US Hwy 7 South

I got to bed pretty late last night, but I was up just after 7:00 to get our wash out of the dryer and get everything re-packed. While Tom was getting ready I got on the geocaching website and found several caches along Hwy 7 that we could easily stop at on our way down to Massachusetts. It was nice that I was able to save them to a list so I could just pull them up in the app. I also researched some farms where we could stop and experience Vermont cheese. We had decided to go back to August First for breakfast and we both got the “Eat the East” sandwich. It was just as tasty as it had been the day before. This time we sat along the brick wall were many a guest have left their names or initials. Tom added ours to the wall just like he did at the restaurant in Milan, Italy on Valentine’s day a few years back. We made the several block hike up the road to get our car out of the parking garage and drove back to our AirBnB to grab our luggage and get on the road.

Our first stop was at Shelburne Farms (https://shelburnefarms.org/). I originally thought that we would only be stopping here to check out the store for cheese, however it turned out to be so much more then that. My first glance through the store didn’t actually reveal a whole lot of cheese in comparison to some of the stores we have stopped at in Wisconsin. The cheese I did see I felt was kind of expensive. We saw you could buy cider donuts for $1.25/donut and Tom and I decided we would like to share one. As were checking out I asked the gentlemen behind the counter if they were making cheese today and if we could see it. He said they were and he said that at 11:00 a cheesemaker would come out and provide more information and answer questions. He pointed us down a path that would lead to the Farm Barn where the cheese was being made. The path was a 3/4 mile long gravel trail. We couldn’t see the barn from the store, but since we had no big plans for the day we decided to go for it. I’m so glad we did. I couldn’t believe the Farm Barn when it came into view. It was a huge and epic building! I’ve never seen such a big, fancy barn (the picture of the barn is the cover photo for this post). Not at all what I had envisioned and it was obvious I hadn’t spent a lot of time on their website to get the preview before we got there. We stopped to see the sheep, cow, and calves at the barn before heading into the cheesemaking area. They had a huge window into the room where cheese is made. It’s not a huge space at all. We read the sign on the wall for the steps to make the cheese. It was now about 10:50 and we had read the signs and viewed in the window and could have easily left, but I’m glad we waited the 10 minutes to hear from the cheesemaker. He came out promptly at 11:00 and without much fanfare, basically said he was there to answer any questions. He didn’t really give a background or introduction, but just went straight to questions. It stated out a little slow and awkward, but as he got talking I think he got a little more comfortable and he actually shared quite a lot of information. We found out that he was only 22 years old and had been working as a cheesemaker for 9 months. There are only 6 or so cheesemakers on staff. Their days are quite long and can be physically draining. When we first started viewing the cheesemaking the whey was being stirred by a big machine. By the time Sam, our cheesemaker/tour guide, was done 45 minutes after he started we had watched his coworker separate the curds from the whey, drain the whey, and squeeze the curds to the side. As the cheesemaker who was working behind the glass had her hands in the whey I asked what the temperature of the liquid was. He said it was about 104 degrees. I could relate to this temperature as the hottest setting that our hot tub will go, and I had happened to say that out loud. This of course led Tom to ask the non-serious question of could we make cheese in our hot tub, which led Sam to give a serious response back of maybe, but the jets would cause too much disturbance in the PH levels . . .yada yada yada. I know Tom was laughing on the inside because he was just being silly and Sam was being serious. I asked what makes cheddar orange since Vermont cheddar is white. He told us that a natural additive with carotene is added and that is what turns it orange. At some point he asked where we were from and when we said Wisconsin, and that got some chuckles. Overall I’m super happy we decided to take the walk to view the cheesemaking and stayed to listen to Sam, the cheesemaker. It was all super interesting. Upon returning to the store I bought some of the 3-year aged cheddar to help support the farm. It was absolutely free for the experience, so the least I can do is help support them, and after watching the process of course I wanted to try their cheese. It came in a brick so we haven’t opened it yet to slice and try it. Our AirBnB tonight does have a stocked kitchen, so I may slice it in the morning . . I just don’t have something to put the cut cheese into. After buying our cheese and taking our picture, I made my way across the street to snag a geocache. Yay to my first find of the day!

We got back in the car and headed down US 7 South. I had Tom drive so I could navigate to the geocaches I wanted to hit. I soon had cache #2 and #3 of the day under my belt. One of the caches was called “Apple Fritters” and the cache owner described it as a place they like to get said product. I thought that would be another great score for us, so we were disappointed when we found the place was a gas station with a Dunkin Donuts inside. That’s not quite what I had in mind, but at least I found the cache and we didn’t buy any apple fritters or anything else. At this point, Tom was getting sleepy so I got back behind the wheel. That’s when I noticed we still had the parking garage pass from our AirBnB in Burlington hanging from our review mirror. Crap! We were supposed to leave that in the apartment. I messaged the owner right away to ask her what address I could drop it in the mail too. We had come too far South at this point to turn around and take it back. Since all the caches I picked out where along US 7 I brought up the next cache and was able to navigate to it while Tom napped. Caching today brought us to a quirky little place with King Kong holding a Volkswagen Bug which made for a nice little photo op. We also stopped for a cache at the birthplace of Stephen Douglas who debated Abraham Lincoln in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. We had just been to the Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL so it was kind of cool to connect the dots here.

Another cache brought us to the New England Maple Museum and store. Once again I thought we would just pop in the store (mostly looking for a snack), but a customer who had just been through the museum really talked it up and said it was really well done and only cost $3/person. We weren’t going to do it, but she was so insistent that it was really good we said sure why not. It was well done and interesting, but we definitely did not have the same level of excitement about it as the previous customer. This time I didn’t feel the need to buy anything from the store and we continued our way down US 7 South. I hadn’t planned anymore caches after the Maple Museum (mostly because I ran out of time) so I just continued the drive South and only pulled over when I saw something that I thought would probably have a cache at. At one road side pullover there was a cache that I attempted, but with the surrounding garbage what looked like a bum might leave behind, I said forget it and got back in the car. The last cache of the day and for Vermont was at the Welcome to Vermont visitor center near the Massachusetts border. All in all, I found 9 caches today and 10 total for Vermont.

We got to our AirBnB in Lanesborough, MA at 5:00. This place is a spacious studio apartment that Tom really liked the look and feel too. We got our stuff hauled up the flight of stairs and started searching the web on where to go for dinner. We both agreed we wanted pizza. There were several pizza places close by to choose from. We went to a place called “Crust” but when we walked in and saw it was basically like a Mod Pizza (which is very good, but we were looking for more of a sit-down place) we decided to look for something else. We found a place called Roasted Garlic (http://theroastedgarlic.com/). As soon as we walked in I was happy with our decision. I got a chicken bacon ranch pizza and Tom got the roasted garlic with ricotta and tomato sauce, roasted garlic, mozzarella, parmesan and topped with arugula (and added chicken). Both were really good. We were able to eat it all except for 2 pieces of the chicken bacon ranch. We’ll save that for a snack tomorrow.

We got done eating and found a grocery store to replenish our snack supply. All of the Combos, pita chips, and Red Vines are now long gone and we still have a couple days of road tripping to do. It was a laid back travel kind of day, but our experience with cheese farm made it a great day!

Stats of the Day

Number of Questions we Asked the Cheesemaker: At least 6
8 oz 3 Year Aged Cheddar: $11
Geocaches Attempted: 10
Geocaches Found: 9
Steps Walked: 10,166