Around Middlebury
September 2003
 Welcome to Vermont, the Green Mountain State |
Welcome to Vermont, the Green Mountain State |
Vermont is crossed by a complete system of ancient major water routes from the Lake Champlain Valley to the Connecticut River Valley leading eventually to the sea. Paths were first made by migrating herds of animals searching for salt, and later by Indians as they hunted, traded, and made contact with neighboring tribes. These paths were widened by the early Europeans as they migrated and settled. The trail along Otter Creek, with its popular portage, was known as "THE INDIAN ROAD". Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River were major north - south (water) paths. Other streams served as east - west connections.
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 Otter Creek runs through Middlebury VT. |
 This waterfall on Otter Creek comes out under Frog Hollow Mill, with craft and souvenir shops. |
 We visited several businesses in Middlebury, one was Maple Landmark Woodcraft where they make small wooden toys for kids. |
 This machine assembles the wheels in the right bin with axles in the left bin. |
 After lunch we visited the Otter Creek Brewing factory. |
 They make six kinds of ale here and you can taste (and buy) all you want. |
University of Vermont Morgan Horse Farm
 Inscription reads "1921 given by The Morgan Horse Club to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in memory of Justin Morgan who died in 1821. |
The University of Vermont Middlebury, has a Morgan horse ranch just east of town that is self supporting. It receives no funding from the university but breeds and sells Morgan Horses and is on UVM land. We took the two dollar tour and one thing I noticed is that all the horse's names start with "UVM". It seems that Justin Morgan had a debt owed to him and as payment he was given a horse. No one knows who the mother or father of the horse was, but the horse won races and shows and when the horse sired a colt, no matter who the mare was, all his genes were in the off spring. And so the Morgan horse was started. You can buy one of these horses for ten to twenty-five thousand dollars.
 Morgan horses in the pasture. |
 This barn was built in 1878. |
 Students come here for free and spend two years learning all about and taking care of horses. |
 This trainer holds the rope and gives verbal commands. |
 From weaning time, young horses are housed in an open shed until 1 1/2 to 2 years of age. During this time, these youngsters get a healthy start on mental and physical development before being moved to the main barn for training. |
 The Remount Barn built in 1914 for use as a stallion barn, during which time the farm was supplying the U.S. Cavalry with breeding stock for "Remount" purposes. Now its used as a "Maternity Ward" for up to 10 foaling mares. |
 These two are new borns in the Remount Barn. |
 Nancy has to pet every animal she sees, the sign says do not feed or pet the horses, so put the carrots back in your pocket and move back. |
 These mother horses are looking after their babies who are laying down taking a nap in the pasture. |
 Moss Glen Falls in Vermont's Green Mountains. |
We left Middleberry and traveled across Vermont's Green Mountains. It was a beautiful drive on a very narrow, rough, twisty, sometimes 12% grade road. But there are lots of hardwood trees, rivers, and waterfalls. Then after the beautiful forest we stopped in Marshfield, Vermont just south of Montpelier for seven days and checked out the rest of Vermont.
 A trail through the Green Mountains to Texas Falls. |
 We found Texas falls. |
 Another waterfall at Moss Glen Falls. |
We also visited the Cabot Creamery where milk is converted into (white) chedder cheese. The cheese is stored in the warehouse until it is aged properly. Mild cheese is aged 2 or 3 weeks. Sharp cheese is aged 4 to 6 months. Extra sharp is aged 11 or 12 months. Their premium cheese is aged two years. They have over 16 million pounds of cheese stored in their warehouse. If you leave a mild cheese in the refrigerator for six months it turns into sharp cheese.
 This machine separates the curds and whey. Curds in the closer tub and whey in the far one. |
 The curds go into the press through a vacuum hose to make 40 pound cubes and then pushes the cheese cube into a plastic bag. |
 A conveyer moves the blocks to this machine that wraps four 40 pound cubes in Saran wrap for storage. |
We also visited the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory where we created a teddy by selecting the body, inserting the stuffing, added a heart, cuts his umbilical cord and named him Traveler.
 We visited the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and Nancy made her own teddy by first picking out the bear skin. |
 Next Nancy picks the filler, Nancy picked giggles. |
 Now the clerk fills the bear skin with giggles to just the right "squeeze". |
 Nancy puts a heart in the teddy and named him Traveler, then she cuts Traveler's umbilical cord. |
 Traveler is born 09/08/03 at 3:58 p.m. Traveler even comes with a birth certificate. |
 Traveler is dressed and ready to hit the road. |