So Heady Topper is this somewhat legendary microbrew IPA that is only sold in Vermont. My friend (thanks Clif!) suggested that I search for this beer when we made it to Vermont. Now I’m not a hardcore beer aficionado, but I love a good craft beer. During the course of our stay in Vermont, I tried several times to acquire this beer, only to fail in my quest each time until we made the treck to the source. I figured this story would serve as a good backdrop to our short but amazing visit to Vermont.
We’re heading to the Burlington area, to a place near the hometown of Ben and Jerry’s. The drive from New York to Vermont was beautiful. The leaves starting their fall change with blushes of firey red, yellow and orange intermingled with the green. Before heading to our home base for the next few days we stopped at the Shelburne Museum. We saw some good reviews on Facebook and Yelp so decided it would be a good stop after our long drive. The museum consists of 39 buildings, many of which are historic, that house a huge amount of art, design, and Americana. We had a great time walking the grounds. So good in fact that we came back the next day to finish what we couldn’t see the day before. There were buildings full or historic wooden carousel animals, old horse-drawn carriages, quilts, glass, old sleeper train cars and even a turn of the century steamship. Usually, this is not my cup of tea but Katie, the kids and I had a great time exploring these crazy exhibits. (There’s a ton the kids can touch, which makes it super accessible for them) The museum was also a great place for us to supplement our homeschool work with history and design.
Some highlights from the two days. (The weather was phenomenal for later fall)
Katie and Sienna were almost eaten!
My personal Favorite for obvious parental reasons! The ultimate TIMEOUT!
Freaky cool ancient carousel animals.
Final images of the visit.
The House
So our home base for this leg of the journey was a late nineteenth-century farmhouse tucked into a little out of the way corner of the Green Mountains. This was an excellent location from which to venture forth on our adventures around the area.
At this point zero Heady Topper had been found. My noobness to the local beer scene shone brightly. Attempted to acquire said beer but the craft beer shop was closed. OK, no worries I’ll go the next day when it opens. So I head back confident I would taste the delicious craft beer….NOPE. “We only get Heady on Wednesday’s..” said the shop keeper. This would have been wonderful except we were leaving on Tuesday. #facepalm. So no Heady Topper yet. Back let’s get back to our advanture.
On our first full day, and after we visited the Shelburne again, we headed to a much loved Vermont institution. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company!
What an awesome place! We decided a tour of the factory was in order and off we went. The kids loved hearing how the bears were made. So much care and love put into each one. All the kids were given “button” bears made from the scraps of leftover fabric. We learned that over 500,000 bears are made annually and that any bear will be repaired for free as long as the official green tag and some of the bear parts are returned. The workers all seemed to have a kind light-hearted fun attitude which made the experience all the better. One of the coolest things we learned is that any Vermonter at the age of four can come to the factory and receive a free bear. This is a part of “The Vermont Cub Project” and is a great example of a company giving back to the community. A lesson we made sure our kids heard loud and clear.
No Heady was to be found this day. I even went to a local market that I “heard” sold the elixir. When I asked where to find it I was told with a smirk “We get deliveries in the morning and we sell out fast…you’re a tourist right?” Sort of deflating but I wouldn’t give up. The search will continue and next, we visit a location that has tremendous significance in my life….