Saturday Drive to the Montshire Museum of Science

     Yesterday we embarked on a long road trip from White Creek to the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont. We left just after 8 AM and dropped Lucy the dog off at Franzendo Kennels in Shaftsbury, Vermont as it would be too long a day for her to stay home alone. Our youngest daughter and son-in-law met us there and we got off about 8:40, heading up Old Route 7 (7A) to Arlington, then north on the “New Highway”, Rt 7, to Manchester, where we took Rt. 11/30 up the mountain, then kept on Rt. 11 to Londonderry, where we then turned north on Route 100 to Weston and on to where Rt. 155 went straight and Rt. 100 turned sharply right to go up and over “Terrible Mountain”. It used to be “terrible” before the road on the far side was rerouted and paved, but today it is just a rather steep road. The day was dark and the mountains were shrouded in mist, but not much later on it cleared off. 

     We went up along the lakes, turned off on Rt. 100A for Plymouth and took Rt. 4 for Woodstock. At Quechee Gorge we stopped at the Cabot Store and tried out some cheese samples!

Quechee Gorge in 2015

     Moving right along, we took Rt. 89 south to Rt. 91, then Rt. 91 north to Norwich. Taking a hard right just off the exit, then a left, we arrived at the Museum about 10 am and parked.

     We spent until lunchtime going through just the ground floor of the museum, plus the David Goudy Science Park behind it. (insert photos). The grandkids loved it and had a great time, especially with the bubbles inside and the water outside. By lunchtime, they had to have all their clothing changed before we went to lunch at Ramuntos over the bridge in New Hampshire. Parking and traffic were both difficult!

     Below are a few photos:

Bubble Drop

Air Tubes

Puzzles

 

David Goudy Science Park

Goudy Area - Lower End

Fountains in the David Goudy area

     After lunch we returned to the museum and went through the upper floors. The second floor had a lot of bees, ants, and puzzles, plus other exhibits. Kathy couldn’t get to the floors above that but two of my grandsons and I went on. At the top, we got a good view of the area and I took some photos, then we returned to the second floor, where everyone got involved in the puzzles. Shortly after, I noticed it was time to leave, so we kind of rushed off so we could pick up Lucy when we said we would be there.

     Leaving, we backtracked the way we had come to Woodstock, but then took a left on High Street and a right to get over to Rt. 10 and followed it south through South Woodstock and down to Felchville, (there are a number of beautiful stone houses in the Felchville area) where we turned right on Tyson Road and went up over the mountain to Tyson. There we debated going west and over to Wallingford, but decided as time was short to retrace our route up, so went back through Weston and Ludlow, hitting a few showers en-route, and over to Manchester, took Rt. 7 south to Arlington, and Rt. 7A back to the kennel, where we picked up Lucy at 5:30 and just made it home before the thunderstorms hit.

     215 miles round trip! Well worth it, especially if you have kids. They do programs for homeschoolers, also.