Side Trips

If you're a lover of science or nature, one of the more interesting day trips from Burlington is to the little hamlet of Jericho, about a 15- to 20-minute drive northeast on Route 15. Once there, find the Old Red Mill Craft Shop and Museum (tel. 802/899-3225; www.snowflakebentley.com), maintained by the Jericho Historical Society.

This best part of the museum showcases America's finest repository of snowflake photographs, made by one Wilson Bentley -- a local farmer and amateur naturalist who lived here from 1885 until 1931, devising the world's first camera designed to capture images of snowflakes. He photographed some 5,000 snowflakes in his lifetime, publishing articles in National Geographic and first advancing the idea that no two snowflakes are identical. The story of Bentley's determined pursuit of his studies is as entrancing as the photographs lining the walls, which reveal the amazing variety of crystalline structures created in snowstorms -- many of them breathtakingly beautiful.

The museum is open daily (except from Jan to mid-Feb, when it's closed). Hours are Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 11:30am to 4pm. There's no admission charge.