Days 31 - 32

September 15 - 16, 2010

We are in Shelburne, Vermont. Our tour started on Tuesday with get acquainted meeting and what was expected of us on the tour. Lots of first time people on the tour. We have sixteen rigs or thirty-two people including the four leaders. We have already had two days of tours. Wednesday was a bus tour of the state capitol building and then lunch at the New England Culinary Institute. What a treat. Chicken with some sauce and baby vegetables and a great potato dish. They also served a maple cheesecake and our leader is going to give us a copy. Then the tour continued to the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry. Their pit is two miles wide by four miles wide and ten miles deep. They say it will take them 4,200 years to use it all up. It is a gray granite mine. They make head stones and monuments, arches or anything you want. It was neat to watch the engravers doing their work. We even went to a cemetery that has lots of their work. Lots of unique things. The next day was local tours. 1. Maple Syrup farm, 2. Cider (Apple) Mill where we watched them make cider and go to drink some fresh. 3. Glass blowing studio where we watched the owner make a glass bowl and of course I had to buy some of his things. 4. Ben and Jerry's Ice cream factory for a tour and a "free" sample of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream. Very good as it wasn't too minty. 5. Cabot Cheese Factory Store. We had been at the factory four years ago and saw them making cheese. This was the annex and they just sell here. Of course they had lots of samples and of course we had to buy some of the cheese. In the same parking lot was also a kitchen store so we also left some money there buying sever clever goodies to help in the kitchen. There was also a New York Chocolate store but we didn't go in as it was VERY expensive and nothing special. Then after a short time back home for lunch we headed off on a drive to Smuggler's Notch. It is a break in the mountains and also has lots of skiing lifts. You could see the runs cut through the trees. Some also took a hike up to see waterfalls but we didn't go as it was getting dark and then started to RAIN again.