Just as impressive as Quechee Gorge [1] next door, albeit in a completely different way is the Vermont Toy & Train Museum (Quechee Gorge Village, Rte. 4, 802/295-1550, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily July–Oct.; noon–5 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Nov.–June, $3 adults and children 3 and up), which has three complete model railroads and vintage toy train displays catering to the four-year-old in all of us.
That’s not the half of it, however. The real draw of this mini-museum is encapsulated in its slogan: “I had one of those!” Display after display exhibits vintage lunchboxes, dolls, robots, stuffed animals, and action figures from Star Wars, Star Trek, Lost in Space, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and a dozen other galaxies you haven’t inhabited in years.
There’s guaranteed to be at least one toy that sends you into spasms of reverie, if not a full-fledged nostalgia-fueled time warp back to an earlier simpler time when a couple hunks of plastic and your imagination were all you needed for a great afternoon.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/new-england/vermont/southern-vermont/woodstock-area/quechee/quechee-gorge