Manufacturing and Education

Monday was about manufacturing and eduction and green mountains.

We left the hotel (sans Panera - there are none in Vermont) and drove and through the campus of the University of Vermont. We drove by the Gutterson Fieldhouse where the Catamounts play hockey. Then we drove south of Burlinton to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. We learned alot of beary good jokes. They sew the teddy bears inside out. They cut out the pieces with cookie cutters and a 34,000 lb. press.

Then we drove to Waterbury, Vt., where we visited Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream - but Ben and Jerry no longer work there. It wasn't too exicting, all we really saw were people loading cups in the filling machine. But the sample was good. It was a new flavor called Chocowate - a Chocolate Chip-like flavor.

That was all before lunch. Oops we ate desert before lunch. Oh well, what are vacations for? Then we drove up to Stowe, Vermont to find lunch and found a Pizza and Pasta place.

After lunch, we headed back to the highway and stopped in at a place called the "Glass Blowing Studio". We watched a couple of men create some drinking glasses. This was actually the best demostration of work we saw. After we watched them make one glass, Debbie and Bob bought an ornament for Debbie's glass tree and called the girls to go... They didn't want to leave.

We finally got on the road and headed through the rest of the Green Mountains. They are a stern contrast to the ones we've seen the last two years. But they are very pretty and more reminisent of the ones Bob grew up in. I heard one lady talking to the hotel clerk about the rain. She said, "we don't get much rain. You do, but that is why you are so green and we in southern California are brown." The green here is very vibrant and lush.

We stopped just over the border in New Hampshire, to see where we were going to spend the night. We found a Panera and the tea was very good. We decided where to stop and then drove up to Hanover, NH. to drive thru Dartmouth. We found the hockey rink and drove thru the campus. Then we drove on to Concord, NH for the night. The girls swam and went to bed.