If you haven’t already, check out The Venture to Vermont: Part 1, covering our trip to Vermont and our first full day there.
Our second day in Vermont’s main attraction was the Shelburne Museum of Folk Art. The Museum grounds houses a magnificent collection of relocated 18th and 19th century buildings, folk art, and reminders of how much life has changed in the past few centuries.
They had a traveling exhibit of kinetic art on the front lawn.
Yep, they have a lighthouse.
Tiny woman in a big chair.
And it can’t be a folk art museum in Vermont without a covered bridge.
They had a quilting exhibit as well.
More quilts.
Lots of quilts.
Their collection of horse powered vehicles was vast.
The scale of the museum is hard to understand without visiting. It would be an exaggeration to say that 5% of the horse powered vehicles are pictured here.
The museum is not on the water. A rail line was installed to the site for transporting the above steamboat.
Yep, thats a relocated train station and rail coach.
One of their stranger exhibits was an exhibit of circus art. This is a model of a 3 ring circus a man started making as toys for his children. It took him 46 years to complete. Spoiler alert… by the time he finished, they weren’t kids anymore.
This circus advertisement tells of a woman with a 250 lb seven year old.
This circus had an albino family from Madagascar.
After about 5 hours of folk art, it was time to head to nearby Magic Hat Brewery.
The next morning we met up with Drew and departed for Camels Hump, the mountain in the background of this photo.
Camel’s Hump is pictured on the state flag.
It was a real fun hike with lots of waterfalls and creeks. Unfortunately the top was covered in a cloud, visibility was about 20 feet.
Amanda almost blew away.
We didn’t take this picture, but apparently this what the top looks like when it isn’t in a cloud.
After descending the mountain we hit up nearby Vermont staple, Ben & Jerry’s.
Drew told us that last time he was on the tour the sample was some oatmeal ice cream experimentation. We were all happy to learn we’d be sampling strawberry cheesecake icecream.
These guys were ahead of their time, pioneering the craft food movement decades before it was mainstream.
She’s so beautiful.
So glad she settled for this dork.
It was tough saying goodbye to Ben & Jerry’s. We were however delighted to find publix had a buy one get one free deal on Ben & Jerry’s the week after we got back. From our tastings in Vermont I’ve really enjoyed Empower Mint, while Amanda has latched on to The Tonight Dough.
That evening we enjoyed perfect 70 degree weather sitting outside at American Flatbread. A Burlington hallmark.
and I had the best view in the house.
Amanda’s half was pepperoni and peppers. I had Vermont made maple sausage on my half.
After dinner we enjoyed a stroll down by the water front.
Yeah, we could summer here.
Keep an eye out for the final installment of The Venture to Vermont, featuring: Cheese, Maple Syrup, a French Restaurant, Washington DC, and a desperate race against time across multiple states to get to White Duck Taco by closing time.