Day 4 - Sep 2, 2014 Last updated: 9/15/14 8:00pm PT
We left Burlington on our way to Montreal. Again we could have driven straight north and been there in under 2 hours. Instead we drove east to cross the border in Derby, VT.
We originally planned on stopping at the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, VT last night, but we were finishing up a long day so we pushed it off until this morning. No pictures are allowed on the factory tour, and we saw why. There was a total Lucille Ball moment, when the ice cream cartons got jammed up in the machine and about 5 employees rushed over trying to fix the blockage while ice cream cartons were spilling onto the floor. The $4 tour includes a ‘free’ ice cream sample, which wasn’t enough to satisfy the craving, so we bought some ice cream from their store and had ice cream for breakfast. Shh, don’t tell my mom.
After the factory tour, we visited the flavor graveyard to pay our respects to the flavors no longer made.
Smuggler’s Notch, 1000 foot cliffs through the Green Mountains, north of Stowe, VT. Back in the early 1800’s there was an embargo on trade with Canada. Smugglers used this pass to continue trade illegally. It continued to be used by fugitive slaves and also during prohibition. There were giant boulders along side the road.
Derby Line, VT is a town on the border with Canada. The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is built deliberately on top of the border. We went into the library and it looked like a library. All the books seemed to be on the Canadian side of the building.
The street that crosses the border is protected by these hardy flower pots. That’s not our rental car on the Canadian side of the border.
Driving in the province of Quebec is interesting. All road signs are in French. Canada is bilingual, but Quebec is ‘French first’, which means they forget about English. We finished the day in Montreal. We walked around the area known as ‘Old Montreal’ a bit. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, which was very nice.