. Vermont is home to more than 100 covered bridges, boasting more covered bridges per square mile than any other U.S state. The internet describes Vermont’s gorgeous landscape and boasts of its rural charm, reportedly in part to the 1968 law that bans billboards (we sure didn’t miss those!). Vermont was also allegedly the last state to allow Walmart to be imported to the state.

Another highlight of our Sunday drive was spotting several of the more than 130 Barn Quilts in Chelsea and neighboring towns. While the tradition of wooden barn quilt squares started more than 300 years ago (according to our quick web search!), Chelsea got into the act with a vengeance in 2017. It was so cool to see the beautiful, colorful quilt squares on all types of barns—the barns themselves are works of art. I was so busy gawking, that I didn’t snap photos of any of the quilt squares as we drove past. We will have to come back!

Our tour with Mike and Sue included a drive by of the state capitol in Montpelier and the University of Vermont in Burlington (where Sue Orr graduated). In Montpelier we saw the damage caused by the July floods. Many businesses are still closed, and roads are being repaired. One theater's marquee read "Vermont Strong" and "We Will be Back." We believe them. While in Burlington, we also spent some lovely time wandering around Lake Champlain.

We based out of the Lazy Lion Campground in the town of Barre (pronounced “Berry”), where there was also flood damage and closed businesses—which we discovered when four hangry travelers looked for a late lunch. Ok, those hangry folks were us! We did find a yummy place to eat, and peace was restored to our tribe!

By the way, Barre (Berry or Barry) provided endless material for Tony’s “dad” jokes. “We are having a Berry goodtime in Barre.” You get the idea…those jokes lasted and grew throughout the week.

Just a three-minute drive from our campground was the Rock of Ages Corporation (a granite quarrying and finishing company) where Sue Orr’s grandfather worked for years, first in the quarry and later in a management position where he helped improve conditions for the quarry workers. We enjoyed a guided tour of the Smith Quarry. Our tour guide, Roger, was a retired quarry worker and a character! The tour was a unique Vermont experience and not just because of Roger’s amusing anecdotes. The guided quarry tour has spectacular views of the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world. We also got to witness craftsmen at work in the Rock of Ages manufacturing site where raw stone is processed into finished products.

Later we visited Hope Cemetery, where we saw many of the beautiful monuments crafted at the Rock of Ages factory and visited some of Sue’s dearly departed family and friends. The cemetery is listed as a top tourist attraction with beautiful and unusual monuments. Our tour was made even more special because Sue’s cousin (and our new bestie!), Maureen Morton, joined us. Maureen is a hoot and a wealth of information.

Sue Orr at Hope Cemetery

Being in Barre was extra special because our Vermont tour guide grew up there, graduated high school there and still has family in the area. It was fun to meet Sue’s brother (Patrick), nephew (Lyle) and his sweet wife (Alyssa) and her wonderful cousin, Maureen. We also drove by SUe's high school and childhood home.

Even rainy days did not keep us from enjoying the state. We enjoyed visiting Quechee Falls on the Ottauquechee River. A covered bridge nearby was an extra bonus. A big draw for Sue Orr was a visit to the Simon Pearce Gallery. So uncultured are we, that Tony and I had never heard of Simon Pearce—a well-known glassmaker from Ireland who creates and sells beautiful glassware in a refurbished 1803 woolen mill overlooking the falls of the Ottauquechee River. According to a 1982 New York Times article, in 1981, Simon, his wife and young son, Andrew, moved from Ireland to Quechee to live and work in the mill. The couple later had three more sons. Andrew now creates and sells beautiful wooden bowls.

The location of the mill (that once reportedly employed more than 500 people and created everything from uniforms for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to blankets for the U.S. Army and Navy) is not only beautiful, making it an ideal tourist attraction, but the river creates the hydroelectric power that keeps the furnace burning at 3,000 degrees around the clock to melt the glass. Tony and Mike were mesmerized by the glass blowing and could have stayed for hours. Sue and I enjoyed watching for a few minutes, but really enjoyed the beautiful dam and falls. This area is worth the trip—even if the glassware and bowls are out of your price range—as they were ours! If you want to eat in the Simon Pearce Restaurant (called one of the “most romantic” in the area), make a reservation! We did not make a reservation, so we left and went to the also beautiful Woodstock Inn and Resort just down the road. Now an adorably quaint town, Woodstock was chartered in 1761, 15 years before the United States of America signed the Declaration of Independence.

There were many more highlights and great memories made with sweet friends and those friends were troopers! While we stayed in our cozy Airstream, Mike and Sue camped in a cabin across from us. Unfortunately, the cabin did not have a bathroom or any running water. So, they trekked to the bathhouse across the lane. We shared some lovely, fun meals and laughs at our campsite and Tony made a cup of AeroPress coffee for Mike each morning and delivered it to his cabin.

Mike was also our driver. It was such a treat to be driven around Vermont and to leave our BAT (Big Ass Truck) parked for a week. We would have loved to see some fall colors but were in Vermont too early in the season. Despite that mild disappointment, Vermont is gorgeous! Our other tiny disappointment was not seeing a living moose (do carved wooden statues count?).

We hope to talk Mike and Sue into meeting us again on our travels. Life on the road is awesome but made even sweeter with friends.

But, Wait!! There's More!...

Want to show us your hometown? Send us a message: fishcamp6164@gmail.com and let's make plans!

Cousin Maureen joined us for a fun afternoon.