Jaunted

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Three More USA Maple Syrup Festivals for Spring 2011

Vermonters are serious about their syrup. When we posted a story last week about a national syrup festival in Indiana, which proclaims itself as the only national, multistate fest of its kind, Vermonters voiced their dismay about being overlooked. They do make some darned good syrup, so to give them love and pay homage to maple-sugaring season, we'll give you the other top syrup fest spots in the country.

Check out three tasty syrup festival destinations after the jump.

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Factory Tours / Holiday Travel / Vermont Travel / Best-Factory-Tours-Map / → All Tags

Vermont: Where Teddy Bears Come to Life Every Holiday Season

Umm, that's not us posing there. Just FYI

If you can’t afford a trip to the North Pole this year to go with Santa on a tour of his workshop, there’s another holiday factory tour worth checking out. Find out where Teddy Bears come to life, as the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory welcomes one and all to take a look through their workshops just outside of Burlington each and every day.

On the guided tour, you’ll visit the cutting station where about 20 different parts of fur are cut out to make all the bears, and then you can see where they start to put about 430,000 bears per year into commission in the sewing room. If you’ve ever been to one of those Build-a-Bear places you know the best part of the tour has got to be where the little bags of fur are stuffed. Even though the machines they use are from the 1940s, the workers are able to stuff the bears with fuzz and fluff at 100mph.

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Weird Travel / Vermont Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Montpelier Travel / Animals / Tourist Traps / → All Tags

People Come From All Over the World to See This Goat

This goat, the very one you see above, resides in a treehouse-type pen in a farm field outside of Montpelier, Vermont. He doesn't go anywhere and do much, and yet the busloads of tourists come to him. Why? Because this is a goat that can do a stupid animal trick, and apparently people will travel to see that, and pay a quarter to participate.

He happens to live at Morse Farm a maple syrup producer locally famous enough to attract the fall foliage bus tours, especially the ones full of Europeans eager for a peak at traditional Americana. Maybe the goat helps souvenir sales? Anyways, here's his gig: you walk out to his pen in the field, put a quarter in an old gumball machine to retrieve goat feed. You put it in a cup at the end of a rope, and the goat hears the food drop into the cup and he begins to frantically bite at the rope, quickly raising the cup up his treehouse perch and to his lips. He quickly gobbles it down and the tourists go crazy. It'd be kind of cute if goats didn't have freaky, horizontal rectangle-shaped pupils.

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Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / Vermont Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Burlington Travel / BTV / → All Tags

Camp Out in Burlington Airport's Old Control Tower for Prime Plane Spotting

If big 747s or even 737s are not your cup of tea and you instead prefer to see the smaller regional jets, private jets and a few Airbus A320s scattered in there, then plane spotting at Vermont's Burlington International Airport is for you. Aside from the concentration of regional jets that visit BTV, the airport is unique in that the public can come up to the old Control Tower to enjoy the best view for free.

The trick is to go to the second level of the terminal—don't go through security—and there's a hallway with a simple sign pointing to the "observation tower." Up a few flights of cramped stairs and you're in the old control booth. Now all it's got are stools, but a wise plane spotter will bring the binoculars and professional camera lenses to capture shots of the planes taking off with the mountains in the background.

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Photo Gallery / Best Factory Tours / Vermont Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Best-Factory-Tours-Map / Ice Cream Travel / → All Tags

Inside the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory Tour

What's better on a rainy fall day in Vermont than a pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream? Nothing, that's what. So last week when we found ourselves up in the Green Mountains, we did a road trip to Waterbury, to the original factory and home of Ben & Jerry's for their production tour. We ate ice cream, we got rained on in the Flavor Graveyard and we spent way too much on souvenirs.

The biggest obstacle to taking the Ben & Jerry's tour is getting up to Waterbury, because believe us—this place is rural and without any nearby public transportation. The options aside from renting a car and road tripping there is to join a group bus tour, and that was definitely the most popular option when we visited. Whole busloads of German, Welsh and Japanese tourists dropped by, in addition to Americans on fall foliage tours.

Once you're up at the factory, it's not long until the ice cream starts flowing. Pay $3 per adult for the tour, or check-in on Foursquare to get the tour for free.

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Fall Foliage Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Vermont Travel / Fall Travel / Travel Snapshots / → All Tags

At Smugglers' Notch, Vermont's Greatest Fall Foliage Secret

In just less than two weeks, the stunning fall foliage you see above will be gone and the road on which we drove just yesterday will be closed off for the winter, in anticipation of heavy snows. This is the Vermont State Park area called "Smugglers' Notch," a thin pass between two mountains near the ski resort of Stowe and it boasts some of the best views and most pleasurable road tripping in all of the Northeast.

To reach it, you've either got to drive or be one of the crazy cyclists who pedal up here as part of their training and conditioning. The elevation is 2,170' and your reward for making to this place, a mountain haven between Burlington and Montpelier, is a little wonderland of small mountain streams and waterfalls, natural large boulders upon which free climbers practice, and a manmade stone staircase so that almost everyone that drives through can get out of the car, have a stretch, and walk up to capture the perfect photograph.

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Souvenirs / Vermont Travel / Farm Travel / Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / → All Tags

Would You Buy a Travel Notebook Made of Cow Poo?

You know you're in Vermont when...souvenir shops include journals made of cow poo on shelves next to bottles of pure maple syrup and fridges full of Cabot cheese. We happened upon this crazy stuff yesterday at Morse Farm while taking a road trip through Montpelier, VT to observe some fall foliage at its peak.

Although seriously tempted to buy the $6 scratchpad made of cow poo, we wouldn't have wanted it for ourselves, but to use as a gift for a friend. Then remembering that none of our friends would want cow poo when they could have maple candies, we slowly backed away from the display. But that doesn't mean that it won't appeal to those travelers who revel in farm tourism, or even green travel. It totally belongs on our next list of Top 5 Travel Notebooks.

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Food Travel / Foreign Grocery Friday / Vermont Travel / Burlington Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Drinking Travel / Fall Travel / Fall Foliage Travel / → All Tags

Foreign Grocery Friday: Maple Seltzer in Vermont

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

What comes to mind when you think Vermont? Lots of pretty trees in the fall and skiing at the rural resorts in the winter, sure, but what aboult foodie culture? We're talking about the land of maple syrup and chocolate and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, so Vermont often surprises with what can be found on supermarket shelves. One such item is Maple Seltzer by Vermont Sweetwater. You'll find seltzers in almost any flavor and maple goodies in almost any form, so why not combine the two? They did.

The Taste:
Looking at the bottle, you'll notice that it's got the typical liquid consistency of regular seltzer, so no drinking viscous maple syrup here. Turn it over and you'll see the plain ingredients of "100% pure filtered and carbonated Maple Sap...no water added." Sip it and you'll find that it tastes like plain seltzer at first, all bubbles and fizz until a slight maple hint hits your tongue as the bubble settle. It's sweet in only a very small way, and it's actually refreshing enough to enjoy on a regular basis, should you be lucky enough to live in Vermont. Plus, it's only got 52 calories for one whole bottle. We'd like to see Coca Cola try that.

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Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Fall in Vermont Field Trip / Vermont Travel / Burlington Travel / Travel Snapshots / → All Tags

Wish You Were Here: Burlington, Vermont

This is downtown Burlington, Vermont, as seen yesterday from the roof of a public parking structure in the Church Street Marketplace area. As you can see, the fall foliage is absolutely out there already, and pretty soon, those green trees leftover will turn fiery shades as well. It's just the beginning of the fun, as the real swathes of color should happen in about one week. Currently, the weather is rain, rain, mist, rain and more mist, with a few minutes of damp calm to capture images like this.

Still, we wish you were here. It feels like everyone else is, as tour buses chock full of Europeans roll past, keeping up with strict leaf-peeping itineraries. Listening to NPR last night, there was an hour discussion on exactly what turns leaves different colors, followed by something like two hours of locals calling in to confirm whether or not the leaves on their streets had begun the fall transformation. It was riveting in the way that only lifelong Vermonters find interesting. However, it did make us crave a warm breakfast of fresh waffles drenched in real maple syrup and a cup of steaming hot apple cider, so that's our weekend goal.

Going leaf-peeping as well this weekend? What does fall make you crave?

[Photo: Jaunted]

Tourism / Tourists / Vermont Travel / Food Travel / Travel News / Terrorism / → All Tags

No More Maple Syrup Factory Tours, Thanks to Terrorism Threat

Here is the most ridiculous news you will probably hear all day: the press reported earlier this month that Vermont's popular Maple Grove Farms factory tour was shut down due to terrorism concerns. Whoa, what?

The Rutland Herald attempts to make sense of this: "the company, the largest maple syrup wholesaler in the nation, had to shutter the tour as a result of 'food-defense' concerns that have sprouted since terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., nearly nine years ago." Apparently it's taken nine years for the factory to figure out that it'd cost them more than it's worth to retrofit the factory so that visitors are kept away from machinery. So they're just not allowed at all.

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Get INTO the Cold / Ski Travel / Stowe / Ski Resorts / Vermont Travel / → All Tags

Get INTO the Cold: Stowe, Vermont

Trying to flee the freezing temperatures sweeping across the country is natural, but predictable. Instead, do what folks in these frigid destinations do—embrace it and Get INTO the Cold. The trick to staying toasty is chill-killing gear and lots of bone warming activity. So stop moping around waiting for summer to arrive and head to these five crazy cold places and get your winter wonderland on.

Cold Meter: Moderate-High
Early mornings at this classic New England alpine resort town can be deceiving when the bright sun makes it a bearable 30 degrees. But the mercury quickly descends to a body numbing 3 by late afternoon.

Outdoor Adventures:
Skiing brings in beaucoup visitors to Stowe each winter season where two mountains are split into six different traversable areas. Mount Mansfield, the state’s highest peak at 4,395 feet, is where the big dogs hang out on the multiple wooded trails and “Front Four” black diamond descents. Expect to shell out some duckets for lift tickets (min $57 day per adult during early/late season; more during prime and peak times).

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Film Festival Travel / Australia / Skiing / Vermont Travel / Japan / → All Tags

Baby, It's Cold Outside, Especially at the Backcountry Film Festival

Experience the Australian Alps from the comfort of a movie theater

Film, at its best, has the ability to transport us to a different time, place or state of mind. The great leisure of cinematic travel is that you do so parked in a plush theater chair for two or so hours, with a jumbo pack of Milk Duds and Red Vines by your side. The Fifth Annual Backcountry Film Festival aims to take theatergoers on a tour of wintry locations the world over, from Vermont to Japan.

Your lift ticket to mountainous and blistering-cold regions comes in the form of films shot in the backcountry of different nations, including unlikely places such as Australia. It's a little-known fact that there is snowboarding along with surfing down under.

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