Rio Travelers: FALL COLORS, BURLINGTON, VT

Our next stop was Shelburne, Vermont. We did a ride share into Burlington where Ken was stationed in the Coast Guard fifty years ago which seems hard to believe. The whole waterfront has changed, no more oil tanks or industrial docks other than the modern Coast Guard Station and the Ferry docks. The first picture is of the ECHO center we visited and is a facility that has a small aquarium as well as many ecology displays. The former building at this location was a Naval Reserve facility. We also visited the Lake Champlain Chocolate factory which produces fine chocolates that we sampled. We also did a drive by of someone's corny idea of the tallest file cabinet. The group also made a visit to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and Shelburne museum. The Museum has been around for over fifty years and consists of many buildings from around Burlington as well as the Ticonderoga which had been the last steamer on Lake Champlain. We also visited Shelburne Farms. This farm was built and owned by the Dr. Webb family in the era of the Vanderbilts, The wife of Webb was in fact a Vanderbilt. The farm still has a dairy farm which uses the milk to produce cheese for sale. The organization is now a non-profit except for some of the income producing functions such as the main house which is now an inn, the dairy farm and gift shop. Some of the Webb children are still involved with the organization. The final activity was a dinner cruise on the Ethan Allen III sightseeing dinner cruise boat. Due to clouds we did not have a good sunset but everyone enjoyed the meal.