United States--Vermont and Virginia

Vermont has lots of green forests and beautiful mountains.  Vermont also makes more maple syrup than any other state.  Did you know it takes 4 trees to make just one gallon of maple syrup?  Kids in Vermont will make a kind of maple syrup taffy using maple syrup and snow.  Since we don't have snow (thank goodness!) we tried to make snow with ice in our blender.  It wasn't quite the same consistency, but it worked for our needs.  Then we heated real maple syrup to 235 degrees, poured it over the "snow", let it cool a little and then attempted to eat the taffy--it was chewy and sticky, but tasted good. 

Virginia is called the the "mother of presidents" because 8 presidents were born there and it's called "father of states" because 8 other states were made from it.  Virginia was the home of many of the first colonists.  I had a few ideas for activities, but when the kids learned that wild ponies roam free on Assateague Island and that no one knows for sure where they came from, (the most popular belief is that they swam to the island from a wrecked ship) they decided that they wanted to ride wild ponies.  They grabbed their bikes and scooters and went for a short ride.