Life on the Road

It used to be pretty standard that you could find at least one blackjack table with a $5 minimum. Before blackjack became all the rage about 10 years ago, you could even find tables with $2 or $3 minimums. Those days are all but gone on the Strip, but if you’re a blackjack player, there are a few places to play for less.

One of the local favorites is the Silverton, which has table games, slots, poker, a few restaurants, a massive aquarium with mermaid show, a showroom, and a Bass Pro Shops.

Yes, really– they have a Bass Pro Shop on site. The Silverton always has $5 blackjack tables– during popular times and days, they may only have one table, but they’ll have at least 1 open.

There are only 2 pits here, and several of the table games are what I call the “oddball” games, like Pai Gow Poker, 3 Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat. I’m a classicist when it comes to table games– I like craps and blackjack, and the other games don’t really get my attention.

The poker room has nightly Texas Hold Em tournaments, with Fridays being Ladies Night (women get a discount on their buy-in). Most of the action starts after 6 or 7, and I understand it’s hard to get together a no-limit Texas Hold Em cash game. But if you like limit Hold Em, or you’re into tournament play, this is a good spot to go.

The restaurants are Vegas-style, but the Silverton’s having a special until the end of December (2008): 2 for 1 at all the restaurants. This makes it very affordable for couples, whether you’re enjoying a pasta dish with a view of the aquarium, or “fajitas and ritas” (which have their own special price and come with enough fajitas for 3 meals!)

Events change frequently, and the Silverton recently hosted the National Rodeo Trials, but also has Smashmouth playing on January 3rd, so a good mix for visitors. It’s not a kid-oriented place– for that, you need to go to the Excalibur or Circus Circus. But kids do enjoy the mermaid show at the aquarium, so it doesn’t completely alienate families.

The Silverton is away from the Strip, down Highway 15 to Blue Diamond Road. There are daily shuttles to the Forum Shops, Oasis RV park, the Outlet Mall, and a few other spots, so if you’re trying to get around, it’s easy enough. Plus, free, uncrowded parking is available if you have a car.

Silverton Casino Lodge
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
(866) 946-4373

John and I both enjoy observing nature in various ways. John is a hiker and backpacker, and he’s most at home among redwood trees. I enjoy looking at stuff– creepy crawlies in the desert, deer wandering past our campsite, the thousand ways a prickly pear cactus can grow, the stars circling above us. We’re also keenly aware that, while we can enjoy a good deal of this on our own, having a skilled guide is invaluable for really getting to know the world around us.

Last night, we had an excellent opportunity for star-gazing as we move north from Big Bend towards Carlsbad Caverns and Roswell, New Mexico.  Not far from Big Bend is Fort Davis, Texas, home of the McDonald Observatory (which produces the StarDate magazine and popular radio show/podcast) and one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. On Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, the observatory hosts “Star Parties,” where visitors are treated to some guided stargazing, both with the naked eye, and through the smaller telescopes. Star Party start times vary by season: right now, they start at 7:30 PM, after the sun has fully set.

Continue Reading »

John and I went scouting this week for RV parks near Big Bend National Park. With the International Chili Cookoff happening in Terlingua on November 1, we’re down here to enjoy the cookoff and visit the amazing and beautiful state and national parks in the area.

All of the parks listed are on Highway 170, except the one inside the national park. The entire region is still recovering from the Rio Grande flooding in September, so you can expect great river rafting available, but several roads and activities are still closed near the river. The road to Presidio, Texas is still closed to through traffic.

The parks are comparably priced, with most of them costing$25-35 per night.

BJ’s RV Park
432-371-2259
It’s a dry patch of parking lot with full hookups. “It is what it is,” and what it is is close to Big Bend National Park. There is Not Much Here, to be honest, but it’s (hot, dry) walking distance into the town of Terlingua, which is something. It does have 50 amp service and the spaces are large enough for big rigs, but I had a sense of the sites being a little bit narrow.

Big Bend Motor Inn RV Campground
800-848-BEND
Even closer to Big Bend National Park, this one’s been called overpriced by some. It is as close as you can get to the national park without being inside it, which means it’s only 20 miles to the nearest visitor’s center and park HQ. We only drove past this one, but know it has full hookups and no shade trees.

Lajitas Resort Maverick Ranch RV Park
1-877-LAJITAS
This is where we’re staying. It accommodates very large RVs with many pull-through sites and lots of wide open spaces. Sites are quite wide. There are trees and some shade– Lajitas used to be an upscale resort, but has since gone under new management and is now more affordable for everyone. There’s a nice conference center and lounge, and there’s a pool and WiFi, something the other parks don’t have. Lajitas also has TV hookups, but other campers report the service wasn’t working very well.

Rio Grande Village RV Park
Inside Big Bend National Park
1-877-444-6777 reservations
432-477-2293 information (call first to find out if it’s open!)

It’s on the far side of the park from Terlingua, which means about a 35 mile drive from Terlingua to the RV park. It’s also right next to the river, and when we visited, it was still closed from the flooding, but due to open any day. Fees are $26/night,

It has full hookups and 50 amp service, but the sites are on the small side. There are a lot of trees and shade, which is unusual in this part of the country. There’s room for about 1 really large motorhome here, parked diagonally. If you’re 32′ or shorter, you should have no problem. All sites are back-in, and there’s a general store within walking distance of the park.

There is also a campground in Chisos Basin for dry camping, and these sites are $14/night. However, this campground is not recommended for RVs over 24′ long. The road that’s open to Chisos Basin has a number of tight switchbacks, and you’ll find it difficult, if not dangerous. That said, we did see a long yellow school bus successfully maneuver the road, but buses handle differently from RVs.

There’s another dry campground at Cottonwood which is still closed due to the flooding, with little chance of reopening soon.

Big Bend Ranch State Park
432-424-3327
Next to Lajitas, and about 20 miles from Big Bend National Park, is Big Bend Ranch State Park. This is a beautiful and less-visited park with plenty of hiking and off-highway trails to explore. There are 5 full-hookup sites in the park which, while reserved for staff members, are available for campers on a “come in and ask” basis (tip: this season, they expect no more than 3 sites to be occupied by staff!) The sites are full hookup and a little bit narrow, but even a 40′er can fit. The sites are $18/night, plus $3/person/day (but you can reduce that with an annual pass).

Nearly everyone you talk to will tell you “the Canadian side is prettier!” when planning a visit to Niagara Falls , and that might be true. It’s been about 16 years since I was in the Canadian side of the Falls. However, the American side is quite majestic, and affords a view of both sides of the falls from Goat Island as well as a few exciting adventures.

First, this is one area where you can either do it yourself or take a pre-paid tour. If you love to walk, then doing it yourself is fine; Niagara Falls is a state park, so the costs can be minimized. There’s also a Discovery Pass for $30 that will get your into the main attractions, like the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds. The boat trip and observation deck tickets are the significant expenses. If you take a tour, you get a talkative guide, a bus, and you don’t have to search for parking, but it costs more to go that route. We took Bedore Tours; they picked us up at the campgroun, were friendly and courteous, and really knew their way around.

Second, the American side is not as built-up as the Canadian side, and this is evidenced when you take one of the tours, look across the gorge or canyon to the Canadian side, and realize you’re staring at a place where you can’t walk 100 feet without passing a gift shop, parking lot, or hotel. That’s somewhat true of the American side as well, but the park areas around the falls are vast and unencumbered.

A few highlights of the falls area:

The Whirlpool Gorge, where a vortex of water forms after the falls and before continuing on as the mighty Niagara River. Class 6 rapids lead up to the whirlpool, making it an extremely dangerous area to access, though there is a path access by land. Private boats are not allowed here, but the power speedboat tours are– and they are mighty and quite a tour adventure themselves. There’s an air gondola ride from Canada that takes a trip across the whirlpool as well.

The next stop is Goat Island, where you can take a walk down to the Cave of the Winds, which is a man-made tunnel down to the American side of the falls. 90% of the water going over Niagara Falls flows over the Horseshoe Falls, and the other 10% go over the Bridal Veil Falls on the American side. In the Cave of the Winds tour, you wear a plastic garbage bag and sandals and walk down on wooden planks to have the falls “mist” you with up to 70 mph rainy winds.

The Horseshoe Falls is perhaps the best-known and most-visited part of the Falls area. The Horseshoe Falls are the quintessential Falls you see when you’re thinking “Niagara Falls.” They’re the ones people go over in a barrel or a kayak (and rarely survive). They are massive. They are impressive– even moreso when you realize that they represent only 50% of the total water heading to the Falls– the other 50% is taken out and used for hydro-electric power on both sides of the the U.S.-Canada border.

If the Horseshoe Falls are the quintessential Niagara Falls trip, the Maid of the Mist trip is the quintessence of how to visit them. If you’re on a budget, save your pennies for this part of the destination. You can take either the American or Canadian boat tours– either one will give you a wild ride that’s well worth the time and money. Canadian trip tickets are $14.50 (CDN), U.S. tickets are $12.50 (USD), and include the cost of the elevator ticket, which you could purchase separately for about $1 if you just wanted to tease yourself by going down to the dock and not getting on the boat. Trips start at 9 or 10, depending on the season, and end around dusk. Plan to get wet– you will.

The Observation Deck platform next to the falls juts out so you can view both the Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe at the same time and without getting wet. The park itself is open after dusk, and the falls are lighted at night into one terrific show until 11 PM.

Resources and Information:

Niagara Falls State Park and Discovery Pass: 716-278-1796. Pass is $30 adults, $23 kids 6-12.
Hurricane Deck at Cave of the Winds: $10/$7. Observation Tower: $1 adults.

Maid of the Mist : 716-284-8897. $12.50 adults/$7.30 kids. Reservations not required.

Bedore Tours: 1-800-538-8433. All-American Tour $69.95 adults/$49.95 kids. Reservations required.

Last Fall, we had planned to go to Arizona to meet up with my dad and stepmom during their vacation, and visit Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We’d been to Sedona  in 1999 for our 1-year wedding anniversary, and were looking forward to a return visit.

I made reservations very early for September, but failed (in my way) to record them in any meaningful way. So the day after my reservation was supposed to start, I called the LoLo Mai Springs campground in a panic– we were about a week away from being able to get there, and they were very understanding and accommodating about changing the reservation to a date we would actually be able to make.

When we finally arrived at LoLo Mai, we were startled by what a long and windy and out-of-the-way path our directions told us to take to get there, considering there was a straight shot from a wider, non-windy highway just a mile up the road. But we pulled in and checked in. During checkin, I was amused by the presence of many animals in the office. What I was not amused by was the clerk’s inability to do simple math on a calculator. By the time we were checked in, I just let her overcharge me by $2 because I didn’t want her to make yet another mistake and this time come up with a $90 overcharge like she’d done before.

We went to the campsite and quickly learned that the satellite dish was not going to work– too many trees (they were brushing the top of the RV!) We were right next to the bathroom building, and I immediately saw that our side yard was being used as the pathway. Not cool.

We asked at the office about alternative sites, and they said they had none. We said “but you have wifi, right?” remembering the ad. “Yes, but the signal up at your site is broken.”

Uh, okay. That was probably not going to work for us. I had already tried using my cell phone with no luck– the signal strength was 0 and had been for about 3 miles before reaching the campground.  No satellite, no internet, and no phone mean no working!

We said we would have to think seriously about this. After conferring, John went down to the office to have them refund all but the first night’s charge (since we would be staying for the night). On his way back, he was startled by a family of skunks. It turns out their fondness for animals is not limited to the dogs and rats in the office. They feed several families of skunks and raccoons in a “habitat.”

We had a bit of culture shock at that one. After my meltdown, we went out to dinner and I lost my credit card– it fell right out of my pocket. We returned to the campground to ask at the office if anyone had turned it in. We had to wait at the office for someone to come back, and in the course of talking with them about it (and the fact that I couldn’t call out on my cell phone), I said that we would use the pay phone, which was at least up at the bathroom building next to our RV.

“Oh, that phone’s gone. There’s no phone there.”

I was really glad I was talking to someone with keys to the office, because she was at least able to let me use the office phone to call my bank and put my card on hold until I could call back with the complete information to cancel it.  I can imagine a scenario where I went back to the RV and found the phone gone, and no way at all to call and cancel my credit card that night. What a pain!

Understand: if we had been “trying to get away from it all,” LoLo Mai would have been an oasis of escape. As it was, we were trying to live our normal daily lives, just in a different place. We weren’t on vacation or retirement, so the disconnectedness of the park made it really unsuitable to our needs. They were also above-and-beyond understanding about our rapidly-changing travel plans, and did a great job of making it painless to escape their escape!

In the morning, we went scouting for a new campground and found an oversized parking lot across the highway from an Indian casino, called Distant Drums RV Resort. It had a pool and hot tub. It had wifi at the sites, but there were no trees to speak of, so satellite reception was exceptional.

It had some of the most beautiful desert sunsets I’ve ever seen. We would go out for a walk and just stand on the edge of the park, staring as the sky shifted through hues of gold and yellow and purple. It was sparse and surprisingly simple, given that it had the appearance of yet another overgrown parking lot.

It’s possible that Distant Drums is where I learned to love the desert. Certainly, it’s where I learned to love parking lot-style RV parks, where the park gives you the space to do what you need to do, the room to spread out just a little bit, while still enjoying your lifestyle.

Travel Details:

LoLoMai Campground
PO Box 3169, West Sedona, AZ
(928)634-4700
Distant Drums RV Resort
583 W. Middle Verde Rd., Camp Verde, AZ
(877) 577-5507

Yesterday at about 4:30 in the afternoon, the skies around our RV suddenly seemed very, very dark. The rain was coming down in droves, and thunder and lightning was flashing and booming.

After stowing the internet satellite dish (we don’t want to know what happens to a $14,000 piece of equipment when it gets struck by lightning), we turned on the weather radio on our CB. We’re ill prepared for bad weather at the moment, because our weather radio is only attached to our CB radio, so if the CB isn’t on, neither is the weather radio. A good weather radio turns itself on to issue an alert. We had been given one, but gave it back after one night when the unexpected nightly “test” alert made me leap ten feet in the air and shriek “hell no, we’re not keeping that!”The weather radio indicated that there was a tornado watch or warning somewhere in our vicinity. We pondered this for a bit, then packed the cat into the car and headed up to the office building for shelter. I grew up in tornado country, so I know that, while a motorhome is a great place to be in an earthquake, it is the worst place to be during a tornado.

When we arrived at the office, the office staff said “oh, yeah– there was a tornado– it just passed by.”

I replied, perhaps a little snarky, that gee, I was sure glad we hadn’t been hit by it. The woman at the front desk seemed unphased by my remark.

At my mother’s campground, down in tornado alley in Missouri, when there’s a tornado heading for the campground, she sends someone up to the sites to give a good holler, sometimes even doing a door-to-door knock to let people know they should evacuate. Sure, people need to also bring their own weather radio, but the fact is, it’s irresponsible to let people sit out in their screen tents (as we saw some doing) when a tornado is about to hit your park.  The winds of a tornado are severe and, despite depisctions in the movie Twister, you can’t just hang onto a barn pole and survive it.

Our estimation of the park had already been going downhill. There’s this sense of un-neighborliness that has been troubling me. Normally, I don’t give a hoot about what my neighbors are doing, but one of them recently wedged a glass bottle under our front tire. Stupid kid prank, or have we somehow offended one of the nearby residents, and if so, how? The recent storm brought this home– if even the park staff can’t be bothered to show a little neighborly concern, one can’t expect much better from the residents.

Yesterday, I poured some cereal in my bowl, tossed in a few strawberries, picked up my spoon and said “EUAAAAGH!!!! ANTSS!!!!!!” The bowl had three teeeeny tiny ants in it, which meant they’d gotten there via the cereal.

I want to be perfectly clear that I bear no serious ill will towards ants. While we were parked on top of an enormous ant colony for a month, I never once was tempted to borrow a magnifying lens on a sunny day. And I have very few phobias in general. I’m not afraid of any weather or geological events like tornadoes and earthquakes– respectful, yes. But not scared. I don’t even mind the occasional cockroach, provided it’s in the right place.

What I can’t abide, and what really, tremendously horribly gives me the heebie jeebies: bugs of any sort in my kitchen. I spent most of yesterday imagining that the little things were crawling over my skin, and scratching at my skin wherever I felt a “phantom” ant.

Now, allow me to reminisce again about my amazing grandmother. This is the week for reminiscing, after all, and this story will show you what a terrific naturalist she was. I remember once we were driving down to Cape Cod to visit my grandfather (in the cemetary, folks– he died 15 years ago), and she was telling me about how she gets rid of ants in her kitchen. Keep in mind, this is knowledge handed down, not something I have myself tried.

First, she finds out if they’re sugar ants or fat ants. Sugar ants tend to be smaller and more persistent. One way to tell is to leave out two saucers– one with a bit of corn syrup (not HFCS– just regular corn syrup for making candy, folks), the other with a pat of butter. Leave them out overnight. In the morning, one will have a bunch of ants on it. The other might have a few strays. Take both saucers outside (yes, crawling with ants) and shake them off, hose them down with a hose. Whichever bait worked, use that one again tonight. Put the corn syrup or honey out on a plate overnight. In the morning, take the ants outside and hose them off the plate. Repeat. The ants will eventually, through sheer determination, stop coming into your house.

That method takes too long for my taste, and it requires me to pick up a plate of ants inside my kitchen, something I realized yesterday (as I tucked my head beneath my knees to keep from passing out from the revulsion of finding them in my breakfast) that I am biologically incapable of accomplishing .

So I mentioned my plight to some other RVers (the email went something like “EWWWW!!! ENGFEH! YUCK!!!”) who helpfully recommended a few sites. This one says to use bleach or white vinegar to kill ants and clean off the sugar ant trails. We’ll be trying this tactic if the ants make a return appearance. I had my brave strong husband clean them out yesterday (feminism be damned– bugs in the kitchen are his job), but if they decide to come back, I have 2 gallons of white vinegar standing by.

Meanwhile this site suggests using moth balls around the outside of the home and ant bait traps. Obviously, treating the exterior of my home isn’t practical, since we’ll be leaving it next week, and I’m 99% certain we brought these ants with us from New York. My only problem with bait traps is the pesticides– I prefer to use as few pesticides as possible in my home. My cat eats bugs regularly, and he’s already recovering from a compromised liver. Boric acid may be an effective, natural pesticide , but it is also toxic, and cats can be especially sensitive to it. It may be all-natural, but so is cyanide. Still, if I have another breakfast of champion ants, I won’t hesitate to bring out the big guns.

Photo credit: by jurvetson on Flickr. Creative Commons by-2.0 license .

We love to shop at local businesses, and we find there are a few niches that are still dominated by non-Walmart big box stores. Of these, two fit some of my favorite hobbies, and there are two good examples here in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Comic book shops: The distribution might have been taken over by a single monopoly, but the locally-owned comic book shop is still king. This week, I visited New England Comics. I stopped in to pick up a few comic books for some research. I wandered the shelves for a little while, then approached the clerk, who had very politely been leaving me to initiate my search on my own (I don’t like hovering shop clerks). I explained what I was looking for, and in minutes he had three recommendations to put into my hands. When more customers came in, a friendly customer took over and helped me find more cool stuff, while the clerk dealt with an unexpected inrush of business. Both the staff and the customers were friendly, polite, and didn’t make me feel like I was intruding on “their club.”

As a woman and a geek, I sometimes find comic book shops intimidating. It’s not that I’m afraid of comics or all the testosterone. It’s that there’s a blend of “Oh my god, it’s a woman!” reaction from the comic book geeks that sometimes puts me off and makes me feel like I’ve just walked into the clubhouse, ignoring the “No GURLZ” sign on the door. I’m very grateful that that was not the case at New England Comics, and if I’m back in the area for a family visit, you can bet I’ll be coming back.

New England Comics
732 Washington St
Norwood, MA
(781) 769-4552

Yarn Shops: The local yarn shop is, for most knitters, a home away from home. When your home this week is not the same as next week, you become very attuned to the ways in which other knitters can cold-shoulder a newcomer. Now, understand, the vast majority of knitting shops are very welcoming to everyone, but every knitter (and especially crocheters!) has run into the rare shopkeeper or store that has a distinct aura of unwelcome. On my last trip to Norwood, I stopped at Fancie Purls , a knitting store not far from the hospital. My first time walking in, the shop owner Ann was friendly, welcoming, and invited me to come back for the knitting days, even though I hadn’t bought any yarn! She gives a discount to newcomers, and the knitting groups were warm and welcomed me into their fold as if I’d been there all along. The knitting groups have different “cultures” themselves– one group is a little more conservative in their project choices, while the other has a more “edgy” sense of humor (you’ll have to ask Ann which one to visit!)

Fancie Purls
848 Washington Street
Norwood, MA 02062-3432
(866) 662-3719

We’ve stayed at 2 campgrounds not far from Boston, both fairly close to one another, near Highway 1, and I think we’re ready to provide an overview of the two places. These are some of the closest campgrounds to Boston, without venturing near Cape Cod. I don’t want to really rate or compare them, though; they’re two very distinct camping experiences, and you have to decide for yourself what you’re looking for.

Normandy Farms

1-866-67-FARM; Foxboro, Massachusetts

The site has been in the owners’ family since the 18th century, so you would think their overhead might be low; the thing that will strike you first about Normandy Farms is the price. At $70-72/night, this is one of the most expensive places we have ever stayed, including a few hotels.

However, if you look past the pricetag, you will quickly see the value. This park is more than a campground– it’s a resort. We often see parks calling themselves “resorts” when they don’t offer much more than a relatively woodsy site with hookups. But this place: reeee-sort! There are five swimming pools, some indoors, some out, and two hot tubs. An extensive rec center. A fully-stocked camp store. Area attraction information and tours. You can rent little play houses for your kids to have parties in. Every weekend there are activities and arts and crafts at the snack bar area– and we’re not talking about glueing beads to paper plates, here. There’s a frisbee golf course in the back woods. The sites are level, and there are many, many pull-throughs big enough for a BIG RV. This is New England, and even the pull-throughs are wooded. We were lucky and our Internet dish found a signal, but we were never able to catch the Dish Network satellite– too woodsy and too far north, I suppose.

The main drawbacks to this park are that they’re often booked solid, especially weekends, and the price. We did run into trouble early in our visit, when we were given a brand new site that hadn’t even been fully hooked up yet, and was right next to the new site construction. That was the very beginning of the camping season, however, and I’m confident it was a fluke.

Canoe River Campsites

(508) 339-6462; Mansfield, Massachusetts.

This is the park where we’re staying this week. It’s half the cost of Normandy Farms, and, while it’s a nice park, it doesn’t compare to the resort. Canoe River has a full camp store, but the place feels cramped. Again, we had some trouble initially with our site, and again the staff were able to find us a new site to move to (and one that has clear overhead access for the satellite dish). If it’s not placed in comparison with Normandy Farms, it’s a perfectly fine campground, and comparing the two, given their price differences, is unfair.

The park has 2 pools and several ponds which are populated by ducks, swans, and other water fowl. One of the minor frustrations with the park has to do with how crowded with kids it is; even getting home at 10 at night, I find myself swerving to not run into a family with several small kids. We find that the majority of our neighbors are older rigs here, and a lot of the guests are weekenders.

One thing I love about the campground is their website, which has a clickable campground map, with photos of each individual campsite and a satellite directional arrow to help guide you in selecting a spot. Few parks go to the trouble to take and upload so many pictures.

It’s a day for a road trip, stops on the way for bathroom breaks at unknown gas stations, and moments of pure, childish pleasure in the world. It’s a day for laughing at DVDs in the backseat of the car, and for watching mile after mile of green forests give way to verdant farmland. It’s sunny, then overcast, then almost-drizzling. Not quite hot enough for a summer day in the pool. A perfect day for running off to cuddle up with your imagination.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory is a full day-trip from the Lake George area (or Albany– tack on an extra hour from the state capital). It’s a 2 hour drive up and back to Shelburne, Vermont on the other side of Lake Champlain. The factory includes a bear museum and tour. Picnic tables outside give you plenty of places to sit for lunch and take pictures of the kids (or grown-up kids!) posing as teddy bears. There’s a play silo on the grounds, and a cafe if you didn’t brown-bag it. Try to get there before 11:30 or after 1. Tours start every half hour, but the factory crew goes to lunch between 12 and 1 and calls it a day at 4:30.

There are a few things I found particularly cool about the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. First, this is one of the last places where American craftmanship is still in evidence. It’s an American factory, started in part because the founder’s kids didn’t have any teddy bears made in the USA. Second, the company espouses the very best in customer service. They trust their employees– enough that they honor them on the mailing boxes for their bears. And they trust their customers, as evidenced by the strong guarantee they give their bears, and the very warm way they treat every customer, whether they’re three years old and bringing their own teddy bear along to see the factory, or thirty-six, and getting a really special gift from a sister. Third, the tour is free (with coupon), and inexpensive (until you hit the gift shop, of course!)

Inside the tour, you’ll be treated to a visual and tactile experience as you’re allowed to hold the various teddy bear types, watch them being cut, assembled, stuffed, and dressed. This is no ordinary factory, though– the machines are painted bright colors, the floor is open for viewing, the staff is friendly. Teddy bears line the railings kids lean on to watch the procedings.

At a teddy bear hospital, damaged bears return to the factory for repair, and the tour guide is careful to explain how the teddy bear doctor does her best to repair every bear she can, whether the bear was hurt in a fire, by the family pet, or through a catastrophic lawn mower accident. If she can’t repair the bear, the bear doctor finds a replacement… but the first choice is always to repair that particular bear, knowing as the bear factory does, that each beloved bear is special for a reason.

Like all good tours, this one ends at the gift shop. If you guide the kids towards the more affordable (but foreign-exchange bear) Friend for Life area, where they select a bear or animal to stuff themselves, you might make it out with your credit card intact. Otherwise, budget carefully– even counting fuel for the car, this will be the most expensive part of the day trip, and that’s even without buying one of the special bear costumes, personalizing, or getting a custom-made costume for your beary special friend.

On the way, take the ferry across Lake Champlain for a more leisurely (and less gas-consuming) way to get from point A to B. If you have extra time, drive up to the Burlingame ferry, which takes an hour. Otherwise, head over at Charlotte, Vermont, just a few miles south of Shelburne, for the 20 minute crossing. Keep your eyes peeled for “Champ,” the Lake Champlain monster of the deep — a North American equivalent to the Loch Ness, and of similar supposed biology. Of course, if you don’t catch sight of the creature, you can still enjoy a nice, smooth ride across the finger-like lake that forms the border between Vermont and New York.

As you head back down on I-87, take a moment to appreciate the day. Embrace your imagination’s flights of fancy for the day, then curl up with a campfire and some silly ghost stories. After all, being a grown up means you can still be a kid!

Travel Details:

Vermont Teddy Bear Factory
9 AM to 6 PM summer (5 PM winter).
Adults: $2, kids free– see website for coupon for free admission.
6655 Shelburne Rd. (off Rte. 7), Shelburne, Vermont.
1-800-829-BEAR

Lake Champlain Ferry
6 AM to 9 or 10 PM
$9.50 car and driver, $3.75 adult passengers, $1.50 kids.
US Route 6 to Ferry Rd. at Charlotte in Vermont, or I-87 to exit 31 or 33 in New York.
1-802-864-9804