I LoVermont

We're camping in New York right now.  But visiting Vermont.  We're at Crown Point Campground, literally on the other side of Lake Champlain from Vermont.  

I'm in New York, looking out into Vermont.  See that sky? It's raining again.  But that's ok, cuz we headed out for some tours today.                      

First we headed to Shelburne to visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.  I've loved their bears since I was in high school, which was (coincidentally) around the time they got the factory up and running.  We paid $3 for those older than 12 for a half hour tour of their operations.  It's really neat to see how they get the bears made and learn how many people they employ.  Or how few, and yet I've heard of them.  And their operations increase dramatically around the holidays.  Our tour guide said they regularly employ 150, and they ADD about 1,000 for the holidays.  Wow.  Looking around their shop, they really lend support to small businesses in the area.  Their graphic designer is Bruce Corbett, whose snowflake photographs they had for sale.  They also had a couple shirts from Keep Vermont Weird, and they had a write up about the couple who started the business.  Sadly, when we tried to visit the store in Burlington, we couldn't find the place.  We spent a frustrating half an hour looking for them before just calling it quits.  But I love their stuff and am hoping to find more of their stuff in some local shops.  

After the tour, and the fail in Burlington, we wandered around.  Vermont is really cool about having signs for EVERYTHING, so we would see something that caught our fancy, and just pull over.  We went to the Shelburne Country Store, the Vermont Flannel Company, and Dakin Farm.  I had to keep reminding myself that these aren't the only places we're going, and I don't need to buy every cheese and every maple product I find.  But I did get a hot chocolate mix from Silly Cow Farms, which I really enjoyed.  

We've got two campgrounds lined up in VT, but I think we might stay longer.  We don't have any reservations after our two in VT until we hit Acadia at the end of July.  We picked up a TON of brochures today, plus I've got tabs open in my browser for places we saw on our way through VT to NY.  There's a lot that's calling to us in this beautiful place.  

I'll leave you with this.  It's the memorial to Samuel Champlain.  When the door is open, you're free to walk up it, so that's what the kids did today.  I hear it's riddled with spiders.