Vermont Capital, Ben and Jerry's, & Stowe, VT.

Our 2nd day in Vermont, we first drove into Montpelier to the Farmers Market downtown on every Saturday. Unfortunately , we had just gone to the store and had too many vegetables to buy fresh produce. Every thing looked so good and fresh. Darn! I bought some goat cheese, and got a name of a farmer who sold goats milk. Joe got a piece of pizza with some special mushrooms that are harvested in Vermont. We also bought some fresh home made bread. It was a really great farmers market.

We then walked a couple of blocks to the History Museum that was having a special day with different historic booths on how things were done years ago. I wanted to talk to a spinner, who was spinning her sheep's wool. A person at the farmers market told me I could get some information from her about a problem I was having with a crochet project. On a table, there were several books on sheep, spinning, and yarn. I photographed this picture, so I could remember this book and the authors name.

Right next to the Historic Museum is the State Capitol Building. Vermont, by population, is the smallest state capital in the United States

This is the 3rd State House. The 2nd State House was destroyed by fire.

You can view the State House for free. You see a bust of Lincoln, down a hall when you first come in the front door.

Upstairs is the House of Representative room.

The capital has been renovated back to its period look.

It has beautiful ceilings 

This is a look into the Senate room.

View of one side of the Senate room.

Downstairs on the main floor, the floor is done in marble with fossils in the marble.

The tour guide down stairs told me the name of this fossil, but I forgot it's name.

Then we left Montpelier, and took I- 89 NW to Hwy 100. We turned north to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.

The fee to view the factory was $3 per adult. 

You first watch a short movie about how Ben & Jerry started their business.

They carry about 70 flavors at one time, but some of those flavors can only be found at a Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop. Their ice cream is antibiotic and hormone free!

We happened to come on a weekend. They still have tours, but the factory is not making ice cream on the weekends. If you want to see the factory running with workers, you have to come Monday through Friday. After the tour we got a sample of the flavor of the day, which was one of their new flavors, American Dream.

Outside they have a Scoop Shop, and the line was very long to get some ice cream. I waited in line, and got tasters of three kinds of flavors, before choosing what I wanted. I had a dip of Black Raspberry, a dip of Chocolate Therapy, and a dip of New York Super Fudge Chunk. I  shared some of my ice cream with Joe.

When Ben & Jerry first started out, they drove a Ben & Jerry Ice Cream RV around the country one summer, before it caught on fire and was destroyed. This is a replica of the original.

Ben and Jerry's is on the same Hwy. as the town of Stowe, VT.  After our ice cream , we drove north  to Stowe. The town of Stowe, has a great view of the Green Mountains. After driving through Stowe, we drove east on Hwy. 108 past this walking covered bridge.

Here is a view of the Stowe Ski  Resort on Hwy. 108.

We drove through Smugglers Notch State Park. There seemed to be a lot of trails in this park, as we noticed a lot of cars parked off onto the side of the road.

At the bottom of Smugglers Notch, we found Smugglers Notch Family Resort. This resort has a zip line you can do if you are brave enough to do it, for a price of $99. I was thinking about doing it, but I read that if you have reoccurring neck and back problems, it is not recommended. I have degenerated disks in my neck at 5 & 6, so that made that decision for me. I asked the front desk where we could go to see people doing the zip line. Joe and I found it, but it was a hot day, and we were later told, it can take three hour for the group to finish the course. 

On our way back down the road I took a picture of Stowe Mountain Lodge.

You can take Gondola ride here in the off seasons.