Back from blogging dry spell with a shallow post

Burlington, Vermont - July 4 Recap

Just a bit of a catch up post for last weekend - July 4.

Five and a half hour flight to Boston. And then a three and a half hour drive to Burlington. Sure, the circulation in my legs took a beating, but I saved like $500 on JetBlue! Which, I'm sure I could have saved even more had I been slightly responsible and booked earlier, but where's the fun in that?

So Kevin and I went to visit our good friend Zach at his sister's place in Burlington. It was a Yahoo! Finance peon reunion! We went running - twice. Swimming in Lake Champlaign (in which supposedly Champy, Mr. Ness' cousin resides) - twice! And ate Vermont Sandwich Company sandwiches - twice. Zach and Kevin each got sandwiches on house-baked grinder rolls that were like over a foot long so we saved some for lunch the next day. It was a perfect weekend. Lazy, warm, summery. Just the way July 4th should be.

I had very few expectations for what Burlington would be like. Aside from the coat factory, ben and jerry's and cheese, Burlington, and Vermont were just estremely far north and far east places to me.

First impressions:

- Lots of white people. In comparison to California, there's definitely a relative lack of diversity. I think I saw a whole 6 black people in our 4 days there. And every asian was definitely a tourist from overseas. Why is it that I notice these things? Maybe I'm racist, maybe I just feel like I didn't fit in some strange way. Maybe I'm being stupidly self-conscious. Either way, it's not like people there were mean, so maybe it's all in my head.

- Very crunchy. Biking trails, the lake, and not one but two outdoor stores were in the middle of town. There was one co-op grocery store in town - Onion River City Market. Kinda like Whole Foods crossed with Rainbow Grocer, except everything was as expensive as Whole Foods without the pre-cooked food section.

- Lots of mosquitos. I think I got about seven bites on my legs in the course of one night, watching the fireworks. Those Tiki torch lamp things don't work. Neither does non-DDT bug repellant. The buggers come out at night and feast.

- Beautiful old buildings, lots of brick, lots of columns, small antique-looking windows are everywhere. And the best thing is that they will house the most normal of businesses - like dentists, candy stores, Banana Repulic. There's a sense of history. Burlington used to be a big center of trade on Lake Champlain - between Vermont and New York. Not so much now, but it was definitely a bustling cosmopolitain city. I think I annoyed Zach with all my questions: "What's that?" "Where's that from?" I hope he had fun making up the answers.

- College town. UVM (Univeristy of Vermont) brings lots of young people to Burlington. The people out and about on the pedestrian promenade were clearly of an age and social mentality that I left behind a few years ago. Not to criticize them, but wow, we used to try so hard.

But I think it's wonderful to have a weekend where we made homemade pizza, watched the fireworks, and played Trivial Pursuit - 90s Edition. Just a warning - I'm horrible at trivia, and at naming state capitals. Did you know what Robert Van Winkle's stage name was? See? I'm terrible!