Imagine Our RV Dreams: Burlington, Vermont, Apples, Ice Cream, and Welcome to New Hampshire

We left the farm and the Cooperstown, New York area and drove north and east in to Vermont.

We were hosted on a property outside of Burlington, Vermont with a giant red barn with miniature ponies and apple trees. We parked close to the barn to hook up to the 50 amp electricity.

One day we went to the Waterfront Park area of Burlington to check it out. It was a beautiful day for a walk.

We ate lunch at American Flatbread which had delicious artisanal flatbreads cooked in their fire baked oven. It was recommended by Fodors so it had to be good!

Our walk took us along the Lake Champlain, another Great Lake.

There were a lot of people out riding their bikes along the path. We were just walking and of course I'm the one who spots a snake!

Another day we went orchard hopping in the town of South Hero on Grand Isle, the largest island in Lake Champlain.

First up was Allenholm Farm where we ate some yummy apple pie.

Next up was Hackett's Orchard

Cider donuts are very popular in this area.

Pears

Then we went to Snow Farm Vineyard where we did a little wine tasting.

Behind the winery there was a trail up a hill with great views. We got comfortable in some Adirondack chairs and enjoyed it.

Some photos along our route on Grand Isle

We even went to the Vermont Maple Outlet where we learned a lot about Maple Syrup

Oil-Fired Evaporator
Used to evaporate the water out of the sap from the maple tree to make pure maple syrup. A fire is used to boil the syrup in pans which turns the water to steam. The steam will rise up through the hood of the pans and out through the pipes in the ceiling.

Wooden Sap Bucket, Spout, and Cover
Used from the mid-1800's through early 1900's. The wooden spout would be tapped into a hole that was drilled 2.5 inches deep in the maple tree each spring. A wooden bucket would then be hung from the spout to collect the maple sap from the tree. A wooden cover would be used to keep the snow and rain from mixing with the sap.

In the early 1900's there was a switch to galvanized buckets which were more durable.

Plastic Pipeline & Spout
A tubing system was first developed in the 1940's. It was designed to save time and labor in the collection of the sap from the maple tree. The tubing was first made from tin and switched to plastic in the 1960's. The tubing is used to go from tree to tree and collect the sap. The sap goes into pipes that carry the sap down out of the woods and directly to the sugar house.

Plastic Tubing with a "Health Spout"

A smaller diameter spout was developed in the late 1990's. It was given this name because it uses a much smaller hold drilled into the maple tree each spring. The small spouts yield the same amount of sap as the gravity tubing system. It's possible to use a vacuum to pull the sap which provides a 50% increase of sap each year from the same number of spouts. The new smaller spouts cause less damage to the maple tree which means healthier trees with higher production yields and a longer life.

Cross Section of a Maple Tree

This vertical cross section of a maple tree was over 150 years old. It shows the tap holes from many years of production. Each year a new hole is drilled in the sap wood of the maple tree. The discolored wood above and below each tap hole is called scar tissue. This area of the maple tree will never produce sap again. The tree will naturally close over the old sap hole in a couple of years by growing new sap wood over the existing hole.

Depressing if true......

And that ends our Maple Syrup lesson. Before heading back to the trailer, we had one more stop.

Fall is in the air.....

Cambridge Junction Bridge
This bridge was built in 1887 by George W. Holmes in order to access an important railroad junction and the surrounding village of Cambridge Junction. The Burr Arch structure has a clear span of 135 feet, making it one of the longest spans of its type in the United States. The bridge is also known as the "Poland Bridge" after the retired judge who led a lawsuit against the town of Cambridge that resulted in the bridge's construction.

(No, Al is not peeing off the bridge!)

I'm a sucker for a covered bridge.

The countryside was so beautiful on our drive.

When we got back, we got to see the little horses on the property.

Right next to our trailer was an apple tree and the owner said we could take as many as we wanted so Al picked some to make an apple pie.

On our way to our next destination, we made a couple of stops. We don't normally do this while towing the trailer but they were on the way and I checked that there was parking by looking at Google satellite images and calling the establishments.

First up was Cold Hollow Cider Mill.

Here we learned all about making apple cider which I love!

Our apples are grown at local orchards.
They are picked and collected in 20 bushel bins.
Then the apples are trucked to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.
A forklift dumps the apples onto an elevator which carries them to the washer and grinder.
The apples are then pumped to the cider press where over 100 tons of pressure is applied.
The squeezed apple cider is screened and pumped into large cooling tanks and pasteurized.

First...Apples come in all shapes and sizes and are measured in pounds. The apples are washed and ground into pieces. The vertical layers built for each batch contain a total of 2,500 pounds of apples.

As each layer is filled, the fabric is folded to contain the apple pieces.

Then....Once a batch is built, it takes 15 minutes to fully press out. We can do two batches per hour or about 16 batches per day. Each press will produce a batch of about 250 gallons of cider. So when we're really crankin' it, we're producing 4,000 gallons a day.

Finally....As the cider flows out of the layers of pomace (the mash of crushed apples) and onto the press pan, it gathers in the catch basin under the press. From there, it's pumped to the pasteurizer, and then straight to the jugging room.

Apple pomace after the juice has been squeezed out. It's fed to farm animals.

Free samples of the cider!

I was fascinated by this process and watched several batches get squashed! Of course enjoying my free samples of cider as I watched!

What's the Diff?
Apple Cider vs. Apple Juice

Apple Cider: This is 100% freshly squeezed apples, unfiltered. It is perishable and needs to be made weekly from apples grown locally in the Champlain Valley. This is The Real Deal.
Apple Juice: This stuff's usually made wth concentrate from some foreign country. It may have started as cider but has been filtered and reconstituted with water and corn syrup. No refrigeration is needed.

Enjoying a slice of apple pie

After learning about how maple syrup is made we had to buy some.

Our second stop was the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory.

Unfortunately the factory tours were closed due to construction but we got to eat some ice cream and walk around.

Can you guess the top three Benn & Jerry's flavors?

#3 - Chocolate Fudge Brownie: The fabulously fudgy brownies in this flavor come from New York’s Greyston Bakery, where producing great baked goods is part of their greater-good mission to provide jobs and training to low-income city residents.

#2: Cherry Garcia: Our euphorically edible tribute to guitarist Jerry Garcia & Grateful Dead fans everywhere, it’s the first ice cream named for a rock legend and the most famous of our fan-suggested flavors.

#1 is Half Baked: Vanilla and chocolate ice cream in a delectable dance with big chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownies.

While we waited in line to get our ice cream, there was a mural to view with these words:

Join the March

Ever since we churned up our very first batch of ice cream, we've used our business to support justice and equality. And throughout our journey, we've taken inspiration from the heroes of the civil rights movement - heroes like Congressman John Lewis, who dedicated his life to a vision of democracy where every citizen is represented.

Today, Americans are taking a long, hard look at our society and recognizing systems that perpetuate racial and economic inequity. We believe there's never been a more important moment to get into what Congressman Lewis called "good trouble." Part of Congressman Lewis' philosophy was that you had to "create the climate and the environment for change." That meant using every means possible - including art and creativity - which is a core philosophy here at Ben and Jerry's. That why we're proud to bring you "The Long March" based on Congressman Lewis' iconic graphic novel trilogy MARCH, to inspire you to protect the right to vote for all Americans.

Ready to join the march? Call on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!

Colin Kaepernick's Change the Whirled non-dairy sundae

Trying to enjoy my ice cream but this photographer keeps bugging me.

There is a graveyard for all the flavors that are no longer made.

Here is a sample of some of the headstones for dead flavors:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt
So now we know our Dough Fro Yo
Just wasn't as great as expected.
Folks who love Dough as well as Fro Yo
Love 'em separate, not interconnected.
1994-2001

Dave Matthews Band's Magic Brownies
The first edition was
"too vanilla,"
So we more or less re-mixed it.
The encore was raspberrier,
But not enough,
so we deep-sixed it.
2007-2011

Coconut Almond Fudge Chip
This coconutty contender
May never surrender.
Of the Graveyard's legendariest,
It's among the temporariest.
1993-1996
1998-1999
2001-2006