Today was a ride-share day. When we are going to visit local attractions we carpool instead of riding a bus. Earl and Eunice Seymour from Maryland rode with us today. Our first stop was at the Cold Hollow Cidar Mill. 
Here we enjoyed a short tour of their facility and saw how they make apple cider. They truck in apples from farms in Vermont and New York. After they are washed and inspected, the apples are chopped into a mash. The mash is then pumped onto a 4' square plastic sheet that is covered with a mesh cloth similar to cheese cloth. 
16 layers of the cloth covered plastic sheets are stacked on top of each other. Then the entire stack is sled onto a hydraulic lift that squeezes the entire stack under 2200 pounds of pressure. 
As the juice is squeezed out it runs into a chute under the lift, and then it is off to be pasturized, bottled and shipped. The remains of the apple mash are dumped into large containers and given to local farmers to use as cattle feed.
The Cold Hollow Cidar Mill sells everything apple. They were making apple pies, breads, candies, jams, jellies, and desserts of every description in addition the cidar. We had ample time to sample their wares and shop in the gift shop.
Our next stop was at the Ziemke Glassblowing Studio for a glass blowing demonstration. 
While we were there the artisan made a beautiful ruffled bowl and a glass. 
He came out after making each piece and explained about glassblowing. This guy has been doing this for 37 years and he makes exquisite and expensive pieces. However, considering how labor intensive his work is, it is understadable that his art pieces are not cheap. The temperature in this ovens is kept between 2000 and 2100 degrees. It was quite warm even in the viewing area. I bet he doesn't need extra heat in the winter. The showroom contained hundreds of pieces of glass art that has been blown in this shop. It was beautiful stuff, but like I said before - kind of pricey.
Next we went to the Cabot Cheese Annex. 
They had a large oval table with samples of probably 30 different cheeses that you could sample. It was humorous to see our entire group gathered around the table sampling the different offerings. 
They also had samples of dips, syrups, popcorn and other spreadables. Everyone bought something at this stop.
Next we went to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory for a tour and sample. The tour included a short video about Ben & Jerry's history and then a visit to the factory. Ben & Jerry started their business after taking a $5 correspondence course from Penn State University. From a small factory in an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont they developed their business into a worldwide company with factories in Vermont, Canada, Nevada, Holland, and Israel, No pictures were allowed in the factory which is pretty standard on factory tours. We ended up in the tasting kitchen where we were treated to a scoop of Carmel Chocolate Carmel ice cream- pretty tasty. After leaving the factory we visited the "Flavor Graveyard" where flavors that are no longer made are "buried." They had a headstone for each flavor with a little poem about why it had "expired."
This afternoon is again a ride-share to Smuggler's Notch. Since we went there on Monday we opted to stay in and rest. Tonight we are having a LEO (Let's Eat Out), at the local Burgers and Brews. Tomorrow we head out for Shelburne, Vermont - 37 miles away! Until then, Happy Trails.
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