Category Archives: attraction

Its All About The Maple in Vermont

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Its All About The Maple in Vermont

So what did we learn after our oh so sweet adventure? When it’s spring in Vermont, thoughts turn to maple sugaring. From back yard buckets  to big commercial evaporators, its all about the maple. Warm days and cold nights get the sap running and when the governor thinks its going to hit peak, he announces the annual Maple Sugar Festival. Sugar Houses, inns, restaurants, craft fairs all join in with special hours and events.

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Its a culture of Maple

We met down to earth, hard working people who took great pride in their maple products and the Vermont Maple Products reputation. Even in the city (Brattleboro) there was still a hard working rural ethic. We even found one sugar house that sold their products on the honor system. Their cash sat out on a table in a basket. You were trusted to pay for your purchases and if you made change to be honest. No credit cards required.

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We Learned about Grades

No, not the kind you get in school. We learned there are different grades of maple syrup. I learned that I like the most refined grade, the Golden,  the best although the Amber was a close 2nd. We talked about apples and orchards as well as maple and sampled maple cream, cider donuts and maple cookies.

Photo by Jr St Jean, Take Pride Photography  https://www.facebook.com/JRStJeanPhotographer/

To sum it up

We had a great time but to really get the most out of the Festival I’d like to get a room and spend the weekend. I’d drive up Friday night so I could get an early start on Saturday.  http://vermontmaple.org/ Enjoy a pancake breakfast, explore more of the Sugar Houses. Some example of activities offered at participating sugar houses include:

  • Tours of sugar house and woods
  • Pancake breakfasts
  • Maple candy-making demonstrations
  • Live music
  • Horse-drawn sleigh rides
  • Sugar-on-snow
  • Sampling of maple syrup
  • Maple donuts, maple cotton candy, maple creemees and other maple goodies to try
  • Maple syrup and maple specialty products to purchase

I’m sure I’d make myself sick with so much sugar but it’s only one weekend, Right?

One last thing I learned. I understand why reporters don’t take their own photos. I felt very rude taking out the camera while someone was busy explaining about their business. I missed  quite a few photos and Joe was nice enough to share his pictures to fill in what I missed.

Travel Blogger by JR. St Jean

Maybe next year I can spend the weekend in Vermont for Maple Sugar Festival.

 

 

 

Time for One More in Jacksonville, Vermont

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Jacksonville Vermont Sugar House

After a brief lunch just to prove to my stomach that there are foods other than donuts and sweet maple candy we figured we had time for 1 more stop before the sugar houses began to shut down for the day. Joe pulled up his little map for the next closest Sugar House and found Sprague & Son Sugar House in Jacksonville, Vermont.

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I was still looking for the sugar-on-snow, a treat from my childhood. We’d had the snow all day but so far only our first stop had boiling sap and it wasn’t ready to be poured over snow. It had a lot more cooking to do before then.

Sampling more Maple

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Our wintry mix had turned more to rain when we spotted Sprague & Son. They had some nice decorative touches with a wood carving out front and a miniature sugar house.

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This sugar house was busier than the first two and quite crowded. Their samples were something called maple crunches which looked to me like crumbled maple sugar candy. A great way to recycle broken maple candies. But the big item they were pushing was called Maple Creme. They had a large bowl of it and lots of little wooden spoons. It has a thick, smooth consistency like frosting. Another hit! It wouldn’t take too much of this to overdose on sugar!

The Evaporator

Their evaporator was right there in the main room. Something was steaming but it might just have been water. They said they had run out of sap to boil. They too use the plastic tubing to bring the sap from the trees to the evaporator. I didn’t hear anyone say what they use for fuel but I’m guessing wood if the wood piles outside are any indication. They had some very attractive product displays.

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Joe got the picture of the day here when he noticed a window covered in condensation with bottles of syrup balanced on the panes.

Photo by Joe St. Jean, Take Pride Photography https://www.facebook.com/JRStJeanPhotographer/

Maple Walnut

Behind the cash register was a soft serve machine. The only flavor, why Maple of course! Buy a cup of maple soft serve, sprinkle in some maple gazed walnuts, top with a splash of maple syrup and voila! Maple Walnut soft serve. (that’s for my sister, Sandy).

All About Sprague & Son

I couldn’t find a website that worked but I did find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sprague-Son-Sugarhouse-290671490950920/

There was also a nice write up on their history at http://www.whitingham-maplefest.us/sprague.html

Locate at 1631 Rt 100 this was the easiest of the 3 sugar houses to find. Open daily during Sugaring season. Weekends and Holidays the remainder of the year. Free samples of all of their products are always available.

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Vietnam Memorial

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Vietnam !

We are now approaching a memorial that hits very close to home. This is my generation. This is the first War of which I have any remembrance. I remember the horrible news casts, the political unrest, the demonstrations to end the war, and the flag draped caskets being unloaded from the returning planes. This memorial was painful and I took the coward’s way out.

The Wall

At the entrance you’ll find  Three Serviceman’s Memorial. I can see the Wall from there. The Wall is actually 2 walls meeting . They are tallest where they meet and taper down, one toward the Washington Monument , the other toward the Lincoln Memorial. The configuration is meant to symbolize a “wound that is closed and healing. To my mind I wonder if it will ever heal.

While all of the memorials are moving in their own way,  I found this one, like Pearl Harbor, almost too much to bear. I spent my time with the Three Soldiers and avoided the Wall. Like I said I was a coward. I just could not bear to look at all those names, all those young lives, gone.

On the walls are the names of servicemen classified as KIA (Killed in Action), or MIA (Missing in Action) when the walls were constructed.

Those who died in action are denoted by a diamond, those who were missing (MIA’s, POW’s  and others) are denoted with a cross. When the death of one who was previously missing is confirmed, a diamond is superimposed over the cross. If the missing were to return alive, which has never occurred to date, the cross is to be circumscribed  by a circle.

The Three Serviceman’s Memorial

Back to the 3 Soldiers, the lead figure represents a Marine, identified as such by the body armor vest  he’s wearing.

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The man on the right is also wearing an armor vest but a different type that was used primarily by the army. Around his neck the  Soldier carries a GI towel, which served to absorb sweat and cushion heavy loads, and was a common practice of many Soldiers in Vietnam.

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The third soldier wears no armor but  he appears to be a U.S. Army Soldier, as he wears a Tropical (“Boonie”) Hat which was widely worn by Army combat personnel in Vietnam.

In order to identify the major ethic groups that served in Vietnam, the leader is depicted as a European America, the man on the right is African American and the one on the left Latin American.

This was enough for me. I had paid my respects, if from afar, and I returned to the bus to wait for our next stop.

 

Lincoln Memorial

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“In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” These words are engraved above the statute of the president who save the Union, Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Memorial is an enduring symbol of unity, strength and wisdom.

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Exterior Features of the Lincoln Memorial

Does the memorial look familiar? It should and not just because we’ve all grown up with it. It was model after the Parthenon in Athens which graced the cover of most of our history books.

Since the memorial was to a man who defended democracy then the design should echo the birthplace of democracy. The Memorial is 190 foot long, 120 foot wide, 99 foot tall constructed of marble.

There are 58 steps on the memorial and 87 steps from the memorial to the reflecting pool. There is an elevator for those who are not up to navigating that many steps. It was working when I was there.

The steps of the Lincoln Memorial have been witness to many great events and demonstrations over the past 100 years including he “I have a Dream” speech by Dr. King. The steps start at the edge of the reflecting pool on the National Mall. They rise to a plaza that was once a road and then continue on through a series of platforms to the entrance.

Columns

The 36 Doric columns that surround the Memorial represent each of the states that existed at the time of  Lincoln’s death.

Frieze

Above the colonnade inscribed on the frieze are the names of 36 states and the dates in which they entered the Union. Their names are separated by double wreath medallions in bas-relief.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial

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There are 3 chambers inside the memorial, north, south and central. The north and south side chambers contain the words of  of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address and his Gettysburg Address carved into the marble.  Between the north and south chambers is the central hall containing the solitary Statue of Lincoln  sitting in contemplation.  Look closely at Lincoln’s hands. Proponents of ASL say he is signing and that the position of his fingers form A and L.

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The Views and Location on the National Mall

Standing in front of the entrance you will be looking out over the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument.

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Step to the side and look again,  there is the dome of the Capitol building peeking from behind the Washington Monument

One of the most well known of the monuments, the Lincoln Memorial does not fade with familiarity. It is still a beautiful memorial to our 16th President who gave all to see the new nation stayed intact.

https://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm

“Freedom Is Not Free”

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Leaving the Martin Luther King Memorial we thought we were heading to the Lincoln memorial but Joey had another stop in mind for us first. After pouring out of the tour bus, we crossed a busy street while Joey stopped traffic only to approach a memorial of individual statues.

The Forgotten War

This is the Korean War Memorial. Often considered the “Forgotten War” Joey was determined that we would not “forget” to visit the memorial. These soldiers suffered terribly, spent much time unprepared, untrained for combat and under supplied. Even so, they managed to delay the advance of the North Korean forces until reinforcements could arrive.

Officially the Korean War was not a war, it was a “police action”, one of the early attempts by the United Nations  to provide a stabilizing influence on the affairs of the world.

The Symbolism at the Monument

The monument is hard for me to describe. I was struck by the lifelike statues of the soldiers and as Joey described the conditions the servicemen endured , my heart ached.

The first thing that caught my attention were the ghostly statues. Done  in stainless steel, their faces clearly visible, you can see the hardship on each visage. These 19 servicemen are surrounded by granite boulders and juniper bushes representing the harsh environment of Korea.

The figures represent a platoon on patrol. 14 figures represent the US Army, 3 represent the US Marines, 1 is a Navy corpsman, and one is an Air Force Forward Air Observer. They are dressed in full combat gear.

The Wall

A highly polished wall of “academy black” granite stands beside the field of Soldiers. More than 2,500 images representing the land, sea, and air troops who supported those who fought in the war are sandblasted onto the wall. When the light is right, the images of the soldiers reflect on the wall. There now appears to be 38 soldiers. The number 38 represents 38 months, and it is also representing the 38 parallel that separated the North and South Korea.

Pool of Remembrance

A visit to the memorial is not complete without a look at the Pool of Remembrance. This shallow pool is artistically surrounded by trees for the most visually pleasing reflections. Inscriptions list soldiers killed, wounded, missing in action and held as prisoner during the Korean  War.

Conclusion

A nearby plaque is inscribed: “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.”

Organized by the National Park Service, students of Tuscarora High School in Frederick County Maryland and students of CheongShim International Academy in the Republic of Korea interviewed Korean War veterans in their respective countries. The students shared these interviews with each other through the internet. The letters are moving and enlightening. I encourage you to take a moment to read some of these memories.

https://www.nps.gov/kowa/learn/historyculture/index.htm