Beer, Bears, And Bills (Foreign Banknotes) - Finds During A Road Trip

Hey All,

We recently did a road trip through Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. First if you haven't been up to Vermont. It really is a great state to visit. And it's a fun place to go in nearly all seasons. Fall and Spring can be wet, but it really is great all year round.

Anyway here's a video of the highlights from the trip.

The trees had not yet started to really change colors. But the weather was beautiful. And given a choice. I'd rather have nice weather.

Nature and adventure:

As I said the weather really was amazing. Even for late September, the skies were mostly clear and it was actually quite hot.

One of the things I love about Vermont are the rural highways for road biking. You also get a lot of nice vantage points for photographs.

I think at the peak we had a couple +2000 feet climbs. That is not something we typically find where we live. And it was intense, not too much flat road where we biked. It really just felt like one hill after the next.

Classic Vermont - Awesomeness:

We found this really amazing little place. And were allowed to photograph it. The owners were keen on keeping the interior to a specific time period.

Really felt like going into the past when you entered the building. The TV was a gigantic box and lots of antique accessories around the place. Even the tables and chairs all screamed I'm not modern.


This might be seen as tacky in our places around the U.S., but here is works.

Again just another example of what makes Vermont a unique state to visit.

Vermont Craft Micro Brewery - Hill Farmstead Brewery:

Really no trip to Vermont should be considered complete until you have visited at least one local brewery. They are a great place to go after a day of skiing, hiking, or for us road biking over 40 miles.

We ended up choosing Hill Farmstead Brewery, because it was closest to where we were.

This Brewery was established in 2010 by Shaun Hill a local Vermonter, and is also located in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Wiki actually states that the brewery is 70 miles away from the largest city in Vermont, which happens to be Burlington. And that was very fitting, because to get to this wonderful establishment, one has to drive a decent amount on a dirt road with a not so gradual incline at times.

Please do not take this as a warning, all cars would be able to get to the brewery.

Their beer selection was really great. And perhaps it was a busy day due to how beautiful the weather was that weekend. The line to get beers was about 15-20 minutes.

Pro-tip: Place your order for pizza before getting in line, so you'll be able to have a brick oven cooked flat bread ready for you, after you get your beers.

Vermont Nature and Wild life:

During our bike ride we actually saw bear. This was such a crazy situation. I could go on for a while on the subject, but to keep it short.

Biking by a chicken farm we saw some kids by a house who yelled, "Watch out! There's bears in the trees". We thought it was a joke until we saw the mother bear.

Watch the video above to see the bear, the screen shots from my phone didn't do it justice.

During the road trip we also came across a unique bee hive. And man were they active. From afar it just looked like the tree was spitting out bees. And when I got closer to the hive, the bees would just fly around me. It was enormous and I could only imagine how many bees were in that colony.

Amazing an Unexpected Currency Collector Find:

On our way home. We randomly selected a coffee shop. Wanting to keep things local and avoid dunks and the bucks. We decided to go to a place in Saint Johnsbury, called, Locally Social. Run by Ian and Cari. I knew we made the right choice as soon as we entered the shop.

One of the walls was just plastered with foreign currency.

Ian and Cari were happy to talk about the wall of money.

It started with a single foreign bill coming to the shop. Then they had another. And soon enough people were starting to provide then with bank notes from new countries around the world.

When we visited they had examples from over 63 countries. In some cases multiple denominations from a particular country. Some still in circulation others not.

I found this to be amazing because as you already know, I'm a coin and currency collector.

I just think this was a wonderful little find. We could have easily missed this experience by going to one of the larger chains in the area and been on our way. But instead we had some really great coffee and a wonderful chat with local shop owners.

I didn't bring it up, but I did think to myself, these should all be in holders. Just to preserve them. That was my collector side trying to get out. Lol.


Also if anyone wants to donate to their wall of foreign currency.

The store address is: Locally Social, 21 Memorial Dr., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819


Thanks all for reading this post!

I'd love to hear of any exciting coin and currency finds you've had during road trips.

It doesn't have to be just bank note / coin roll hunting finds while traveling. Perhaps you have a story like our experience here in the Northeast Kingdom.

Or totally unrelated to Coins and Currency. Just your experiences from visiting Vermont or the greater New England area.


Happy Hunting Everyone!
~JobIII