Escape to Vermont
Last month I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with life and decided to take a long weekend trip to Vermont. So I took the hour flight from DC, rented a car, and drove around the State for a few days. The peaceful landscapes of Vermont and its kind inhabitants provided a warm and very welcome escape from the chaos of DC life. Vermont, one of the smallest States in the U.S., is full of farmland, kind people and lots of wondrous mountains. Its inhabitants share a hippie mentality, very tied to nature and enthusiastic to support their local community. Almost all restaurants buy meats, produce and dairy from local Vermont farms. In some restaurants, the menus even specify from which farm the meats were purchased. I love this sense of solidarity
1. My home base was the charming city of Burlington, a big university town. The heart of Burlington is Church Street, a large town center with lots of shops and restaurants and, of course, churches!
2. Here's a shot from Church Street, lots of quaint shops but also more well know stores like Urban Outfitters, GAP and a big mall in the center. Vermont's best-known company, Ben & Jerry's, is everywhere! I will write a separate post about my visit to the Ben & Jerry's factory. The city was just starting to decorate for the holidays and I'm sure Church Street is now twinkling with lots of beautiful lights.
3. In my autmum post, I explained that Vermont is perhaps the prime viewing spot for fall foliage in the States. By mid-November almost all of the trees were bare. However, on one Burlington street I was happy to see fantastic colors on a line of trees.
4. I visited a few small towns but my favorite was Stowe, Vermont. The city is about a ninety minute drive from Burlington, with huge mountains staring at you through most of the journey. Stowe, like many Vermont towns, is a popular ski destination and the local economy is supported by winter skiers and nature enthusiasts in summer and autumn. Also home to this cool covered bridge.
5. Vermont is a nature lover's dream. Peaceful streams, bike and walking trails everywhere. With the mountains also lots of hiking trails. The State is great for landscape photography. I did not have the patience or skill during this trip to do the scenery justice. Because I was traveling alone I also made quick stops in the more remote stream and wooded areas. Probably I watch too many crime shows, waiting for someone to jump out of the woods, kidnap and torture me.
6. During a day trip to Middlebury, Vermont I came across this wooded railroad running right in the middle of the town. I've always been fascinated by abandoned or remote raliroads in the middle of nowhere.
7. Why do I love Vermont? First, in the winter it is freezing there. :) Second, I've never been a big city girl, attracted to flashy things or the fast-paced lifestyle. Vermont is a reminder that simple is almost always better, at least in my mind.
In Stowe, I ate a festive Mexican restaurant. November is too early for the winter skiers to arrive so I was the only person there. My waiter explained that he lived in Vermont his whole life, but after college he thought there must be "something more", so he took a big corporate job in Los Angeles. After two months, he quit and came back to Stowe because he had no connection to the people in Los Angeles, or the hustle of corporate life. Now he runs the restaurant with his friends and they dream of moving to the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont, to live in a grand cabin in the woods. Maybe one day I will join them.
If you're ever on the East Coast, consider taking a short plane ride to explore Vermont and support the wonderful Americans and farmers in this area. I promise they will greet you with a warm smile.