What a weekend of fun. We left friday evening to take a short drive up to Vermont. What a beautiful drive it was. Loved it! We stayed the night in Rutland, we had to see the difference from Rutland, MA. Vermont's Rutland was bigger. It was a late night and Allison woke up early. So when we got in the car to head to Sharon, VT she quickly fell asleep. It was a rainy drizzly and cool day with lots on the agenda. We met our friends and took a tour of Joseph Smith's birthplace.
The kids gathered around the fireplace and hearth that would have been in the home where Joseph was born.
They had a beautiful exhibit of clay statues. They were incredible! What detail and feeling.
We stepped out into the rain to go and see the 381/2 ft solid piece of granite (the worlds' largest polished piece) that stood in memory of Joseph Smith. Allison was excited to have an umbrella.
Getting back in the car we began our next hour drive.
With a few snacks and some laughs we arrived at...
to put it mildly, I was VERY excited!!!
Loving tours as I do this was one I have wanted to go to for a LONG time!
We quickly had lunch and took some pics with all the photo opps and went inside when the cow bell rang.
We saw a short film about the history of Ben and Jerry's and then went through to the factory, where we couldn't take pictures. We were able to try yummy Boston Creme Pie Ice Cream at the end though.
Can you tell I got stuck in the rain? I had to prove I was actually here. Did you know the number one Ben and Jerry's flavor is Cherry Garcia. I have never tried it nor felt the desire to, but I just might now that I know it is the number 1.
Allison tried one of my favorites, Phish food. Of course we had to have more ice cream after the sample. We then head to the Cabot Cheese factory,which was another 40 minute drive.
David asked, "why are we going to all these factories that have cows mom?" I guess we just like dairy products. It was fun to see how cheese was made and the machines actually working.
This was packaging huge chunks that they shrink wrap and box then store for up to five years. We learned that they use part of the lipstick tree to dye the cheddar cheese orange for the west coast because it sells better if it is orange out there. No wonder I can't find orange cheddar cheese here. I never had thought of how they got it orange, especially since milk isn't orange.
Allison was hitting the limit of our stops and tours. She became happy as she could sample all sorts of cheese and popcorn with cheese powder. She loved it!I forgot the camera as we headed to our last stop
a Maple Syrup factory.
Too bad for us they had stopped the tour. We were able to sample maple candies, maple cookies and four grades of real maple syrup.
David was a bit bummed that he couldn't see how maple syrup is made. He found out that he wasn't a big fan of real maple syrup and would stick with his mom's homemade syrup with mapeline. We bought some for me anyway!
3 comments:
All your tours sound so fun. I'm glad you made it to BEN and JERRY's. I never had a problem in the states but now that Ben and Jerry's is like 6 euro for a small tub, I'm obsessed. I can't stop eating it. Jealous of all your yummy fun!
I'm so jealous! That is my old stompin' grounds for my mission! In fact, one of the executives at Ben & jerry's has a daugther who we met through service hours at the elementary school. She saw us later in a store and introduced us to her dad. It was pretty cool. This was in Manchester Ctr., VT. It looks like you had such a fun time!!
And I could never figure out why I couldn't find white cheddar cheese, it's always white on the Food Network. Thanks for clearing that up! Cool trip!
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