The towns surrounding Chittenden County are full of surprising finds — you just have to know where to go. A car comes in handy. At the area’s last-remaining drive-in, certainly, you’ve gotta have wheels. Colchester’s own al fresco movie theater shows double features on four screens every night at sunset. Bring bug spray.

This historic public art gallery in a renovated fire house next to City Hall is managed by Burlington City Arts.

The West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park is the place to go in Stowe to see outdoor art. Check out the native cedar “goddess” totems in the woods.

The Stowe area is a visual-art Mecca, and it has the fine art and craft galleries to show for it. Many, such as the Helen Day Art Center, are traditional indoor exhibition spaces. The West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park incorporates outdoor elements. Check out the native cedar “goddess” totems in the woods. PICTURED: "RED NOTE," BY DAVID STROMEYER AT WEST BRANCH GALLERY

The Shelburne Museum: Just do it. Electra Havemeyer Webb’s collection of fine and folk art may be Vermont’s greatest cultural treasure. The “gallery” experience could not be less intimidating. You can walk leisurely between the buildings, where people in period dress act as printers, blacksmiths and apothecaries. Or wander through the staterooms on the lovingly restored passenger steamer S.S. Ticonderoga. In the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building are some of the museum’s — and the world’s — most precious paintings by Manet, Monet, Degas and Cassat.

(Published in 7 Nights 2009-10)

Middlebury is a college town, but for years — since the drinking age went from 18 to 21 — it’s lacked for nightlife. Two Brothers Tavern changed that when it opened in 2008. A steep flight of stairs leads to the “lounge & stage,” which features big-screen TVs, a lengthy bar and leather couches. Townies and students alike come in to enjoy the bountiful musical acts, karaoke and trivia night. 

The Main Street Museum in White River Junction offers an interesting mix of international and quirky Americana curiosities, such as this summer’s “Tramp and Hobo Symposium.” Want something even stranger? Check out the “Flora and Fauna Collection,” which, according to the museum’s website, represents “invasive species from the infrastructure of an economically marginal Vermont downtown. Our dried cats are not true mummies; they are merely dehydrated.”

The Mad River Valley attracts the outdoorsy, artistic and enlightened. All three types frequent Waitsfield’s only cinema-restaurant-cafe. German-born Claudia Becker and her husband, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, own the moviehouse, which shows first-run films on two screens and sells popcorn. But the place is really more of a cool community center, hosting festivals, lectures, concerts — you name it. They even make and sell their own donuts. PHOTO: PURE MINT MEDIA