Cabot Cheese Factory and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

I won't tell you about the arts and crafts project we did before we went to the factory. I won't tell you about how Rebecca creamed me in pool. I won't even tell you about the 30 minute drive to Cabot, going through forests and rural areas, and our search of a restaurant (there was none except a hardware store diner and sandwiches in a grocery store). We got those sandwiches and ate them in the car.

What I will tell you about is our experience at Cabot and the experience at Ben and Jerry's.

After the sandwiches, we walked into a building that looked like a store in the front but looked like a factory in the rear. There were many many cheese products, and many many kids and people. It was very crammed.

Dad finally got up to the counter, and he said, "Can I have the tickets for the next tour?"

"Yep. How many?"

"4"

"Okay," she said as she put in in the computer." And the money?"

Dad gave it to her.

"All righty then. You four are the 3:00 tour, and you will have pins since the last tour had stickers. Put those on just so you know you paid."

"Thank you," Dad said.

"Thank you!" She replied.

When the prior tour left, we got at the head of the line. The tour started, and we went through some doors to a small room, with a small TV and awards and gizmos. The room had "stairs" and levels of "seats". We watched a ten minute movie about the legacy of Cabot Co-op and Cabot Cheese Factory. The factory was started by a community of farmers who wanted to share their milk. They now have a cheese and creamery factory.

A tour guide answered some questions in the movie room, and then we went through a small hallway and saw them make the cheese. It was pretty awesome.

We also saw them pack the cheese, by a robot picking up the boxes and making the sides go in. Then it dropped it into the platform.

We saw the milk and cheese go together, and saw also it being chuncked and made solid. Very interesting to see that made in front of us. You get that kind of,"Ooo! Ahhh!" feeling.

We left the cheese factory, and headed out for Ben and Jerry's.

It took us a while, and we couldn't find a very good parking spot, (we took one on the top of the hill) but we got in and got tickets for the tour. Ben and Jerry's was a lot bigger than the former, and was very big and spread out. There was a big gift shop, and a staircase showing to another level. The only bad thing about this experience was that they cleaned the two bathrooms (outside and inside, men's) at the same time. That meant a million guys waited for the restroom, and nowhere to go. It was really madness.

We got tickets, and I sat down and talked to a kid from the Neatherlands, and it was very interesting.

Our tour came, and a girl named Mae who was very enthusiastic, telling us to MOOOVE right on. She was very fun.

We saw a movie on the history of Ben and Jerry's, and it was very interesting.

Then, we saw the cleanup shift of the workforce. It wasn't too interesting, but we learned the process, and the workers waved to us. We didn't see the ice cream making process though.

There was also a tasting room, where we tasted vanilla nut. That wasn't very good.

We did buy additional ice cream at the scoop shop, but I got a smoothie. It was a very fun day, and it was very late when we got home.

I read 3 chapters of my book, and then slept in Mom and Dad's bed.

ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S YOGURT! NOT ICE CREAM! AHHHH!

Andrew.