(lively music) - [Narrator] This week on "Wild Travels," we'll meet the magnificent mermaids of Weeki Wachee, Florida, watch the ice cream take an unplanned detour on the Ben and Jerry's production line, then pay a visit to their Flavor Graveyard, buy, sell, trade and wear at the Sneaker Convention in Cleveland, marvel at the collection of art made entirely of bugs, and then ascend to the summit of one of the windiest places on Earth on the world's first cog railway.

(peaceful music) - [Announcer 1] "Wild Travels" is made possible in part by Alaska Railroad, providing year-round transportation to many Alaska destinations, traversing nearly 500 miles of wild landscapes between Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and more.

AlaskaRailroad.com.

By American Road Magazine.

Get your kicks on Route 66 and everywhere else a two-lane highway can take you.

American Road Magazine fuels your road trip dreams, and by.

- [Announcer 2] It's a wild world.

Take care out there.

Wear a life jacket, paddling or boating.

Learn more you otter do to keep you and the planet safe at mthoodterritory.com/otterdo.

(lively music) - [Narrator] If you look hard enough, go off the beaten track far enough, you'll find an America teeming with the unusual, the odd, the downright strange.

- I'm Will Clinger, and I'm your guide on a package tour we like to call.

- [Narrator] "Wild Travels."

(lively music) (flames roar) (car engine roars) (whimsical music) - Our special tour of the factory floor at Ben and Jerry's turned out to be as calamitous as it was informative, and then we cleansed our palate with a visit to their Flavor Graveyard, where the dearly de-pinted go to die.

(whimsical music) Hey, Shawn.

- Oh.

- How are you?

- Good.

Good to meet you.

- Tell us where we are.

- We're here at Ben and Jerry's.

This is the mecca where ice cream is made.

- Where else would we be?

- You know, one of the first delivery vehicles for Ben and Jerry's was a Volkswagen Squareback.

- [Will] Would Ben or Jerry be driving?

- That's how it started out.

One drove.

One made ice cream.

We'll take a peek at this production floor.

This is where we make, every pint of Ben and Jerry's, up until the late '80s, was made right here in this building.

- [Will] For the whole country?

- [Shawn] For the whole country.

- [Will] Jeez, oh, Pete.

That's a lot of ice cream.

(vacuum whirring) - Wow.

(whimsical music continues) (machine whirs) We've got our thousand-gallon blend tank, and then we make the mix there, and then bring it over to the flavor vats, and then send it over here to the production line.

- So you only make one flavor a day?

- That's correct.

- [Will] So what's happening here is it's getting squirted into these cups, capped.

What temperature is this at right now?

- This ice cream's in like the 20-degree temperature right now.

It is still kind of soft at this point, so it's easy for us to put it in the package, add in the chunks, so they stay distributed equally throughout it, and then we flip it upside down, it's more stable that way, then ship it down the conveyor belt here.

250 pints a minute.

- And from here it goes to the freezer?

- That's right.

There is a spiral hardening freezer.

It goes down to about -50.

Flash freezes the ice cream.

It prevents crystallization from happening, so there's very little ice crystals that form that way.

- I hate that.

(whimsical music continues) So, that's ice cream refuse, basically?

- Yes, we call it pig waste, 'cause we used to give it to the guy that raised all the pigs up in Stowe.

- [Shawn] This is the low-cost tour.

If you get the cheap experience, this is the sample right here.

- Oh, that's gross.

Come on.

(whimsical music continues) What's happening, Mike?

- They got backed up there, which caused the same effect down here, except it gets worse 'cause it gets backed up and bubbles over.

(whimsical music continues) - It's going fast!

There's no controlling it!

Mike, how often does that happen?

We had an overload there.

- Yeah, that was an overload.

It does happen occasionally.

- I felt like I was a huge help.

- You were.

- I was picking stuff off the floor.

- Yeah.

You were a good help.

(whimsical music continues) - So, Shawn, the fact that these just hit the floor, they're perfectly good ice cream, but they're gonna throw those out?

- If something touches the floor, it's not food quality at that point.

- [Will] Seems like an awful waste.

- Maybe we should get you up here with a spoon and get started.

Every other one will be tipped upside down.

Because they're kinda triangular shaped, they pack together easiest that way.

- I get it.

- [Shawn] They're gonna bundle them together in eight-packs and then put them on a pallet.

- [Will] Willy Wonka, eat your heart out.

- [Shawn] Right?

It's like the Terminator of ice cream stack machines.

- So, guys, I should warn you that I think I dropped an old sock into the blender.

You wanna- - Don't even say that.

That's not good.

- Shawn, we're heading towards the Flavor Graveyard.

- Right.

This is where all the Ben and Jerry's flavors have been retired throughout the years, any that are still not on shelves as an active flavor.

- [Will] Whose idea was this?

- [Shawn] You know, I'm gonna throw it back to Ben.

He was the guy who was always up for celebrating our failures.

So, we're like, this is the stuff that just didn't work, for whatever reason.

- What causes the unpopularity, do you think?

Just bad taste, I suppose.

- Yeah, everybody likes something new, but sometimes the combinations you try, you think that would be a winner, the sugar plum over here, behind me, you know, it just doesn't work out.

You tried caramel and plum, and it's just like, guys, it didn't work that time.

- So, there's a lot of trial and error, and sometimes it's error.

- Yeah, undoubtedly.

We've made our mistakes.

This place up here is full of 'em.

- You know, I think sometimes the name could've sank, like Tennessee mud doesn't sound appealing.

- You don't think mud sounds delicious?

- Tennessee's fine.

It's the mud.

Turtle soup?

See, that just doesn't sound right.

- [Shawn] There were no turtles harmed in the making of turtle soup.

- There were taste buds offended, I'm sure.

What's the soonest something has gone south?

- [Shawn] Well, you can look at some of these headstones.

They all have dates on them for the flavor.

Some are, the same year it came out, it was retired.

- [Will] Here's one that lasted only a year.

Miz Jelena's Sweet Potato Pie.

- Right, so you read the inscription.

"One potato, two potato, sweet potato pie.

No one could appreciate it, so we had to let it die."

- Do people show up here and maybe see one of their favorite flavors and leave something at the grave or anything?

- Oh, it's not uncommon to come up and find people like, you know, bowed down, one knee, and you're just checking like, "Hey, are you doing okay?"

And they're like, "I just need a moment, please.

Just a moment with my flavor."

So, I mean, look, there's flowers right over here next to peanut butter and jelly, and that was a terrible flavor.

- Not for somebody.

Shawn, if somebody wants to enjoy the Ben and Jerry tour, where should they go?

- Waterbury, Vermont.

That's where our home is.

- And if you wanna cart that stuff that fell on the floor to us, we'll take it.

(whimsical music continues) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (lively music) Some people will go to great lengths and even greater expense to score that perfect pair of sneakers, and, at Sneaker Con, we found a feeding frenzy for footwear.

(lively music continues) - It's just a collectable market, and the products that people collect, they change.

Right now, it's sneakers.

You could wear them.

You could collect them.

You could buy them to resell them.

So, there's so many reasons why someone would go to a store and line up for a pair of shoes.

(lively music continues) - These are Thunder 14s, and I'm trying to get around, like, $200, $215.

They're not in stores right now, so, if you passed up on them already, this is your only way to get 'em.

- Different kind of pumps.

Some Kobe Sevens.

Some Jordan Ones.

A lot of people here are having a great time, buyers, sellers.

Sneaker Con's amazing, man.

- That's a pair of old retro Jordan Fives.

A hundred.

I don't really want 'em anymore.

- It's like the stock market in here, so we're just sitting here.

- Foamposite Elephants, Pantone 29s, and Columbia Fours.

This is my main gig with my kids to hang out with them.

- I got these new pair of shoes for $120.

Come down to get 'em.

I have at least, like, 90 pair of shoes.

- I've got 379 pairs of shoes.

Just straight Jordans.

In total, I've got 960 pairs of shoes.

(lively music continues) ♪ Yes, sir - My grandson getting his custom painted.

- These shoes were, that shoe, right there.

The customer will give us a theme and we'll airbrush it and try to make their theme come true in a very limited amount of time.

I'd like to recreate the Sistine Chapel on a pair of shoes.

- [Visitor] I can't believe the money that's flowing up here.

It's unreal.

- $300.

- $1,300.

You heard me right, and that's USD.

- [Visitor] 14, 15.

- Never been worn.

No foot has been inside of 'em.

Brand new.

You could still lick the bottom if you want.

You got your Jordan heads.

You know, you got your LeBron fans, you got your Nike fans, and nobody's over here killing you on the price too.

That's one thing, 'cause you'll get some guys on eBay that charge you $675 for these or something like that.

- Value goes up.

Value goes down.

You've seen the lifestyle today.

It's craziness.

- Why not collect shoes?

You get to wear 'em and show 'em off.

It's something cool to have.

- My grandson's been wanting to come to a Sneaker Con for many years.

He bought, sold, and traded.

He did everything.

It was extraordinary.

- You get to buying the shoes and you wanna wear 'em.

Oh, yeah, it's addictive.

It's addictive.

- I did sleep overnight for almost 18 hours at a store.

I didn't even get a pair.

They sold out.

(upbeat music) - [Will] You'll have to go to Northern Vermont to see the work of 19th-century artist John Hampson, but it might be worth the trip when you find out that, instead of paint, Hampson used bugs, thousands and thousands of dead bugs.

(upbeat music continues) Hello.

- Hi.

- What is your name?

- I'm Adam Kane, the director of the Fairbanks Museum.

- Adam Kane.

That's biblical.

Any relation to Eve and Able?

- [Adam] No, but I can tell you my middle name is Isaac.

- You know what we're here to see, don't you?

- I do.

You're here to see the amazing bug art.

- Bug art.

Art made from bugs.

- Art made from not just bugs, but thousands upon thousands and thousands of bugs.

- Adam, what year did John Hampson start making the bug art?

- He started in the 1870s.

Each piece that he made took three or four years to collect all the bugs and then meticulously pin them or glue them.

- Where did he get his bugs?

Did he have a bug guy?

- No.

He was the bug guy.

No, he walked for miles and miles every day with a net and a little bottle of cyanide.

- Here's a big bug, but here is the bug art, right?

- This is the bug art.

Between 6,000 and 13,000 individual bugs on each one of these.

- How many different types of bugs did he use?

- It ranges from some of the simple ones are four or five.

The more complicated ones are 10 or 12.

- Beetles, flies, moths.

- Yeah, a lot of moths.

A lot of the background that you see are moths.

- [Will] A lot of bugs died to make these paintings.

Let's be honest.

- It was a lot.

- He was a very patriotic guy, apparently.

- [Adam] Absolutely.

- [Will] Even though he was not born in America.

- [Adam] That's correct.

- He's English.

- He's English.

- Here, we have General Pershing.

- [Adam] General Pershing.

We have General Washington.

- [Will] Is it a cannon?

- [Adam] That is absolutely a cannon, yes.

- [Will] And there's the balls.

- And the cannonballs.

And then this is actually my favorite one, I have to say.

This is the one that he did for himself, celebrating his 50th birthday.

- [Will] Is that July 9th?

- [Adam] Yep, July 9th.

- [Will] That's my birthday.

- [Adam] Is that right?

- Have these ever been appraised?

Do we know what they're worth?

- You know, we've never had them appraised.

You know, can you put a price tag on 50,000 insects?

- Priceless.

- Priceless.

- [Will] Is it safe to say this is the only guy that was working in this medium ever?

Did anybody else make bug art?

- There actually is, making artwork out of butterfly wings is pretty common, so there are a lot of butterflies- - That's just one bug.

- One bug, right.

- He used several.

- Yes.

- [Will] Adam, how did the Fairbanks Museum come into possession of these works of art?

- These came to the Fairbanks Museum in the early 1970s from the estate of John Hampson's daughter.

In fact, they were shopped around to museums across New England and nobody else wanted them.

- I find that hard to believe.

- Isn't it?

It's shocking, isn't it?

This is one of our most popular exhibits.

It has a cult following.

- Who's got the last laugh now?

Fairbanks Museum does.

- That's right, and, well, and I would say John Hampson.

- [Will] If you've got an itch for some bug art, the Fairbanks Museum can be found in lovely St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

(upbeat music continues) (exciting music) (exciting music continues) (exciting music continues) (lively music) It's the first railway of its kind in the world and it climbs to the top of the highest mountain in the Northeast, where it encounters some of the strongest winds recorded on Earth.

Oh, and at five miles per hour, it may be the slowest train ride you'll ever take.

(lively music continues) Elise, right?

- Yes.

- And we're at the foot of Mount Washington, waiting to take the cogwheel train to the top.

- Yes, we are.

- [Will] This is the first cogwheel train in the world, right?

- [Elise] Yeah.

- [Will] It was created here.

- [Elise] It's the first mountain-climbing railroad, and it was created in 1869.

- [Will] The original train was called Old Peppersass.

- [Elise] It is.

- How did it get the name Old Peppersass?

- It got it from the shape of the steam stack, because it looked like an old pepper sauce bottle.

- Any relation to Old Sassafras?

- No.

- [Will] Who was the guy that first thought of this whole thing?

- Sylvester Marsh, but everybody thought there's no way this'll work, 'cause there's no way you can get to the top.

- [Will] They laughed at him, didn't they?

They laughed at him.

- They did.

- And probably not a nice, pleasant laugh.

It was probably a cruel laugh.

- Yeah, probably like.

(Will cackles) Yeah, yeah.

- Like that.

- The government laughed at him, the state laughed at him, but once he was done- - [Will] They ain't laughing now.

- No, 'cause guess who had the last laugh?

'Cause we're still running, 146 years later.

(lively music continues) - The fastest winds in the world on top of Mount Washington.

- [Elise] This is the first day in about four days we've run all the way to the top because of those winds.

- Has anybody ever actually been blown right off the mountain?

- I've heard there have been a few cases of people being blown right off the mountain.

- Well, I can't wait to take the ride.

How long is the trip up?

- The trip up is about an hour.

We say an hour.

- [Tour Guide] Welcome aboard your adventure on the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

We're gonna have a great trip today, going all the way up to the summit, which is something we haven't done in a few days.

- Andy, you're our brakeman.

- Yes.

I'm the brakeman today.

I essentially serve the role of conductor, brakeman, and tour guide for the trip, but brakeman is- - You're versatile.

- Yes.

- [Will] What are the characteristics of a cog train?

What's making this thing go up the mountain like this?

- So you need two essential parts to climb the steep grades.

One is the rack in the middle part of the track here, the center piece.

- [Will] I see that.

- And that corresponds with these cog wheels, like gears or sprockets underneath both the coach, but more importantly under the locomotive that's pushing us up.

It took the help of about 300 laborers to actually build the entirety of the track system.

- [Will] How long did it take 'em?

- [Andy] It took 'em almost three years.

- [Will] We're not going too fast, Andy.

How fast can this thing go?

- [Andy] About 5 to 5.5 miles an hour, so.

- That's pathetic.

- It is a bit slow.

- [Will] What's the coldest it gets up on top of this thing?

- Record low on the top is an incredible -49 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you factor the wind chill in, you're talking -102 Fahrenheit.

- So what you're saying is I need a hat.

That's not snow we're looking at, is it?

- No, there are some patches of snow, but by and large what you're seeing is what's called rime ice, which is a condition that occurs on some of these higher-elevation mountains up here.

You have the fog or the clouds move over, it has moisture in there, and when it hits these surfaces at a very low temp, the moisture actually freeze on contact.

- I see it's also on the track itself.

Are we in any danger?

- [Andy] Not at all.

If we get too thick, these guys will brim it right off.

(lively music continues) - Hey, Nate, you're with the park service, right?

- I am.

I'm with Mount Washington State Park.

- [Will] What is the fastest wind speed recorded up here?

- 231 miles per hour.

It was recorded on April 10th, 1934.

It's the fastest ever recorded on Earth by a manned weather station.

- Mishaps on this mountain.

There have been a few.

- [Nate] There have been a number of fatalities, over 150 from hikers over the years.

- [Will] 150?

Really?

- Yep.

- You hiked up here, didn't you?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

How long did it take you?

- About two hours and a half.

- And you're from Quebec?

- Yeah.

- Huh?

- Montreal.

- You know, more than 150 people have died on this mountain.

I just wanted to let you know that.

(hikers laugh) - Okay.

- Not this year.

- No.

Not today.

- Be safe.

(Will and hiker speak in French) (lively music continues) Nate, that roof is chained down.

- Well, actually, that whole building is chained down.

This is the stage office for Mount Washington Auto Road.

- Is the idea that the thing could blow away if it wasn't chained down?

- That was the original idea when this building was built.

So, the stone structure behind us is the Tip Top House.

It's a former hotel built in 1853.

- [Will] Uh-oh.

We're going in.

- [Nate] This is the lobby in the Tip Top House, which, as you can see, is undergoing a renovation at the moment.

- [Will] They kept the lighting delightfully dim.

- [Nate] There's one bunk room where everybody slept.

- [Will] And their privacy was provided by a small curtain.

- [Nate] People slept on beds of moss.

- [Will] I think I see a little moss right there, Nate.

- [Nate] This would be the dining hall.

- Again, the ambiance is dark.

You know, Nate, I just realized the reason it's so dark in here is I've still got my sunglasses on.

- I was gonna say something to you, but- - You thought you'd just revel in my stupidity?

- I like the look.

(gentle music) - Hey, we just heard you guys.

You proposed.

- Yeah, yeah.

Just, I don't know.

- At the top of the world, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Right?

Yeah.

- There's no better place than to do it but here, so.

- And she said yes, right?

- Yep.

(lively music) - [Will] You just made it.

- Yeah.

- You just reached the top.

- I did indeed.

- And you're barely dressed.

You've got a T-shirt and shorts on, man.

- [Hiker] It's warm.

- What are you, high?

- I've been working hard.

- You are high, actually.

You are very high.

(lively music continues) (train horn toots) Elise, if somebody wants to take a trip on the cog railway, where should they go?

- Six miles from Bretton Woods at the base of Mount Washington.

(lively music continues) (upbeat music) - [Will] Coming soon on "Wild Travels," getting way too close to the residents of Gator Land, a Muhammad Ali memorabilia collection in a used car dealership, the city block in Pittsburgh that's now called Randy Land, a visit to Cleveland's "Christmas Story" house, and a creepy tour of the haunted West Virginia State Penitentiary.

♪ We've got the world by the tail ♪ - [Will] The Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show has been thrilling little girls and not so little boys for decades now, so we went behind the scenes to learn the secrets of this underwater extravaganza.

Turns out being a mermaid is no walk in the park, especially with a tail for legs.

(gentle music) Hey, John.

How are you doing?

- Hi, Will.

How are you doing?

- [Will] We're here at Weeki Wachee.

- [John] Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

That's correct.

- What does Weeki Wachee mean?

- Weeki Wachee is Native American, and it means winding river or little spring.

- It's an actual spring, isn't it?

- On a daily basis, where the aquifer is 65 feet below, 117 million gallons of water each and every day come out from the aquifer, making the Weeki Wachee River that you see behind me.

The Weeki Wachee Springs has been around since 1947.

We're one of Florida's oldest roadside attractions.

- Now, those mermaids can't go without breathing for a long time, so they created this apparatus.

It was the founder that did it, didn't he?

- Correct.

Newton Perry was an avid diver and he wanted to not really put the girls in scuba gear, so he created the self-regulated breathing air hose that we still use to this day.

It's very difficult to use.

I tried it once, and it's just something that you just can't master.

- [Will] John, you're no mermaid.

Don't even pretend to be.

- I am no mermaid and I'm not even gonna pretend to be one.

- Why no mermen, John?

No mermen.

- We have a couple of male performers, but- - [Will] They're not wearing fins.

- They're not wearing fins 'cause there's not a role for one.

Anything that inhabits the Weeki Wachee River can actually swim into the show.

Fish, turtles, otters, even the occasional alligator will come swim into the show.

- [Will] I bet the mermaids swim like frenzy, right out of the water at that point.

- You know, they're kind of used to it, but it's safe to get out of the water if there's an alligator present, absolutely.

- [Will] These are the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids.

- Hello.

- What are the requirements of being a mermaid, besides, obviously, vivacious attractiveness?

- A lot of hard swimming, like hard work.

- [Will] You gotta be a good swimmer, right?

- We don't wear weight belts, so we have to stay at a neutral buoyancy.

- Tell me how you do that.

It's breathing, right?

- Breath control.

Breath control.

You know, like if you exhale air, you sink to the bottom of a pool?

Well, you wanna keep half of it in so you can stay right where you're supposed to be.

- [Will] How long have you been a mermaid?

- On and off, since I was 18, and I'm 37 now, so.

- [Will] Wow.

- It's her first show.

- It's my first show.

- [Will] You're the newbie?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

Are you a little nervous?

- A little bit.

- [Will] Now, I haven't seen too many mermaids with glasses.

- Yeah, I'm pretty blind.

You want to try them on and see how blind I am?

- Do you wear these underwater?

- No.

- Oh.

Oh my God.

(gentle music) So, once you go down that hole, you're underwater for 30 minutes.

- Yeah.

30 to 45 minutes.

- Isn't that a little cold down there?

I mean, your body temperature probably lowers, huh?

- Yeah.

My toes are literally white.

- [Will] I think I'd be nervous just dropping into a well like this, you know?

- [Woman] You have an air hose in your hand and there's air hoses throughout it, but it's 16 feet down and 63 feet out.

- [Show Narrator] Far out in our sea, the water's as blue as the loveliest cornflower and as pure as the clearest glass, and it is deep.

Here dwell a strange and wondrous race of people.

Half human, half fish.

Let's celebrate, everyone.

(upbeat music) (audience applauds) ♪ We're not like other women ♪ Fighting traffic on the shore ♪ ♪ Tired of going shopping ♪ Living lives that are a bore - How do you do that talking underwater?

I would think the water would rush in, and you'd, you know, drown.

- Yeah.

It's a lot of practice.

After a few times, you just get it.

It's just like talking.

You just can't inhale the water.

- It's kinda in your mouth like this, and you're talking like that.

♪ We're gonna dance, we're gonna sing ♪ ♪ We're gonna cross the water swimming ♪ ♪ It's a party ♪ We're gonna dance, we're gonna sing ♪ ♪ Celebration ♪ We're gonna make the waters ring ♪ - [Will] Really, you gotta time yourself so you can get to the next breathing tube without choking or something.

- It really is important to.

- [Mermaid] We carry them with us.

We'll carry one with us.

Sometimes we drop 'em to do dolphins or we'll do Ferris wheels.

You'll see us drop them a lot of the time, but, for the majority of the time, it's in our hand.

- Hang on to that darn thing.

That's your lifeline.

- [Mermaids] Introducing our sister, the Little Mermaid.

- [Show Narrator] As she nears the surface, something strange and unexpected happens.

(lively music) But they are very different.

(dramatic music) (exciting music) - Foolish creatures, why do you persist?

(uplifting music) (audience applauds) - That show involved some of the best underwater acting I've ever seen.

- These girls are top-notch professionals.

- [Will] It's the only underwater acting I've ever seen, John.

- Well, when you see others, nothing will compare.

♪ The tail - John, if somebody wants to come and enjoy the Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show, where should they go?

- We are located just 45 minutes due north of Tampa.

- Let's hold our breath.

♪ Tail (lively music) (lively music continues) - [Will] We're always looking for new destinations, the wilder the better, so if you've got an idea for our show, let us know, and thanks for watching.

(lively music continues) (upbeat music) - [Announcer 1] "Wild Travels" is made possible in part by Alaska Railroad, providing year-round transportation to many Alaska destinations, traversing nearly 500 miles of wild landscapes between Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and more.

AlaskaRailroad.com.

By American Road Magazine.

Get your kicks on Route 66 and everywhere else a two-lane highway can take you.

American Road Magazine fuels your road trip dreams, and by.

- [Announcer 2] It's a wild world.

Take care out there.

Wear a life jacket, paddling or boating.

Learn more you otter do to keep you and the planet safe at mthoodterritory.com/otterdo.

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