More adventures in Vermont

When you’re in Vermont you have to try the syrup, right? We headed to Sugarbush Farm to learn about the maple syrup process. Syrup is collected the middle to the end of February through March. The best flowing sap days are when the nights are cold (below freezing) and the days warm up a bit (40s). It takes 40 to 50 gallons of sap to boil down one gallon of syrup!

We hiked through the woods to see some of the sap lines connecting the trees and saw a little chipmunk. They tried to recreate the feeling of collecting sap in the snow with these tires and a bucket of rocks.

When we arrived Faith said, "Look Mom, a flower bed!"

The snow lines from past years- 128" in winter 2002-03! More than 10 1/2ft of snow. That's crazy!

Sugarbush Farms has three scenic routes listed on their brochure to get to their farm. I wanted to take the one with the covered bridge, but thinking about their location and Hurricane Irene I figured I should call them to make sure we could get to them. Yes, we could get to them, but no, we couldn’t use the bridge. Darn!

Here's the bridge I wanted to cross. The road crews have done a good job repairing the roads in the past month since the hurricane, but there are still roads closed and bridges that need repairs.

I don’t feel I’ve been able to take a good picture of the trees here. To be able to zoom in for the denseness, you lose the scope of the size. I wanted to be able to talk with a ranger about the trees here and why there are so many. I got my chance at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park.

I was amazed to read that Vermont is 78% forested, but at one time that was all cleared. When Europeans arrived in Vermont in the 1600’s it was 95% forest. Around the 1800’s, farms and demands for wood cleared the area so only 15% of forest remained. I saw a black and white photo of the land back then and it made my stomach turn. Stark contrast! The land was not productive for farms and the trees were gone. Half of Vermont’s population packed up and left between 1840 and 1850. Luckily for us, Mother Nature knows what she’s doing and tries to set things back to its original condition.

This mansion is on the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller property. The property became a National Historic Park in 1992 when it was gifted to America from the Rockefellers. It was previously the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, one of America's first conservationists and later Frederick Billings, a pioneer in reforestation, owned the property. Faith earned another Jr. Ranger badge.

Exit three on I-89 made me want to sing “The Hills are alive with the sound of music” because it looked like Austria. I found out later that the Von Trapp family actually lived in Stowe, Vermont.

We made it to the apple orchard prior to closing. The kids were so excited to pick apples. I don’t think they’ve been to a pick your own type farm. I guess we’ve been busy on other adventures for the past decade! Now we have more apples than we no what to do with- 101 apples! I’ll be making applesauce and apple crisp. There have been requests for apple cider, apple juice and apple ice cream. Guess I need to look up some recipes. I don't know about apple ice cream!

Out and About in Vermont

We wanted to be in New England for the fall and we made it! I can’t believe how many trees there are in Vermont and this is from an Evergreen state “native”! There aren’t many people here though- they rank 49th out of the 50 states in population (Wyoming is #50). This state is small (45th in area), but the exits are very far apart. Another thing we found interesting was all the “crossing’ signs. Driving into the state we passed deer crossing, moose crossing and bear crossing signs! We later saw snowmobile, horse and tractor crossing signs. We’ve enjoyed the covered bridges and been in awe over the Hurricane Irene damage.

Our first tour was of the largest granite quarry in the country, Rock of Ages. This quarry is ten miles long and the amount of rock will last for 4,000 more years! They use dynamite, drilling and cutting to remove the stone. One of the wires they use to cut the rock is made of diamonds, costs $100 a foot and last for four months.

Double click to enlarge the photos. At the bottom of this photo they've blasted holes into the granite. This is how Mt. Rushmore was created as well.

They have high quality granite and they also do a lot of monument work. Among the memorials they’ve created includes the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. That granite was brought in from another country, but they did the engraving.

In our minds, Vermont means Ben & Jerry’s. Ben and Jerry met in 7th grade. In college they split the $5 fee for a correspondence class on how to make ice cream. They opened their first store in 1978 at a former gas station.

We talked with the tour guide about working there. She said each time she works she gets three pints of ice cream. I asked if she had benefits at a gym. She said she doesn’t, but the quality assurance people do because they eat a pint of ice cream every day. They also get their cholesterol checked every few months.

Rick’s favorite flavor, Wavy Gravy, was retired in 2003. We were hoping he could get some there, but alas no. They have a flavor graveyard where you can pay your respects to the flavors that have been retired, but Wavy Gravy wasn’t there so that was even more depressing. He asked the workers why it was retired and they didn’t know, but they said that people ask about that flavor a lot. Maybe they will bring it back?

Our next stop was very interesting- a spider web farm. The farmer, 77 yr old Will Knight, has created a way to capture spider webs on plaques. He has a barn where he’s built wood frames and the spiders weave each night. He sprays a mist on them in the morning to see which webs will make for good collecting. Then he carefully brings the plaque to the web and captures it. He sands it down so the web is flat against the plaque (no dusting needed-yeah!)

Driving home we passed a sign that said Floating Bridge 2 miles so we turned off. I’d read that it was in the area. It’s the only floating bridge east of the Mississippi. I wasn’t sure I’d be impressed because Washington has impressive floating bridges. This was a wooden bridge that floats from Styrofoam filled blocks. It isn’t open to cars to cross right now, but we walked out on it.

I like the floating bridge in Washington better! I wouldn't drive over this thing!

There’s a technical college with an apple orchard right next to the campground so on our way home we drove around to find it. Instead we found Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery. There was a beautiful monument memorializing those lost during the fight against terrorism. Rick recognized it from a video we saw at Rock of Ages. We could identify the white granite and the fine etching after our tour earlier in the day.

Family time

One of the best things about this trip is seeing family and friends. Only one of Rick’s family members lives outside of Texas and that’s his cousin Rachel in New York. We spent last Sunday afternoon with them watching Dallas win in overtime. It was a good day! We learned how to play a new card game called Pass the Ace. Faith and Lizzie were happy to have a friend to play dolls.

Lucy, we’re in your home (town)

When we checked into our Niagara campground Rick ran up to the office to get a code for the internet and had to wait his turn to be helped so he browsed through the brochures. Lucky for us because he found one that told us Lucille Ball’s hometown of Jamestown, NY, was only 70 miles away. The kids were excited- maybe more excited to go there instead of Niagara Falls. (The was a Jello museum in the area also, but the kids don’t like Jello so we didn’t go.)

Faith dressed up to visit the first lady of comedy and I just had to take a photo of her reenacting the commercial for Vitameatavegamin. In the DesiLu Playhouse we saw replicas of their set, costumes and props. Next door in the Lucy-Desi museum we learned about their lives and backgrounds before I Love Lucy, through the tv series and their lives after.

Lucy was performing the My Favorite Husband radio show with Richard Denning and that’s who they wanted to cast in the tv series. Lucy wanted Desi to play the role, but the CBS didn’t think America was ready to see a Cuban husband cast. They formed Desi Lu productions and created a vaudeville act that they took on the road to prove audiences would enjoy the duo. This caught the attention of ABC and feeling some pressure CBS then signed Lucy and Desi for the I Love Lucy show.

Desi was an intelligent man and he came from a prominent family in Cuba. He knew that Lucy performed better in front of a live audience so he arranged for a live studio audience. Their show was the first to do that and now it’s standard in the TV industry. When Lucy was pregnant, Desi and Lucy didn’t want to go to New York to film so he asked to have three cameras record in Los Angeles and he’d edit them and send them to NY. Negotiations continued until Lucy and Desi agreed to a cut in pay in return to have rights to the film.

The first year of I Love Lucy Phillip Morris paid $8million in advertising- in 1951! I can’t imagine what kind of money they were making if they could afford to spend that much on advertising.

I Love Lucy is seen in 77 countries and has been translated into 22 languages. Every moment of every day somewhere in the world, Lucille Ball is on television.

Niagara Falls

The falls were just gorgeous. To see them in person was breathtaking. American Falls has 75,000 gallons of water going over the side a second! And if you think that’s a lot, Horseshoe Falls has 675,000 gallons a second! Incredible!

We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride so we donned our blue rain ponchos and headed into the mist. It was great to be that close to the falls. I was thankful once again to have a waterproof camera.

A rainbow off the back of the boat with Rainbow bridge in the background

There are a lot of rocks at the bottom of the falls. They said they won't erode and years and years from now the falls will become rapids

After the boat ride we hiked up the side of American Falls. A huge blast of mist came toward us. The kids were shrieking and trying to hide. I was snapping pictures and laughing. The one of Rick is one of my favorites.

All the mist that was coming at us

We had a picnic lunch before heading out to Goat Island to get a better view of Horseshoe Falls. We lucked out and there was a HUGE rainbow. I was leaning over the side trying to get it all in.

We obeyed the rules

The rapids leading to the falls

We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The weather was perfect and the crowds were small.

I read online about a Daredevil museum that wasn’t really a museum but more of a convenience store, but it was free. We browsed at the crazy contraptions in which people have gone down the falls.

Cuyhoga Valley National Park

Did you know there’s a national park in Ohio? It was just designated as one in 2000 so the boundary lines are interesting. Driving down the road you wind in and out of the park. There are four gold courses in the park probably because they were already there. We saw a beautiful waterfall and spent a few hours waiting patiently for a beaver family to come out of their lodge, but to no avail. We did get to talk to a nice couple who were there waiting for the shot too.

Brandywine Falls

Beaver lodge. They are now more active in the evening after being hunted for fur years ago.

First Ladies library and the McKinley house

I must’ve been searching the national parks website when I found the First Ladies library information because I had never heard of it. It’s in Canton and consists of a building featuring an exhibition and the Saxton-McKinley house. The current exhibition was Rising to the Occasion. They focused on the first ladies that served during times of war, assassinations, and national tragedies. Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Wilson, Barbara Bush, Lucretia Garfield, Jacqueline Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Laura Bush were the eight first ladies featured. We saw gifts Laura Bush received during the 9-11 attack like prayer shawls and jewelry with flag designs. We listened to Eleanor Roosevelt’s speech to the country after Pearl Harbor was bombed and saw a letter from the Queen encouraging Lucretia Garfield when her husband was shot. We learned about Edith Wilson using sheep to keep up the White House lawn during WWI. She donated the wool to charitable organizations that auctioned it off and raised money for Red Cross.

The Saxon-McKinley house was Ida Saxton-McKinley’s family home where President and Mrs. McKinley lived. The house was scheduled to be demolished in the late 1800s when a man whose family purchased it from the McKinley’s made it known that the former president lived there. It had a great banister railing, period pieces and some original pieces.

Our guide was full of information about various first ladies like Ruth Pierce who begged her husband not to run for president. They’d lost two boys and their third son was lost when their train derailed so she was in mourning the whole time her husband was in office. Theodore Roosevelt’s children brought a horse up in the elevator to the second floor which is where meetings used to be held. During his term he added the oval office in the west wing; this might not be a coincidence. The Harrison’s were the first to have electricity in the White House, but they were afraid of it and had the servants turn it on and off. It was another enjoyable afternoon of learning, but pictures were prohibited. Darn! Here’s the McKinley’s home.

Profootball and Rock n Roll Hall of Fames

We headed to Canton to see the Profootball Hall of Fame. They had the history of football with some equipment from the old days. We saw all the busts in the Hall of Fame, the Lombardi trophy and all the Superbowl rings. Becca’s favorite part was designing a superbowl ring in an interactive area. Jacob loved playing Madden football on the Xbox there, but his favorite part of the day was running on the football field. Faith enjoyed a funny video of clips from games. Rick learned how awesome the Dallas Cowboys are. Oh no, wait, he already knew that!

Old uniforms- I can only imagine how many people were injured with the lack of padding. Below the kids celebrate a win :)

The following day we headed to Cleveland for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and museum. Cleveland is right on Lake Erie so it was nice to see all the water. The football stadium was right next door too. The museum took us through the past sixty years or so of rock and all the different artists and disk jockeys. One of our favorite spots was an interactive room with one hit wonders like Funkytown, 867-5309, Ring My Bell, and the kids favorite- Disco Duck. We watched a long video with clips of the 296 groups and individuals that have been inducted. It was a good video with a great soundtrack! In the video a negative letter from the Sex Pistols was displayed that the committee had received. We started thinking about artists that weren’t in the video so we looked up the nomination process online. The hall of fame has only been around since 1986 and there’s controversy about the selection process. Learning about the controversy cast a slight shadow on the day, but we still were able to see Lady Gaga's meat dress, guitars that were smashed by rock stars and listen to classics.

The kids walk down the red carpet. Rick and I with ZZTop's car.