Some things about Charlotte-Shelburne-Burlington

We camped in a lean-to on the side of Mt. Philo in Charlotte, Vermont this part weekend. The ranger was some super-cool laid back dude. We wanted to buy firewood, so we went to the booth at the bottom of the mountain. The girl there could only give us a ticket, which we were supposed to give to the ranger at the top of the mountain. When we drove up and told him we had a ticket to give him, he shrugged his shoulders and said "Okay." He was kind of like the cool teacher in school who loosens all the rules, except he was a park ranger. He said "We have a loose policy on what is an armload of firewood" and basically let us take as much as we want. Also, I was hell of jealous of his job because he gets to live in this house at the top of the mountain, and only has to worry about 9 campsites, most of which are probably unoccupied at any given time. And he just hangs out at this house with his dog, and his friends sleep over sometimes.






That's the view from the top of Mt. Philo. Click for larger.

The Shelburne Museum is worth is exorbitant admission price. Electra Havemayer Webb was a rich lady who liked to buy stuff, with the vague idea of turning all that stuff into a museum one day. So this is a smorgasboard of a museum showcasing all her collections. The "museum" encompasses 40 buildings spread of 45 acres. As an example of the kind of layout the place has, there is an old Colonial style home that is filled with nothing but duck decoys. Many of the buildings came from off-site, either torn apart and put back together, or transported in one piece. Under the One Piece heading, you can file the riverboat Ticonderoga, which was hauled over ground two miles to get from the lake to the museum grounds, a process that took over 2 months. There's a train with a luxurious interior on a partial railroad, and a railroad station. There's a lighthouse.






From the old-timey apothecary shop...



I could use some Cera flava. How about you?

Also at the Shelburne Museum was the Kalkin House, which is a two-story, rectangular, metal building. And from a certain angle it looked familiar. But I didn't put my finger on why until I got home and looked it up.

The Kalkin House was designed by Adam Kalkin, and was constructed out of cargo containers. I've read articles about the architect, and seen pictures of the house, and remember thinking that the two-story curtains in the front must be the biggest curtains in the world. So it was a little strange that I was actually in the building, but didn't realize it at the time.
We saw Batman Returns 2 on Sunday. Packed theater. Great movie. But you already knew both of those things. Heath Ledger as The Joker was the most disturbing villain since Sir Anthony as Hannibal. It's all in the lips. But I still might prefer Danny DeVito, the most perfect casting idea ever in the original Batman Returns, as Oswald Cobblepot.





There was horrifying plush art inside the Kalkin House. Kind of incongruous to the rest of the museum.

If you've read this far, I'm about to make it worth your while. This is the best part of all of Burlington! If you drive down Flynn Ave in South Burlington, you will find the WORLD'S TALLEST FILE CABINET in a vacant lot between houses and a commercial building. Thirty-eight drawers tall, by my count.



I wish I had more to tell you about this monument to organization, but there's not much info on who built it or why. It just is.