Vermont Teddy Bear Company (Shelburne, VT) – May 2015

PART THREE (5 May 2015):  VERMONT TEDDY BEAR COMPANY

I first heard Vermont Teddy Bear being advertised on the radio back in 1986 when it was a prize given away on PYX-106 radio.  I even ordered one for a girl I liked in 1994 (I had to order the “business bear,” as they was the closest they had to one working on the computer, which was how we met).  After that, it pretty much slipped my mind, and it never occurred to me I could do a factory tour.  If it had, Lee and I would’ve probably stopped by when we did our trek to the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in 2006.  But when I was checking out things to do in the area for this trip, I saw this and decided it looked like a fun thing to do.

The company was founded in 1983, and later moved to the colorful barn location here in Shelburne.  It wasn’t too far from the Shelburne Museum (which I’d been to during high school field trips).  While I recalled passing Shelburne Museum during my 2006 visit to the region, I don’t recall seeing the sign for Vermont Teddy Bear.  Perhaps we were simply talking and I missed the sign?

The tour takes under 30 minutes, and gives the information of how the fabric is cut and assembled on site.  There didn’t seem to be much production currently going on, but this was also the “slow” period of the year.  I figured since they have a bunch already in stock, so they’d just need to build ones to replenish stock as the bears were being ordered.

We were given a bear-shaped piece of fabric (roughly about the size of our hand) to wear as part of the tour swag.  There was a slit on the “head” of the bear, so it fit over the buttons we’d been given.  So if you seeing something that looks like a brown stain on my shirt in the pictures, you know now what it was.

We were told us how authenticity of the bears are maintained by the five points of articulation they have (hips, shoulders, and neck), and the “Born in Vermont” written on the eyes.  Part of the design of the bears includes the way the pieces are assembled so they can’t be pulled apart by young hands (so no chance of a baby plucking out a bear’s eye and swallowing it).  Our tour guide, Matt, didn’t miss any bear-related puns along the way, which added a level of fun to the experience.

From having ordered one previously, I already knew about how the “Bear-Gram” (when a bear is mail-ordered and shipped to someone) comes in a box with an “air hole” so the bear could breathe.  The box also had notations about which side was “up,” so the bear wouldn’t be transported on its head.  A map on the wall during the tour showed some of the places where they were shipped to.

I already knew from hearing past information the bears would be repaired at this location, but it was amusing to see some of the levels of wounds these bears had sustained.  I knew I’d see a victim of a dog attack, but I didn’t expect to see a bear which had been used as an oven-mitt (with grill marks burned into the back) or one that had tangled with a lawnmower.

As long as they were able to authenticate the bear came from Vermont Teddy Bear, they’d repair or replace the bear.  And all the bears in post-op got a honey IV drip.

My father asked a good question about the assembly.  As we’d been told on the tour everything was made in the US, he wanted to know where the stuff came from.  Our tour guide let us know the stuffing was made of recycled material, and was shipped from the Detroit-area.  That was nice to know that 100% of the bear was US-made.  There was a display showing the stuffing with a sky-diving bear in it, and of course I was going to play with it to turn it into the wind-tunnel.

All the bears were customizable.  Once you decided what color you wanted, then you get accessories for the theme you choice.  Examples of these were in the gift shop, like a snowboarder, firefighter, “Orange Is the New Bear,” and zombie.

For the younger crowd, there’s an area where guests could construct their own bear from the various components available.  There were bins of various arms, legs, and heads, which Dad and I played around with.

I did consider actually doing the build-a-bear workshop to make my own, so I could get a birth certificate for it.  The main reason I didn’t was because it wasn’t something I needed, nor did I have anyone to give it to after.  Also, I would’ve wanted my bear to have two heads.  So I filled out one of the birth certificates to honor my favorite musician King Diamond.  Figured that was twisted enough for me.

On a side room, which wasn’t part of the tour, was a section about their sister-company which does the PajamaGram.  Nothing kinky here, just you can order matching PJ’s for the entire family or a particular person.  The PJ’s were just hanging on a rack, and not as fun as the teddy bears in their display.

Outside there’s a couple places for photo opportunities, and some easy chairs to lounge in (to get a nice view of the Shelburne Airport).  This was a nice roadside stop, and I was glad we were able to do so.  It was fun.  I wished I’d seen this on my earlier trip when I could’ve shared it with someone special.  Perhaps that will be a reason to make a return trip, or place an order soon.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Vermont Teddy Bear Company:  http://www.vermontteddybear.com/

Shelburne (VT):  http://www.shelburnevt.org/

Shelburne Museum:  https://shelburnemuseum.org/

PajamaGram: http://www.pajamagram.com/

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Norman Rockwell Exhibit at Sugar Shack & Bennington Museum (Bennington, VT) – May 2015

PART TWO (4 May 2015):  NORMAN ROCKWELL & BENNINGTON MUSEUM

We saw a brochure for this at one of the kiosks where we were, and it sounded like a good place to check out.  The name on the flyer called it the “Sugar Shack,” but it was alternately known as “Battenkill Gallery.”  This was a small roadside attraction location off of 7A, just north of Arlington.  Sugar Shack was a small country store with t-shirts, coffee mugs, and other touristy items, as well as things native to Vermont (like bottles of pure maple syrup).  There’s also a small restaurant next door, known as Jonathon’s Table, but we didn’t stop in to eat.

This was a roadside gem because of the number of works by Norman Rockwell which are displayed here.  This small gallery displays many of Rockwell’s works from his work on the Saturday Evening Post to paintings done for the Boy Scouts (which were the ones I liked the best due to my years in Scouting).

A short film details the number of years Rockwell spent in Arlington, hence the location of the gallery.  This is open between April and December, and the entire exhibit can be viewed in about an hour.

Since we were in the area, my Mum had suggested stopping to the Bennington Museum.  I thought about it for a moment, and then had to respond in a sheepish manner all the times I’d driven over this way in the last couple years, I’d never actual been there.  I’ve been to the Bennington Battle Monument a couple times, and concluded perhaps the museum had been already closed for the day (or close to it) when I’d been there earlier.  And since I’d lived not far from here for years, there really was no excuse for not having gone in the first place.

 [I seem to recall back in the 1980’s when we’d make the drive over to Uncle Earl’s place in Deerfield (MA, north of Amherst, where Earl was a professor for U Mass.) for the annual Labor Day picnic, we’d drive past the museum.  There’s a Friendly’s in downtown Bennington we’d stop for ice cream either on the way there or back.  Going over that way on a future visit, just to get the view from the “hair-pin turn” on the Mohawk Trail (also known as Route 2), would be nice to do.]

The museum is nestled on top of a hill over-looking the city of Bennington, and right next to the graveyard which contains the grave of author Robert Frost.  The two story building contains a number of items of local history as permanent exhibits, as well as some changing displays.

There were some interesting pieces of sculpture sitting out front.  Mum knew there was something missing from outside of the museum, something she’d seen recently.  She mentioned there used to be a catamount standing next to the sign by the road.  I think I vaguely remember seeing it.  Whatever the situation was, the kitty cat had slinked away.

The showpiece of the museum is the gallery of works by Grandma Moses, which captured aspects of rural life at the end of the 19^th Century.  I recall seeing someone of her work before, but it was never something I thought was all that great.  Art is to each their own.  The style I like is different and a bit more complex, but I was still glad to see the gallery of her simplistic style.  While no flash photography was allowed in the museum, this was the only area where no pictures of any kind were permitted.

For me, the most interesting exhibit was the one about the Battle of Bennington.  I remember hearing the basics about the engagement (which took place in August 1777), but didn’t recall the full aspects of it.  The displays were small, but very thorough, and showed tactical maps of how the battle unfolded.  That made some excellent reading for a history buff like me.  I chuckled at how the actual battle took place a few miles west in present day Washington County of New York State, as that was considered part of Bennington at that time.  Weapons and some other artifacts of the time were also featured.

The museum was designed to have many rooms, each with its own display.  Some rooms displayed works from regional artists, pottery, and artifacts from 19^th Century life (in the Church Gallery), I really enjoyed seeing the aspects of the Gilded Age (which included the 1924 Martin-Wasp Touring Car).  I would’ve liked to have seen a larger display on this time period, as the post-WW1 pre-Depression Great Gatsby ear is extremely interesting because of how society was changing.

One of the changing exhibits which I thought was very informative was on alcohol in Vermont.  This showed the rise of the temperance movement, the effects of Prohibition, and ultimately the lifting of the laws which made the modern craft breweries possible.

I was running low on camera battery, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures here.  And I had more fun reading the note cards about the “Stages of Alcoholism” and the “Temperance Pledge,” but that’s because I have twisted humor.

This was a good way to spend the afternoon, and we were able to finish up before it closed.  If I hadn’t already done it a couple times already, I would’ve gone over to the Bennington Battle Monument to soak in the view of the landscape.  But there was a suggestion Mum had made, so I wanted to do that while I was here too.  We went to the old church nearby to visit the grave of Robert Frost.

Inside the Bennington Museum was a picture of the interior of the museum, where instead of pews the congregation sat in cubes with the pastor on a balcony over them.  That picture looked familiar, so I wondered if I’d been over here before on a Humanities field trip during my senior year of high school.  It seemed like a place we would’ve gone, and now I wanted to locate my journal from that to check it.

The church was closed, so we couldn’t get in.  We were able to walk behind the church, and followed the markers to our target destination.  The marker had not only the names of Frost and his wife, but a number of their descendants too.  There were coins all over the gravestones (which laid horizontal on the ground, instead of standing vertical), and apparently that was a way to honor him.  Not sure why, but when in Rome….  I placed a quarter there.

An observation about the graveyard in general here.  While Frost’s grave, and some of the newer ones, were in good condition, many of the older gravestones weren’t.  I expect weather to wear things down over the decades (or, in some cases, a hundred years or so), but I sadden at the broken markers I saw.  It wasn’t vandalism, but things which just broke over time.  It made me wonder who, if anyone, maintains the graveyard.  Do the families of the interned visit these graves, and would they pay to have the stones refurbished?  Or do the people buried there no longer have family living and/or in the area, so these have simply forgotten about?  I have no answers, just a topic for conversation as we drove back to New York for the evening.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Sugar Shack (Battenkill Gallery):  http://www.sugarshackvt.com/about-the-sugar-shack.php

Norman Rockwell:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell

Arlington (VT):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington,_Vermont

Bennington Museum:  http://www.benningtonmuseum.org/

Bennington Battle Monument:  http://benningtonbattlemonument.com/about.html

Mohawk Trail:  http://www.mohawktrail.com/

Deerfield (MA):  http://www.deerfieldma.us/Pages/index

Amherst (MA):  https://www.amherstma.gov/

Grandma Moses:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses

Battle of Bennington:  http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/107bennington/107bennington.htm

Robert Frost:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost

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Hildene – The Lincoln Family Home (Manchester, VT) – May 2015

4 May 2015:  HILDENE

Back in Senior Year in high school, I had a “personal enrichment” class called Humanities which had field trips to a number of historical and culturally significant areas in the region.  Hildene was one of the places visited.  Of course the memories of those trips are fleeting due to age and the raging hormones of youth disrupting all normal brain activity.  Nevertheless, this was on the list of places I’d been wanting go back to.

During one of the visits to the area when Lee was still with me (I think this was when we’d gone to the Clark Museum or the Bennington Battle Monument), we’d passed a sign that mentioned it, and Mum mentioned that she’d never been there at all.  I noted that was place to go on a later visit.  Sure it was a little later than planned, but when I was preparing for my yearly visit, I told Mum that Hildene was on the top of my list.

As we traveled south on Route 7A to reach Hildene, we passed the Equinox Resort.  While that seems like a trivial comment now, we learned later that’s where the Lincoln family was staying when Robert Todd Lincoln (the only son of President Abraham Lincoln to survive to adulthood) became enamored with the area.  The short film at the Visitor’s Center provided that info, as well as Robert Todd Lincoln’s connection to the Pullman Car Company, so be sure to watch those first.  (As a quick aside, the Pullman Car on the premises was a recent addition, thus something I wouldn’t have seen on my first visit.)

The tour starts with the main house, and the downstairs contains the dining room, kitchen, and sitting room.  Because the house was occupied by Lincoln’s descendants up until the late 1970’s, there were things which have been updated.  That is most notable in the kitchen and bathrooms.  Beyond that, the house has been restored to what it looked like when Robert Todd Lincoln lived there.

One room on first floor was the servant’s quarters.  What was amusing about it was the edges of the floor were only finished, so the rest of the bare wood was covered by an area rug in the center.  As most of the rooms have ropes across the entrances, you can only look into them, as opposed to being able to manipulate any of the artifacts inside.

The foyer has an old-style pipe organ which plays tunes off of paper rolls.  This was placed in here when the house was designed, as the pipes could be found on the landing of the stairs up to the second floor.  Our host let the organ play for a few minutes in order to give us an idea of how the house was filled with sound.  The small couch at the landing (between the pipes) was a wild place to sit and listen to the music.  See, even back during the Gilded Age people had hearing damage due to loud music.

Upstairs were other bedrooms, including the parlor of his wife Mary, and the room dedicated to Mary Lincoln Beckwith (who was the last surviving member of the family, and the last person to live in the house).  Mary Beckwith was an avid painter, and had other interests like photography and aviation.  The upper levels have more of the “updated” feel, as opposed to the ground floors which have the “original” décor.

At the rear of the home was where the Formal Gardens were.  The pattern was clearly visible, even though no plants had bloomed yet.  It had just begun to warm up, so it’d be a couple weeks before those were out in full bloom.

Off of the Garden was a section which overlooked the fields and wetlands along the Battenkill River, and was where a large portion of the 400 acres attached to the home were.

A gate (which I expected to be locked) yielded an interesting little surprise.  It lead to some stairs to a small cliff with a viewing area overlooking the valley.  While I’m sure when this was still a residence a small breakfast table was set up here, but for me today, it was a place to have some fun.  Look at me holding up the rock over-hang.  >grin<

Also on the grounds was a gazebo, which was a short walk from the main house (and really wasn’t that impressive), and a small observatory.  I’d venture to guess this was constructed for Mary Beckwith’s use, as the interior was very similar to Lowell Observatory I’d visited back in Flagstaff, AZ.  The telescope inside was small, but I’m sure the small amount of light pollution in the area.

I happened to notice a path which went off into the woods, and I took a quick moment to check it out.  What I discovered a set of stones erected to be the Hildene Award Honors.  As the trail continued on, there was a marker (made up of a pile of stones) to show the recipient for that year’s award.  That’s a hidden gem you’ll only locate if you explore off the main areas of the property.

Robert Todd Lincoln spent many years associated with the Pullman Car Company, and even served as their Vice President.  With that in mind, the group which maintained Hildene wanted to find a Pullman Car, and make that part of the museum.  That was done in 2011, when a car was located in the southern United States, restored, and transported here.  From the visitor’s center, it’s a short walk to where it rests now.

This car was known as “Sunbeam,” and dates from 1903, so it’s a fitting addition to the museum.  It sets in an area designed to look like a train stop where this type of car would pull up to.

Inside was spacious sitting areas which converted to sleeping spaces for those affluent people who were able to travel across country during the late 1800’s.  The front of the car had a small gallery where two servants would prepare meals, and they had bunks there too.

During this period, those who could afford to travel used the train for longest portion of the trip.  Their days were spent socializing, drinking, smoking cigars, playing board games, and looking out the window.

This was very interesting to see, from the way the seats converted to bunks to the hand-carved wood ornate trim inside the area.  What was even more amazing was the restoration of the “Sunbeam” was done using the same tools and techniques utilized when it was originally built.

From there, a shuttle will take you the Rowland Agricultural Center, which is technically part of the museum complex.  Here is a small goat farm, where their milk is harvested to make a variety of cheese products.  Everything needed to create the cheese is on the premises, and the building is self-sustaining with a large number of solar panels on the roof to provide power.

Those are the major areas of the grounds, and what could be seen within a couple hours.  As the site covers over 400 acres, that means there’s miles of hiking trails which cross-cross the area.  Exploring all the pathways could take an entire day, so have a picnic lunch handy.

This is one of those places which was so close to me when I lived in the region, it never occurred to me to take an afternoon drive back over.  And even on subsequent visits to the area (after I moved to another time-zone), there was always something else which was higher on my list to see.  My recommendation is spend the day exploring the Green Mountain region of Vermont, and this is a good place to start the day.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Clark Museum (Williamstown, MA):  http://www.clarkart.edu/

Bennington Battle Monument:  http://www.benningtonbattlemonument.com/

Hildene:  http://www.hildene.org/

Equinox Resort (Manchester, VT):  http://www.equinoxresort.com/

Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, AZ):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Observatory

Hildene Award Honors:  http://visitmanchestervt.com/events/hildene-award-luncheon/

Pullman Car Company:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Company

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Mount Bonnell (Austin, TX) -- April 2015

Mount Bonnell -- 19 April 2015

After we left the open house at Camp Mabry, the weather was nice, and there was still time left in the day, so I recommended to my friend that we go up Mt Bonnell.  She’d never been up there, and this would be my fourth (each time with different people, for those of you who know the myth).  A lot of others apparently had a similar thought that day, as there were quite a lot of cars in the area.  Another reason why I wanted to make a return visit because on my previous visit I remembered seeing the monument at the summit damaged, and I wondered if there had been anything done to address that.

One of the first things I noticed which was new was the informational plaque next to the base of the stairs.  It looked like there was a restoration project going on.  My friend and I decided to race up the steps for fun.  My longer legs allowed me to take two at a time and I quickly reached the top with a great workout.  My friend threw in the towel after the 20^th step, and slowly came up the rest of the way.

The reason why there were so many cars became clear as a couple had chosen the top to be the location for their wedding.  I thought that was really nice.  What I also so was nice was the monument had been encased in a wire cage to prevent further damage from being done to it.  It hasn’t been repaired, but there was a picture which showed what it used to look like.  I attached one from my 2007 visit for comparison.

Since it had rained recently, some of the observation points where you could see the city skyline were a bit muddy, but it didn’t ruin our enjoyment of it.

Once we’d come back to the main area, the main phase of the wedding had passed, so we were able to look out the southward view without being obtrusive.  Looking at this section of the Colorado River, you wouldn’t think we’re under a drought condition (as evident by the low levels a short distance upriver at Mansfield Dam).  I did point out to my friend that this was a section of Austin where the “money” lived.

As we moved to the section to the right of the stairs, the view upriver became clearer.  I pointed out the crescent bridge of 360 which crossed the river.  In addition to the wedding guests, there were a number of people who were out enjoying the view on this nice day.

I showed my friend that instead of taking the stairs back down, we could walk the longer trail which paralleled the river, and eventually brought us back to the road.  From there it was just a short walk back to the car.  For those wishing to ascend to the summit in a less-intensive way, this might be a good option.

If you haven’t been, you get off Mopac on 35^th Street, and go west past the entrance to Camp Mabry.  You’ll see sign for Mt. Bonnell Road which, obviously, you’ll take.  Accelerate as much as you can past the water treatment plant, because after you make a hard turn you’ll be heading up a very steep hill that will tax your engine.  You have been forewarned.  When leaving, if you go the same way, then you’ll want to be in low gear, as not to ride your brakes all the way down.  Alternately, you could drive northward past Bright Leaf Preserve and come out on 2222 near St. Theresa’s Church.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

            Mount Bonnell:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bonnell

Bright Leaf Preserve:  http://www.brightleaf.org/