(belated) travel notes: Burlington, Vermont
Ah, Burlington, Vermont! Ah, all the witty things I would have said about our time there if I'd made this post a week and a half ago! But here are the notes I can remember, and photos, too!
* First of all, big thanks and hugs to figarofigaro1 and his B (not to be confused with our B) for making our time in Burlington so much fun! Figaro (aka A) and I have been online buddies for years, but we'd only had one short in-person visit with A&B a couple of years back, so it was great to get to spend several days in each other's company, laugh a lot, and enjoy amazing food together.
* OMG FOOD: A&B are serious foodies, so they made sure we sampled some of the best restaurants the Burlington area has to offer. I expect that A will soon get around to blogging delightfully about our dining experiences, because he's good at that. My version of a restaurant review is, "We ate yummy food and it was yummy!" But I will heartily recommend everywhere we ate: American Flatbread, Penny Cluse Café, Leunig's Bistro, The Skinny Pancake, and The Kitchen Table Bistro. I say again, YUMMY!
* A shout-out to my friends the cows for making our time in Vermont so full of delicious cheese and ice cream. Oddly, I believe I only spotted one small herd of real cows while we were in Vermont. Depictions of cows were everywhere, though, as were opportunities to consume dairy products.
* Did you know that Burlington is located on a great big beautiful lake? We had a view of Lake Champlain from our hotel window, and it was great. Along the waterfront, there are swinging benches where you can sit and look at the lake, and that was great, too. It's really hard to say whether I was more enthusiastic about the lake or the food.
* Did you know that you can also admire Lake Champlain from the enormous Spirit of Ethan Allen III if at least 15 people show up by the appointed time, and that if you are the last two people to purchase tickets, you will be roundly applauded by the 13 people who have been waiting? Did you know that there will be a recorded narration on the boat, which will have very random musical selections in the background and which will invoke many snarky comments, especially after you drink the alcoholic beverages which are also available on the boat? Did you know that the most frequently asked question on the boat is supposedly "How's the fishing?" and not, as I assert, "Where's the bathroom?"? Did you know that there are 81 kinds of fish in Lake Champlain, or 82 if you count Champ, the Lake Monster? Did you care in the slightest?
* Note to travelers: If you visit Burlington between the summer season and the leaf-peeper season, there will be far fewer tourists. However, the entire city will be under construction. (If I'd known I'd want to note that, I would have taken a photo to document this fact, but at the time, I didn't find sidewalk construction picturesque enough to capture.)
* Don't worry, I have more to say about food, and drink, too. In Burlington, we visited both a chocolate factory and a beer factory. Lake Champlain Chocolates makes yummy chocolate, as well as yummy yummy ice cream. Mmm, more dairy products. "Beer factory" is perhaps not the right term for a brewery (what do I know? I don't even like beer), but it is at the Magic Hat Brewing Company, since we were visiting their Artifactory, though we didn't actually get to see the workings.
* After we left Burlington, we stopped at an ice cream factory. Ben & Jerry's, maybe you've heard of it? The factory wasn't operating, so we got to see the machines being repaired rather than producing ice cream (I'm telling you, the whole state was under construction), but we did see an informative video that told us, among other things, "What happens in the Tank Room stays in the Tank Room". Good to know.
* One of my dads had recommended taking the scenic route through Vermont on Route 100. We decided we didn't have time for that, so we took the faster route on I-89. Turns out that "scenic" is a relative term. The views from the major highway were just gorgeous. For non-scenic, please see California freeways such as much of 101. (Not that I'm knocking 280, the World's Most Beautiful Freeway.) Leaf-peeping update: On our drive through Vermont and New Hampshire on Wednesday, there were noticeably more fall colors than there had been over the weekend. Foliage happens.
* There are even more photos of our time in Vermont. Including a bunch of pictures of my feet against different backdrops, which I've decided is a travel tradition.
Notes about the rest of the week in other states will be up next... eventually.
* First of all, big thanks and hugs to figarofigaro1 and his B (not to be confused with our B) for making our time in Burlington so much fun! Figaro (aka A) and I have been online buddies for years, but we'd only had one short in-person visit with A&B a couple of years back, so it was great to get to spend several days in each other's company, laugh a lot, and enjoy amazing food together.
* OMG FOOD: A&B are serious foodies, so they made sure we sampled some of the best restaurants the Burlington area has to offer. I expect that A will soon get around to blogging delightfully about our dining experiences, because he's good at that. My version of a restaurant review is, "We ate yummy food and it was yummy!" But I will heartily recommend everywhere we ate: American Flatbread, Penny Cluse Café, Leunig's Bistro, The Skinny Pancake, and The Kitchen Table Bistro. I say again, YUMMY!
* A shout-out to my friends the cows for making our time in Vermont so full of delicious cheese and ice cream. Oddly, I believe I only spotted one small herd of real cows while we were in Vermont. Depictions of cows were everywhere, though, as were opportunities to consume dairy products.
* Did you know that Burlington is located on a great big beautiful lake? We had a view of Lake Champlain from our hotel window, and it was great. Along the waterfront, there are swinging benches where you can sit and look at the lake, and that was great, too. It's really hard to say whether I was more enthusiastic about the lake or the food.
* Did you know that you can also admire Lake Champlain from the enormous Spirit of Ethan Allen III if at least 15 people show up by the appointed time, and that if you are the last two people to purchase tickets, you will be roundly applauded by the 13 people who have been waiting? Did you know that there will be a recorded narration on the boat, which will have very random musical selections in the background and which will invoke many snarky comments, especially after you drink the alcoholic beverages which are also available on the boat? Did you know that the most frequently asked question on the boat is supposedly "How's the fishing?" and not, as I assert, "Where's the bathroom?"? Did you know that there are 81 kinds of fish in Lake Champlain, or 82 if you count Champ, the Lake Monster? Did you care in the slightest?
* Note to travelers: If you visit Burlington between the summer season and the leaf-peeper season, there will be far fewer tourists. However, the entire city will be under construction. (If I'd known I'd want to note that, I would have taken a photo to document this fact, but at the time, I didn't find sidewalk construction picturesque enough to capture.)
* Don't worry, I have more to say about food, and drink, too. In Burlington, we visited both a chocolate factory and a beer factory. Lake Champlain Chocolates makes yummy chocolate, as well as yummy yummy ice cream. Mmm, more dairy products. "Beer factory" is perhaps not the right term for a brewery (what do I know? I don't even like beer), but it is at the Magic Hat Brewing Company, since we were visiting their Artifactory, though we didn't actually get to see the workings.
* After we left Burlington, we stopped at an ice cream factory. Ben & Jerry's, maybe you've heard of it? The factory wasn't operating, so we got to see the machines being repaired rather than producing ice cream (I'm telling you, the whole state was under construction), but we did see an informative video that told us, among other things, "What happens in the Tank Room stays in the Tank Room". Good to know.
* One of my dads had recommended taking the scenic route through Vermont on Route 100. We decided we didn't have time for that, so we took the faster route on I-89. Turns out that "scenic" is a relative term. The views from the major highway were just gorgeous. For non-scenic, please see California freeways such as much of 101. (Not that I'm knocking 280, the World's Most Beautiful Freeway.) Leaf-peeping update: On our drive through Vermont and New Hampshire on Wednesday, there were noticeably more fall colors than there had been over the weekend. Foliage happens.
* There are even more photos of our time in Vermont. Including a bunch of pictures of my feet against different backdrops, which I've decided is a travel tradition.
Notes about the rest of the week in other states will be up next... eventually.