Exploring Vermont Through Little Passports

Time to take a virtual trip to Vermont, the Green Mountain State, through Little Passports! Trevor started by building a model of one of the 100+ covered bridges in Vermont. We learned that they are usually painted red because that was the least expensive paint color in the 1800's. Fascinating!

As you may know, 'Les monts verts' is French for the Green Mountains. Is there another state whose nickname is a translation of the state name? I can't think of any. One more thing to add to our list of fascinating facts about Vermont! Trevor solved a maze to learn that the Green Mountains are home to the Long Trail, one of the oldest long-distance hiking trails in the US. It's more than 270 miles long.

We did a hidden picture activity about the popularity of skiing in Vermont and learned a fun fact: Vermont-born Billy Kidd was the first American to win an Olympic medal in downhill skiing. Have you ever heard of snow golf? Apparently it's a thing in Vermont. You wear snowshoes and use red golf balls and cups. The game is believe to have been invented by British author Rudyard Kipling who married an American woman and moved to Vermont. 

Trevor and I read about maple syrup, snowflakes, and sea monsters. Wait, what? Apparently there are two sea monsters in Vermont, named Champ (in Lake Champlain) and Memphre (in Lake Memphremagog). Locals keep the legends alive and have erected statues of the two serpents. Trevor and I each made our own version of Champ and Memphre. 

Here's mine: 

I started by drawing a sea monster on white paper, coloring it, and cutting it out. I tore two strips off the bottom of a piece of blue construction paper. Then I glued down the sea monster and overlapped the strips to make waves.

Trevor used a completely different technique.

He started with green cardstock and cut out his sea serpent. He sliced off the head, then used a scrap to make a small circle. 

He tore strips off the blue construction paper background like I did, but he layered his with a blue strip first, then the sea monster, and then the second blue strip. He added googly eyes to the head and then popped it up by gluing it to the circle he'd made. 

I admit it - I like his a lot more than I like mine!

There was a second art activity in the Vermont State Journal. This time, we followed the instructions to draw the northern leopard frog, one of 11 species of frogs in Vermont, and the official state amphibian. Mine is the green frog. Trevor made his blue. I'm not sure why. Artistic license, I guess.

We read about famous events in Vermont history. I like a state that lists two food-related items on their timeline. In 1966, St. Albans hosted the first Vermont Maple Syrup Festival. And in 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first ice cream shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, VT. That is a must-visit when we make it to Vermont!

The recipe was for Fried Dough with Maple Syrup. We were all on-board with that. Really, how could you go wrong with fried bread and maple syrup? You can't.

This treat reminded us of the delicious BeaverTails that we discovered in Halifax during our Canadian adventure in 2014. Yum!

Trevor and I had a fantastic time during our virtual trip to Vermont. We can't wait to visit in person! After our upcoming midwest trip, we're hoping that our next adventure will take us to the last four New England states we haven't visited (go here and scroll down to see the map). We're ready for Vermont! We already have quite a few must-sees on the list. Thanks to Little Passports for another fun adventure.