Update 27: Quechee, Vermont

Update 27:  Quechee,Vermont  Sept. 3-9

Vermont: Land of Cheese and Maple Syrup!

Quechee, VT is located just over the New Hampshire border, so our move didn't take long.  The KOA advertised Big Rigs Welcome, but maneuvering around the park and into our sites created some challenges. We did get settled with enough time to make a drive through the area.

Our touring day began with a stop at the Quechee Village to check out the Cabot Cheese outlet store. Free samples of nearly all their products entice people to taste and buy. Archways on the east and west walls open into other shops.  They seemed to go on and on offering: jewelry, pottery, pewter, wine, antiques, books, and glass sculptures to name a few.  


How people come to live in these small out of the way places fascinate me.  The lady in the glass shop told me her husband created the beautiful glass pieces with the vibrant colors. They are Czechs.  Simon Pearce of the gallery in downtown Quechee hired her husband to come to Quechee. Apparently Czechs produce outstanding glass workers.  He worked with the clear glass products for 10 years before going out on his own and creating his art using color. At the other end of the complex I spoke to an Irish lady who designs finely crafted and unique jewelry in silver, bronze and gold, some with Celtic designs. If I still wore jewelry, I probably would have purchased a piece.  She spent ten years working in New York City, and then came here for a skiing weekend. Her husband now, ran the ski lift then.

Quechee Gorge drops 165 feet to the floor of the canyon and continues for over a mile in length. Derrille and Jay wanted to hike down the gorge. Lynn and I passed on the hike, and went to the Christmas store across the street. Everything in the store was on sale.  The owners were moving to Boulder CO to be near their daughter.

From Quechee we crossed one of the covered bridges and traveled up the hill to Sugarbush Farm. Here we tasted several of their cheeses, dips, spreads and jams.  Their store included their line of maple syrup too.

In their sugar house we watched a video of how their family makes the syrup. Exhibits in the sugar house also explained the process. Their entire family works actively to produce the wares the farm sells.

Back in downtown Quechee we stepped inside the Simon Pearce Glass Gallery.  Track lighting illuminates the polished wood floors and display tables loaded with crystal glassware and white pottery dishes.  The Bistro on site serves food on the Pearce dinnerware.

Downstairs a potter works to create the pieces sold upstairs. In a larger area about 8 glass artists also create items for the sales floor.

 We watched one expert glass blower create one flute and then start on a second one.

He said during an eight hour day he will create about 55 of these glasses.

 

Outside the gallery, a frothing water fall splashes the rocks below. The water behind the falls powers the turbines that heat the nine kilns and powers the gallery.

We stopped at VIN, the Vermont Institute of Nature, to check out their raptor shows. The times didn't work for us today, so we moved on Plymouth Notch.

President Calvin Coolidge came from Plymouth Notch.  He was Vice President and visiting his parents when he received the news that President Warren Harding had just died.  Calvin's father administered the oath of office to him.  The Plymouth Notch site looks much as it did in Coolidge's time.  A modernized barn display vehicles of the era. A video tells Calvin's story. 

We toured the General Store, the house where Coolidge was born and the homestead where he was raised.

 

The church and its beautiful interior are open to the public. 

A small cheese house continues to operate. Although we didn't care for the Plymouth Notch cheese as well as we did others we had tasted.  A restaurant  now occupies the neighbor's house.

On the back side of the barns, below the hill, a stage area provides a place for outdoor concerts.

On the way back we stopped in the village of Woodstock and looked at a few of their shops.

 

 We also took a peek at the Taftsville General Store, the only business in Taftsville that we saw.

Our trip to explore the northern part of Vermont started at the birthplace of Joseph Smith the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). A tall obelisk surrounded by beautiful flower beds and landscaping, points toward the sky.  The monument reader boards explain how the single column of granite was quarried and brought here.  The sounds of Mormon Tabernacle Choir floated quietly in the air creating a peaceful meditative feeling.  Near the entrance an LDS ward (church) held Sunday service.

The back roads offer more sights than the freeways. As we journeyed northward cows lazed in their pastures, and green fields surrounded by trees lie behind old rail fences.  Corn stalks wilt while waiting for the end of the season routines. Large woodpiles indicate folks are getting ready for winter.

At the Braag Farm we viewed a video on making maple syrup.  Some farms like Sugarbush tap the trees and run plastic pipe to collect the sap. The Braag Farm still collects sap the old-fashion way with buckets.

They use 2500 buckets! The sugar maple tree needs an 11-12" diameter to give sap. At that diameter the tree averages about 40 years old.

If I've read my notes correctly, the process to make maple syrup goes something like the following. A two inch hole is drilled into the Sugar Maple tree in February as the temperatures are at freezing. Then the sugar farmers wait for the weather. Sap runs when the temperature reaches just above freezing. Horse drawn carts with a large collection tub on the back are pulled through the field.  The horses know the way and move on their own. People dump the buckets of sap into the large collection tank and return the bucket to the tap on the tree. The sap can last up to two days, but most sugar farmers boil it as soon as it comes in. Water must be removed from the sap to sweeten it. After boiling the sap it is placed in the evaporation trays which are 2-6 inches wide and 4-24 inches long.  The sap thickens as the water leaves. Somewhere in here is a filtering step. Pure Maple Sugar contains no coloring or additives. The state regulates the syrup grades. Four samples are matched with each syrup batch. The syrup starts light and darkens as the season progresses. Grade 1: lightest color and taste   Grade 2: also called Fancy, shows a medium color and taste. (Most syrup falls in this category)  Grade 3: also called Grade A shows a dark color and a stronger taste. Grade 4: also called Grade B, shows the darkest color and provides the strongest taste, usually used for cooking.

The sap runs for 4-6 weeks.  When the tree begins to show spring buds, sugaring is done.  The taps are sealed. The taps only enter the bark of the tree and so present no danger to the tree. Next season the tap will be placed where no previous tap has been and the process begins again.

Besides the store with syrup, cheese and other products, Braag's offers a dairy bar that includes creemes.  Jay tried a maple ice "creeme".  We all took a small yummy taste. We paid for our purchases and headed for Cabot Cheese.  The man at Braag suggested we take the scenic route.

Scenic it was! The narrow, bumpy lane wound through the back country, past a few farmhouses and lots of pastures.  Wooded groves crowded the lane.  Desolate and forgotten might describe the area. Of the four cars coming toward us, three were out of state. Eventually the lane bumped into a major road that led to the Cabot Cheese Factory.

The video and tour guide offered information on the making of cheddar. Derrille and I enjoy Tillamook Medium Cheddar. We've been unable to find anything like it in the East.  White Cheddar with varying stages of sharpness meets the Eastern palates. At Cabot we learned that all cow milk cheese  produces white cheddar. Adding coloring turns it orange. Cabot Cheese dislikes coloring the cheese, but to compete in the West Coast market orange cheddar sells better.  Cheese taste varies by the milk used and the aging process. Cabot milk comes from the milk co-op that collects milk from many different breeds. I believe that Tillamook uses a singular breed. We tasted cheese from several cheese houses, but we still prefer Tillamook. Cabot ships to QFC and other stores in the west. The Cabot Cheese co-op boasts 1200 members.

The highway from Cabot Cheese returned us quickly to Montpelier. After a late lunch in the capital city, the sky opened up and delivered a downpour of rain. We drove around the city to see the capital and other state buildings.

Don't Jay and Lynn look cute on this Ben and Jerry cut-out?

 The Ben and Jerry Ice Cream Factory makes its home just north of Montpelier. Although it was late afternoon when we arrived at the factory, we were directed to level three parking. Walking from the crowded parking lot we passed the Flavor Graveyard. Headstones name the flavor retired from the line.

 

The marker includes how long the flavor remained on the active list and a rhyme about its demise.

Inside the factory we watched our third video for the day and took our second factory tour. However we received a free taste of ice cream at the end. Ben and Jerry's makes two flavors at a time during a 5 day 24 hour production  schedule.

We drove into Burlington. We saw the University of Vermont campus established 1791and the Chapman College established 1878. Next we drove around downtown and the harbor before calling it a day and heading home.

Note: Just as people in Canada, the people of the Northeastern United States also display our country's flag from flag poles and patriotic banners.  Nice to see USA flags from many individual homes..

Next stop:   Bennington, VT