Shiny Domes and Sugar Houses

If you plan to tour northern Vermont, Smuggler's Notch makes a great home base.  It's halfway between Burlington, the state's most populous city, and Montpelier, its capital.  

 

Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, stands high atop the gold dome.  There can't be too many state capitols where women assume such significance.

It seemed as if it was just us and the statues.  Here's Thom admiring Thomas Chittenden, Vermont's first governor.

Doesn't Ethan Allen's petulant facial expression remind you of a ghastly former president's? The resemblance stops there:  Allen was an actual Revolutionary War patriot. 

The Vermont History Museum was closed for Labor Day.  Also known as the Pavillion, it's the Governor's primary working space.

The Winooski River runs through the quaint city.

Clues to Vermont's progressivism can be found everywhere.  I'll bet Bernie has dined here.

We headed to Bragg Farm Sugar House in East Montpelier just as the skies opened.  Maple syrup production begins with trees like these.

The Braggs pound these taps into the sugar maple trees on their forty acres.  

Metal buckets, hanging from hooks, catch the sap.  It runs only for a few weeks during the spring thaw and stops as soon as nighttime temperatures stop falling below 32 degrees.  Unlike many local farmers, the Braggs don't use tubes which can suck the trees dry.

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Refining the sap takes a lot of energy.  A woodpile this size stokes the furnace inside for only a day!

Tools of the trade, including snow shoes, on display.  

The Braggs pour the raw sap into this boiler, stirring it with heavy metal spoons.

Distilled syrup eventually drips out of his tiny faucet.

We drove back downtown for lunch at the Three Penny Taproom, which was jumping.  I had yummy tomato soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich.  I'm pretty sure the cook used Gruyere.

My Rand McNally Atlas maps a lot of scenic highways in the area.  Route 12 north took us past the Wrightsville Reservoir.

Another rainstorm cut short our hike on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail soon after we negotiated this tractor crossing.  If only I'd been wearing my overalls!  Note the bullet holes in the sign behind me.

Artists have painted iconic figures on the silos in Jeffersonville, depicting Vermont's past and future.