Tour de Northeast Part 3 Burlington and New York

After spending our first day in Burlington celebrating the wedding of my college friend, and the evening reminiscing with a group of my friends and their spouses, we spent a quiet evening at the Hartwell House B and B.  My college roommate found the place and when she told me it had 2 guest rooms and the other was still available, I figured it would be fun to so relive our college days "living together."  This time, however, we had our own rooms and didn't have to share a bathroom with 20 other girls!!  

Between the heat, traveling, and being up and about all day, my cold was worse and I finally broke down and got a night-time sleep aid so I could rest.  I did feel more rested in the morning, but unfortunately, my cold didn't feel better.

After a delicious breakfast made and served by our host at the B and B, and enjoyed with my friend and her husband, Colin and I packed up the car and spent the rest of the morning and middle part of the day checking out our favorite places in Burlington and looking for new spots.  Here are a few of our old favorites:

Late night pizza and wings at Manhattan Pizza and 

one of Colin's favorite food spots - Ali Kabob's - right next to it.

Our "first date" was at the Red Onion on March 14, 2001!

Church Street is always packed on the weekends in the summer - 

too bad college months are in the winter!

Promenading on the waterfront

After walking around downtown, we took a quick driving tour through UVM's campus. In 2008, we brought our bicycles up to Burlington from NYC (this was before I started blogging) and rode through most of campus, checking out many of the renovations that were done after we graduated.  At that time, there were some beautiful new dorms on East Campus, a brand new student center, and new athletic facilities.  As we rode around, Colin found a structure on campus that looked like a design he created for one of his classes. And I found my name on a plaque in the new student center. It was quite an adventure!!

During our drive this time, we were unimpressed with another new dorm building, the Redstone Lofts, located behind Simpson Hall. The image online doesn't make it look so bad, but in person the view was hideous and not consistent with the rest of UVM's brick and green color scheme. We also found ourselves very frustrated trying to navigate out of the dorm and gym area with the car. We were turned around in circles a few times with one-way streets. I can't imagine what it is like to get around when students are around, or worse, during a hockey game! Since our time was running short, we didn't get to walk, or drive, around main campus, though I would have loved to see the updates around the student center. The building was finished when we visited in 2008, but much of the area around the building (including my former nutrition building), were under construction.

A structure on campus that resembles one Colin drew for his class

The new student center on Main Street

The plaque in the student center with my name on it!

Heading to Colin's parent's house, located just north of Albany, NY, we decided to take the ferry across Lake Champlain at Charlotte, VT.  This was a common trip for us, especially during my junior year when Colin took a year between college and law school and lived at home.  During this trip, we enjoyed the view of the mountains to the west (New York) and the mountains we were leaving behind to the west (Vermont). A rain cloud passed north of us, looking like it was headed to Burlington, and thankfully, we remained dry.  

Ferry Crossing at Charlotte, VT - looking over to New York

Before leaving Burlington, we decided to order food "to-go" from the local, sustainable restaurant The Farmhouse Tap and Grill, a new restaurant.  Our order included the local, grass fed burger and the veggie burger (their menu changes often).  Both items were very good, but our dining experience was less than optimal.  On the ferry, I had to keep the food on my lap since we didn't have a table, and the wind kept catching pieces of my meal!  

The Farmhouse burger, enjoyed on the ferry

Once on the New York side of the lake, drove about 30 minutes north to Willsboro, New York, an area where Colin's family has spent years vacationing.  In the 11 years we have been together, I've spent a few long weekends with Colin and his family in Willsboro and it's always nice to see and hear about the joyous memories of Colin's youth and make memories of our own. One year, we water skied in Willsboro Bay.  It was my first time, and I actually got up.  It was a lot of fun, but I do remember the water being pretty cold!!

As we drove up to Willsboro, we noticed how deserted the downtown area looked with the small IGA (grocery store) closed up.  We made our way to one of our usual spots, known as "the point" and enjoyed a beautiful view of the bay, mountains, and Burlington across the lake.  

Photo taken on a trip to "the point" back in August 2008

From Willsboro, Colin drove the 2.5 hours south to his parent's house. There, we were greeted by the whole family and enjoyed a nice Italian dinner, a tradition Colin refers to as "Meatball Sunday."  We spent a quiet evening with the family and I was grateful to relax.  Unfortunately, my cold did not get better as the day progressed, but the worst appeared to remain behind me.  The opportunity to rest that evening and sleep in on Monday left me feeling better for the last day of the trip.

Stay tuned as we make our way to Boston for the final leg of our tour!

What do you do when you are feeling under the weather while traveling, but have a packed itinerary?


For the UVMers who read the blog, what campus updates must we see the next time we visit?