Museum of Everyday Life
3482 Dry Pond Rd., Glover, museumofeverydaylife.org
We know, we know: Museums are borrrrring. And what could be more mundane than one devoted to “everyday life,” right? Believe it or not, this little shop of curios is well worth the long trek to the Northeast Kingdom. Housed in a dilapidated barn next to museum founder and curator Clare Dolan’s house, the Museum of Everyday Life celebrates ordinary objects — scissors, pencils and toothbrushes, for example — that become close to extraordinary when collected en masse. The museum is free, though Dolan does accept donations. She simply asks that you turn the lights out when you leave. Don’t miss the nearby Bread and Puppet Museum, too.
Burton Island State Park
2714 Hathaway Point Rd.,
St. Albans (Kamp Kill Kare ferry access point), vtstateparks.com
Lake Champlain has roughly 80 islands — some large, some small. For a truly remote island getaway, take a ferry to Burton Island, a 253-acre park off the tip of St. Albans Point. The quiet, car-free oasis offers three miles of relaxing shoreline. Campsites book quickly; reserve yours well in advance.
Cold Hollow
Sculpture Park
4280 Boston Post Rd., Enosburg Falls, coldhollowsculpturepark.com
Get off the grid and feed your soul! Deep in a magical rural land an hour northeast of Burlington — and beyond cell service — more than 50 of David Stromeyer’s monumental steel abstractions dot 200 acres of meadows and hills. The park is free and open to the public late June through early October.
Dog Mountain
143 Parks Rd., St. Johnsbury, dogmt.com
Vermonters worship their dogs, sometimes literally. Don’t believe us? Visit Dog Chapel, part of a 150-acre pup paradise. Created by the late artist Stephen Huneck — famous for his canine-centric carvings and paintings — Dog Mountain is complete with off-leash hiking trails, swimming ponds and plenty of tennis balls. Woof!
Pump House
Indoor Waterpark
830 Jay Peak Rd., Jay, jaypeakresort.com
No sun? No problem. At Jay Peak’s Pump House Indoor Waterpark you can catch waves year-round. From thrilling slides like La Chute to the Flowrider surf pool to the lazily flowing Big River, the park has something to suit every level of leisure.
Quechee Gorge
5800 Woodstock Rd., Hartford, vtstateparks.com
Pull over at a bridge on Route 4, summon all your courage and peer down. One hundred and sixty-five feet below, the Ottauquechee River flows through Vermont’s deepest gorge, carved by glaciers roughly 13,000 years ago. They don’t call it “Vermont’s Little Grand Canyon” for nothin’.
Rock of Ages
Granite Quarry
560 Graniteville Rd., Graniteville, rockofages.com
Stand atop the world’s largest deep-hole dimension granite quarry and gaze out at spectacular sheared cliffs that plunge 600 feet into a pool of turquoise water. It’s so otherworldly, parts of a Star Trek movie were shot here. Don’t miss the outdoor granite bowling alley and artisans crafting gravestones.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Explore More | Adventures to add to your Vermont bucket list”
This article appears in What’s Good 2019-20.
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