Foolishness in Burlington

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With our second weekend approaching us here in Burlington, we consider how to spend our time. We’ve been hearing all week about something called Festival of Fools. It starts at noon on Friday and continues through the weekend. It sounds quirky enough that we owe it to ourselves to at least give it a chance. It’s been going on for over a decade so it isn’t just a one time thing. There will be 20 or so street performers with a wide range of acts. Each hour, at four locations along Church Street, the performers will present their act to the people that are there. Some of the acts will perform just one show while others will do multiple shows per day all weekend. 

We head downtown with lunch on Friday to see what it was all about. Our first stop was to see a group called Just for Kicks. Comprised of 4 men and 4 women that perform dances from the 1920’s, ‘30s and ‘40s. They have a small dance floor setup and we are early enough to snag a couple chairs and a table nearby to eat our lunch and enjoy. We hadn’t considered the possibility of audience participation when we sat so close, but a large amount of alcohol would be required to get me to dance - especially in front of what became a large crowd of onlookers. 

Just for Kicks

Audience Participation

They were quite good and did a good job of getting the audience involved. Some people in the crowd obviously had dance experience as they looked to be nearly as proficient as the performers. It was a warm and humid afternoon but the rain held off and the show went on. They even did a good job of handling a guy who came up and started to speak his mind in between songs. They started the next tune, and one of the women went out to pull the guy into the dance number. At least he couldn’t be as disruptive if he was forced to dance!

Our next stop was to see a performer named Cate Great from Boston MA. There was a good crowd already forming as we walked up. Cate was unpacking her equipment and preparing for her show. An important aspect of any of these type of street performers isn’t just being able to do something like juggling, but knowing how to work the crowd. She started with some simple tricks that got the crowd to clap and cheer loudly which got more people to stop and check out her act. By the time she started the heart of her show, she likely had 150 people crammed in watching her act. And what an act it was. She combined juggling, comedy and circus type stunts that were truly impressive and dangerous looking. 

Don't Blink

Still Balanced on Cylinder

One Armed Handstand Over Machetes

After each show, we would walk around trying to decide which act to head to next. By late afternoon, Church Street was very busy. It was turning into a good place to simply people watch. The second show we took in was by Alakazam from Sydney Australia. This guy is an amazing contortionist. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking this wouldn’t be all that entertaining, but as I found out, I was wrong. He had a great rapport with the large crowd and the Aussie accent probably helped somewhat. Besides juggling a running chainsaw and some machetes while up 16 feet on a pole, he could twist his body into shapes that made my body hurt. His main feat, was to work his body, from head to toe, through the opening of a squash racket. It took him quite some time, all the while working the crowd. We eventually decided to head back home but by then we were hooked and knew we would come back.

Contortionist

Squash Racket Trick in Progress

Saturday started out with great weather so after lunch we hopped on the bikes and rode to the Festival of Fools which was really just a few miles away. The first act we caught was called Flip. It’s a husband and wife with their 16 and 9 year old daughters doing a mixture of comedy and gymnastics. They had some sort of 7 foot diameter wheel that they did all sorts of tricks on. The father wasn’t too gifted in the gymnastics area, but was a pretty good showman. When they pulled a volunteer out of the crowd to “help” with some of the stunts, it didn’t take long to realize he was part of the act - a nephew as it turns out. The flips they did off the vault were impressive and the crowd seemed to really enjoy the act. 

View from Battery Park

Balanced on Big Wheel

Superman?

Through Hula Hoop

Upside Down

Cannonball?

The next stop was to see the Kif-Kif Sisters from Montreal Canada. As they were getting things ready for their show, some dark clouds started to roll over Lake Champlain and headed our way. About 10 minutes into the show, it started to rain and then pour and the crowds went scattering for cover. Since we had ridden our bikes, we knew we would have to wait it out before heading back so we went to the library an hour or so before we could make our way back to the bikes and head home. The rain definitely has a negative impact on street performers. 

Church Near Church Street

Kif-Kif Sisters with Big Pink Balloons

Just as Rains Start

We headed back Sunday but drove this time (and it didn’t rain). We went back to another showing by the Kif-Kif Sisters so we could see their show through the end. Their show is off the quirkiness scale by quite a bit. It isn’t very easy to describe and would only sound strange and dumb, but they are extremely entertaining and had the audience’s attention just waiting to see what was next. 

Kif-Kif Sisters Round II

Big Crowd Watches Show

Next was the Yo Yo Guy from Portland Maine. Hard to believe a grown 40-something man chooses to do this with time, but he spent 40 minutes or so entertaining a large crowd with his yo yo prowess - if there is such a thing. He also pulls in people from the audience to help with some of his tricks. One of the neat tricks was to use a yo yo with sandpaper attached to the side so he could light matches an audience member held. The same audience member was even more trusting to let the guy knock a quarter off his ear with a yo yo. Quite entertaining all around. 

Yo-Yo Guy

Young Audience Member

Match Lit with Yo Yo

Yo Yo Finale

We had some time to kill before the variety show that would wrap up the festival. We caught some of the act of a guy called the Zip Code Man from Boulder Colorado. This was one of the acts that had a smaller audience. The basic premise is: audience members shout out the zip code where they are from and he will name the town and even mention some oddball fact about the area. While somewhat amazing that he is able to do this, there seems to only be so much entertainment to be derived from such an act. We also went into one of the art museums on Church Street. It was an odd assortment of “art” but it got us out of the heat and something else to do while we waited.

Inside Art Gallery

Art Outside

We headed to the same area that the farmers market is to watch the variety show. For this each of the street performers would come up on stage and do a short bit of their act. The Kif-Kif Sisters were given the privilege to be the emcees for the event. They would fill in the time needed for the various acts to setup. Their skits were pretty hilarious and had the crowd cheering for more. There were several of the acts that we hadn’t seen perform during the main show but we had caught a large majority of them. The two that really stood out in the finale were Cate Great and Alakazam. Cate outdid her hourly show by balancing on two cylinders positioned 90 degrees from one another. She did need assistance to mount the contraption but once up there, she was not only able to balance but juggle three balls behind her back! The contortionist successfully passed his body thru not one, not two but three rackets. We happened to be sitting right next to the spot where two women did a ballet of sorts while suspended on long strips of fabric. By the time the last act was done, we were exhausted but had had a wonderful time.

Hanging Above

Look Ma, No Hands!

Cate Great Balancing Act

The next day was spent doing something completely different. We headed a bit north to see a multitude of covered bridges. Chris had found a map with a route taking you from one to the next. Many of them are in out of the way locations so it wouldn’t have been likely to just stumble upon most of them. Since most of them span over some small river or creek, we discovered that there often was a swimming hole nearby with families out trying to stay cool. It was a fun way to see what is a classic New England feature.

Bridge from Water Level

Inside Construction Details

Former Mill Turned Residence

Our Favorite of the Day at Cambridge Junction

Bridge with Major Repair Work Underway

The following day marked out 15th night here at the lodge. That was the limit of our holding tanks, so we packed up and drove the mile or so up the road to North Beach Campground. It looked like a nice place to stay, but getting in here requires a fair amount of advanced planning. They only allow people to stay for 14 nights in a row and you must be out of the place for a week before coming back. One of the other campers next to us at the Elks Lodge comes back to Burlington every summer. He books a site at North Beach for two out of every three weeks, then goes back and forth between the two places all summer. We pay our $10 to come in and dump, then head back to the lodge to fill up with fresh water before backing into our spot that now has brown grass under our rig and tall green grass right around the rig since the mower can only get so close. A few days later when another rig pulls in next to us, they look at our spot and question us how long have we been here? We wonder that same thing!

The town just north of us is Colchester. There are hundreds if boats lined up in the bay and is quite the site to see. We head to a Bayside Park and get in a nice morning hike with numerous geocaches. Another bike ride up to the end of the causeway worked out better than our first one. This time the wind was calm so the ride wasn’t nearly as strenuous even though it’s about 16 miles or so.

South of town in Shelburne is the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. Not high on my list but Chris wants to see it and she did find a coupon to get free tours for us. The place is big and surprisingly busy. Admittedly most people here have some young kids with them but still the number of people seems unimaginable. I was a bit disappointed with the tour itself. Once in the factory area, the air handling system is quite loud and the tour guide didn’t have any PA system to help her voice. Plus our tour group was 30 to 40 people so it was difficult to get close to the action. I eventually gave up and just hung back as the group moved from spot to spot. At least this way I could see the various factory stations without a crowd. Lots of people were buying bears but we realized we didn’t have a need for one so we headed out.

Wide Assortment of Bears

Cutting Station

Bear Hospital

Entrance to Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

The next day we decided to do a “real” hike. It seems like we have been doing smaller hikes so we picked a good one. Mount Mansfield is the highest peak in Vermont. It comes in just a few feet under 4400 feet high. It is a pretty popular destination. On the east side of the mountain is Stowe Vermont. This is one of the bigger downhill skiing areas. There is a toll road from there to near the peak of the mountain. Going this route makes the “hike” to the actual peak come in at just over 1 mile with about 700 feet of elevation. The toll would be $33 for the two of us. Of course, this wasn’t the “real” hike we wanted so we headed to the west side of the mountain to Underhill State Park. We pay our parking fee and ask the attendant about the hike. She recommends taking the Sunset Trail up and down rather than making a big loop. The other options are on trails that are quite steep. We take her advice and head out. 

Even though the parking lot was quite full, the trail wasn’t terribly crowded. It’s not like we had the hike to ourselves but it didn’t feel too congested. Our round trip hike came in at 6.5 miles with 2600 feet of elevation gain. Roughly halfway up the trail is a side trail to something called Cantilever Rock. We were still fresh and figured we should check it out. This side trail was much less refined and took a bit more effort to climb over and around rocks and trees. We eventually got to what seemed like the end and Chris looks up to see a big rock cantilevered out from a rock face. Guess that is the simple explanation for the trail’s name. There is a big sloped rock that can be climbed to get a great view of valley below. 

Cantilever Rock

View at Cantilever Rock

Continuing Up to Mt Mansfield

As we continue up, the Sunset Trail gets much more challenging. There are spots where it is necessary to scale 6 or 8 foot rock faces. Not all of them have great handholds or footholds, but we manage to make our way up them. The last quarter of the trail is above the tree line so the views are pretty incredible. Near the top, there is alpine tundra which they try to protect by keeping hikers only on the well marked trail. Of course the areas are only marked with string along the ground, but it does seem to do the job. There was quite the crowd up top. We suspect many of them took the easy way up and drove most of the way. We finish our lunch and just take in the great views in all directions. 

People Heading Back Down

Stowe Below

Puddle at Top

Looking Across Ridgeline

Interesting Rocks

The hike back to the car was slow going. We could really feel it in our legs and had to take it very slow at the steep sections. I suspect that we are simply out of practice for such a tough hike, but there was only one way to find that out. The next day turned in to a full out recuperation day. We had little desire to tackle anything too difficult. So Mt Mansfield took its toll but we still think it was well worth it.

We started to get some feedback as to when our Jeep was to be completed. All the parts were in and they put their top tech on our job since it was more involved than most. As long as we get out by Friday the 17th, we should be able to make our monthlong reservation we have near Acadia National Park in Maine. If it extends to the following Monday, we will need to hustle to get there on time. 

We spend the last few days just taking short trips to some of the smaller parks in the area. We also went to Lake Champlain Chocolates for a tasting. During the week, you can watch the factory floor where the magic is performed. We did a free tasting. We each got 3 different types of chocolates to try and sat there enjoying them. Of course, their ploy worked as we purchased a couple bars before we headed out. After that we went to the Citizen Cider press house. We aren’t fans of hard cider. Actually, it’s not so much as we aren’t fans, we simply have never really tried hard cider. This place offers tours of their facility and a small tasting area. It was a hot and humid day, so it was great just to walk into the cold storage temperatures of their facility. We were the only guests so we got full attention from the two people working the place. We tried 3 different types of products and actually found them to be very enjoyable. Guess we will need to add hard cider to the list of drinks we like. We then got a quick tour of the production area. Nothing was running, but we were able to get a good feel for how they make their product. We pick out two of the samples we liked and get a bottle or two. 

38 Foot Tall File Cabinet!

Crates of Apples Ready to Go

Apple Hopper

Rice is Added!

Cider Storage

Tasting Area

By mid week, we heard that the Jeep would be ready either Wednesday afternoon, or first thing Thursday morning! When I went in to pay for our last night at the Elks Lodge, one of the members sitting at the bar asked how long we had been here. He nearly fell off his stool when I told him this would make it 24 nights. We went to trade in the rental for the Jeep and found it to be in great shape. Not only fixed, but cleaned inside and out including the engine. It was nice to get our drive back and be able to move on. Next stop, several nights in the White Mountains of New Hampshire before continuing to Maine. 

Whale Tails Along I-89 in Burlington