Anyways, Here's what's up in VT:
Burlington is an amazingly hip little town in the middle of nowhere in a very sparsely populated state. Witch a population of 46,000 as of 2010, it's very easy to get to know damn near everybody in your neighborhood. Even if you are in what Vermonters like to call it's "big city," (laughable, I know.)
The great part about Burlington is that if you travel for ~3 miles in any direction, there is no one to be found for ~3 miles. If you're not where everything is, you are far away from most of the humans in this state. Fortunately though, this does not speak badly for the wonderful little nooks of Vermont I've come to know and love. Let's talk about them, shall we?
3 exits north of Burlington is an exit for rte 2, leading over to the Champlain islands. Get off the highway and make your second left onto raymond road. Keep an eye out for the Niquette bay park entrance, and be prepared to cough up $3 to enter during tourist season.
Pay your dues, park your car, and hike through the woods over to the beach. Nice little cove with some gross water chalk full of broken glass. Not that awesome, I know. If you should, however, find yourself on the beach bypass trail, you're on your way to some great cliff jumping. There's a 10 ft cliff for the novices, from which an excellent view of Camel's hump can be seen. Just beyond it, there lies a twofer! a 25-ish footer, and a big guy, a 50 footer. Will make for a great day, totally worth three bucks. One of my favorite little spots up here. More info on niquette bay state park Here.
Headed south back to Burlington, there's a few places of interest by the water, and a few bars that are totally worth anyone's time. There's Red Rock's park, which has numerous cliff jumping locations ranging from 10 ft to 76 ft. There is a rocky beach where nude sunbathing is not uncommon (bonus), and little laws seem to apply. It costs money to park on site during the tourist season -- don't be a noob, park for free at the Burton Factory down the street. People park there to ride Burton's mini ramp and bowl all the time.
If you're at Red Rocks park and are looking for the cliffs, literally just follow the signs that say "Do not jump or dive off the cliffs" and they will ironically lead you to some excellent jumping locations. BE WARNED, many areas in the Burlington area have fallen victim to the invasive species known as Zebra Muscles. Be wary, they are very very sharp little dudes that cling onto the rocks you'll find yourself climbing out of the water onto; can end up a menacing bloody mess. It's not horribly painful, but those little guys will make you bleed like you never thought possible. More info here.
Not far away is Oakledge Park, which Burlington Bros and Bro Hoes love to flock to (almost as much as the equally shitty North Beach). This place blows. It's good to grill at and watch the sunset with pals, but as far as swimming goes, I would avoid these two locations at all costs. This place and North Beach both charge out the ass for parking; it's silly. Tell your friends they are stupid for suggesting it and suggest one of my much more awesome locations instead. You'll seem like a dignified sherpa leading the many confuddled tourists to places of higher promises, which will totally deliver and you'll be glorified for it -- you're welcome.
While we're on Burlington I'll shift gears towards beer and food.
Here's where to eat:
Cheap:
Henry St. Deli. This is the best Deli in town, period. Anyone who tries to argue with an HSD veteran will find themselves drowning in a sea of false promises. HSD will give you a god damn enourmous large sub for $7. It's two meals. And I weigh 230 pounds. Trust me. It's huge. It's amazing. They also have breakfast sandwiches for under $3, which in a college town is a godsend. Really cool dudes work there, but don't show up acting like you run the place. It's busy. They'll hate you for it and could possibly contribute to a bad experience. Don't call in. Go there. Tip. Just... don't be a shitass. Go in, be a regular human and you'll get treated damn well better than the money you spent. Who could ask for more?
The Shopping Bag - Want a burger? Don't want to spend $6 or more? Go to the shopping bag. I don't care what you like on your burger; order a sizzler. There's a reason it won best burger in VT from the food network.
Bove's - Many disagree with me about this, but fuck them, this is my blog. Go there, get their lasagna, and understand why their sauce is available in retail locations throughout new england. GET NOTHING ELSE. The rest of their food is pretty meh, and contributes to their "meh" reputation.
DRINK DEALS (still on the cheap).
3 needs. This place is moving soon. It's located on College st, near Church st. (they're moving over to Pearl st. soon and will be serving food there. It's literaly about to become 3x more awesome.) This bar has HANDS DOWN the best deal for beer I've ever seen. If you know of a better one, I want to know about it.
At 3 needs, Monday - Friday, starting at 4 P.M. until the "Duff" keg kicks, exists a persuasion known as "duff hour" a la Simpsons (huge bonus points). At Duff hour, you can get a pint of whatever they have for "duff" (it is always a vermont craft brew. Almost always Otter Creek. Usually the Copper Ale) for $1. You can get 2 at a time (which makes tipping even easier on your wallet... $3 for 2 pints of a craft brew?) Hold on. That was in parentheses and you may have glazed over it. let me reiterate: TWO FUCKING PINTS OF CRAFT MICROBREWS FOR $3, AND THAT'S INCLUDING A BALLER TIP. You can't even get a 12 oz bottle of Otter Creek, or any VT microbrew, for $1. This is a pint! 16 0z. $1. Seriously, if you're reading my blog and you think you know a better deal somewhere, tell me about it, but only tell me about it if it's actually a good deal. I don't want to hear about your local watering hole that does 2 pints of PBR for a dollar or something stupid like that. That deal pales in comparison to otter creek pints for a dollar. Pales.
Finnigans - Finn's has a number of good deals. Jim Beam and Coke for $4, Vodka soda for $3, PBR pints $2 every day except Thursday, where they are just $1... It's never crowded. It's right next to 3 needs. Great times at that bar, and I recommend it to anyone with a light wallet.
Drink - Alright, I'll be honest. This is pretty much the lamest bar in town. I had a friend get kicked out for swearing. At a bar. Wtf. Still though, Go on Monday. Monday they run every one of their drink deals that they have, so if you can watch your mouth and fit in with a douchey crowd for a few amazingly priced drinks, I suggest it. On a Monday.
Still Burlington, away from the cheap:
VPB (Vermont Pub and Brewery). This place is great for one reason only: BEER GARDEN. Hang out outside and get drunk. Good times. Live music, great food, decent prices (shepherds pie for $6!). Here's the problem: They're renowned for their late brewmaster Greg Noonan, a lagering genius. Thing is, he's super dead. Totally dead. Doesn't make beers anymore. Now, all their beers are under carbonated. I don't know why Noonan's death triggered bad brewing practices, but it did. Get stouts or porters and you'll avoid this problem, as a good stout or porter needs not the vicious bite of tiny bursting bubbles on your palette to counterbalance the bitter hoppiness of their other brews. This lack of carbonation makes drinking more than 3 of their beers a chore. They're all $4 each, no deals. Do what you will.
American Flatbread - Ever seen their frozen pizza's in the grocery store? They kinda suck. Get a pizza from them. They're the best pizza in town aside from Bite Me (which is exclusively pizza), but Flatbread has the second best beer list in town. Not just for draught, but bottles, too. If this is what's turning you on, and not the pizza, I'll recommend Farmhouse Tap and Grill, which has the most amazing(ly overpriced) burgers, and hands down the best beer list in town.
The aforementioned drinkeries/eateries are all walking distance from one another, as Burlington is pretty damn small.
There's plenty more in Burlington, but it's not fair that I've lived here for 5 years and could write pages upon pages of reviews for it's services. I'll let you find Burlington's other gems, because I still want to talk a bit more about the rest of this wonderful state.
TOP 3 VT PLACES TO EAT/DRINK (provided you are not a broke-ass college kid)
1. Bobcat Cafe, Bristol VT
2. The Shed, Stowe VT
3. The Alchemist, Waterbury VT
1. Bobcat: I have gone to this restaurant at LEAST one time every month since I turned 21. It's a small pub/cafe that brews the best beers I've ever had in my life. The food is unbelievable. How does Green Chilli Avacado cheesecake sound? What about with blue corn chips and mango salsa? Oh, right, that sounds incredible. It sounds like nothing you've ever had, because you haven't. Not sold? How about Vermont venison and chorizo meatloaf, served in a ball with spicy BBQ sauce atop a pile of garlic mashed potatoes broken up with a river of tangy honey mustard. Yeah, this place has got gourmet dishes for pubfare prices. The steak - being the most expensive item on the menu - will run you $20. It is currently being served with lobster butter (Yes, that's butter with lobster in it), mashed potatoes, horseradish, and... Just.... Just go to Bobcat. Every time I take someone here I try to talk it up TOO MUCH and see if I can exceed their expectations. 2 years later and nothing but failure. This restaurant will exceed your expectations, period.
Bonus about bobcat-- it's in Bristol. A tiny little town with little else to do except.... oh, right, go cliff jumping into the mad river. No more than a mile away is my favorite swimming/cliff jumping/waterfall viewing location in the state: Bartlett falls (commonly called Bristol Falls). Info on Bartlett falls
It lies on Lincoln gap road, which leads to two excellent hikes at it's peak.
2. The shed
The shed is a popular place for rich people who buy season passes at the east coasts most expensive mountain resort: Stowe. Likewise, the shed is pricey, but damn, damn good. They have many dining rooms for all sorts of occasions, excellent beers brewed on site, and the perfect location for an endpoint after a day on the mountain.
Not far from here lies Bingham falls, the biggest most badass river cliff jumping experience I've ever found. It's on rte 108, headed through the mansfield mountain gap. Bingham
On your way from the shed to the alchemist (below) you should stop at the cold hollow mill and drink apple cider and eat cider donuts. They're pretty awesome and very inexpensive. Then go to the cabot cheese annex and eat free blocks of cheese until you feel like you won't poop for weeks.
3. The Alchemist
The least expensive of the three. No reservations, first come first serve. Relatively close to the shed. Excellent beers, and very good food for not that much money. Pretty happening little place, usually very crowded. Full of really cool art such as the bathroom doors --->While this place isn't CLOSE to any amazing swimming holes, NOT FAR from it is a place called Warren Falls. Let me explain how awesome warren falls is:
If you go to www.swimmingholes.org a website dedicated to mapping out all the swimming holes in the ENTIRE country... on the FRONT PAGE there are pictures of Warren falls because it trumps the hell out of any swimming hole you've ever been to. Beautiful location, and the water is clean enough to drink. No joke. www.swimmingholes.org
Okay, I'm getting seriously ahead of myself here. The only other place you need to check out, aside from hiking all 5 of VTs >4000ft mountains, is the Bolton Potholes. Awesome swimming hole at the foot of Bolton Mountain. Get off at the richmond exit, head towards Bolton. Get on the bolton access road. As soon as you're going uphill, you'll see cars parked on the side of the road, and they're all swimming at the potholes. Go check them out. Great fun to be had here. In fact, the picture for my blog profile is of me doing a back flip off of the Potholes tallest jumping location, ~35 ft.
Anyways, I should really have more pictures for this state, but I don't. I slacked. It'll be much more full of media when I'm on the road and have literally nothing else to do with my time.
From here, I'm headed to boston/cape cod, then off to NYC. I'm not so sure I'll be posting about Boston or the cape, we'll see what happens.
BOTTOM LINE ON VT: Move here if you're over 21 and looking for a small city with lots to do. Do not move here if you don't like winter. It lasts ~6 months.
Check back later! See you on the road!
-Skwar
