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As some of you know, I've recently (as in 4 weeks ago) started running again for the first time in nearly a decade. While looking for motivation I was lucky enough to discover @alrunninghappy, the Instagram page for Andrea Löw; Munich based PhD, historian, runner, traveler, and creator of the super inspiring (and German) Running Happy.
This is Andrea. Her feed is one of the best things to happen on Instagram. Follow her at @alrunninghappy.
Andrea spent ten days in Vermont this past October and was kind enough to share all the details with us. Get ready to Run Happy on this latest Trip Tour!
I visited Burlington for a Symposium at the The Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies at University of Vermont and as I had another conference in the US less than two weeks afterwards, I was lucky enough to be invited to stay in Burlington for the ten days between my two conferences.
Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain. Photo courtesy of Hilton.com
I stayed the first four nights in the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain, which is especially nice as it is almost directly at Lake Champlain. I really enjoyed my morning runs there, taking the Bike Path north, I ran a few 10K's and even ran a few meters directly on a beach at the lake. Even after I moved to another place in Burlington, I still would come down to the lake for my runs as I really enjoyed the scenery.
The beautiful Lake Champlain scenery. Photo courtesy of Andrea Löw.
After my four nights at the Hilton I moved to one of the nicest apartments in town for another eight nights, a one bedroom Airbnb hosted by Judith. It was beautifully equipped and with a fireplace. As I was not really lucky with the weather during my stay (two sunny days altogether, the rest was rainy/snowy and cold), I was really happy to spend some of my evenings with a glass of wine in front of this wonderful fireplace – sorry to all Vermonters, I had Cabernet Sauvignon from California…(Comment from Weekends Around: WE DON'T BLAME YOU!) Judith and Marc, the hosts, are just wonderful, you´ll feel at home while staying in their extraordinary apartment.
I spent most days working on some lectures, so I was sitting at my desk at UVM – but during the weekends I had some time to explore. As I was here in mid/late October I still got to see the foliage – I simply loved all these colours and took quite a lot of pictures of trees. One day I just walked around in Burlington itself, another day a colleague of mine took me to Shelburne Farms where we had a very nice long walk, again to the lake, but also through a beautiful forest.
 photo credit Shelburne Farms
Two things I did not really know Vermont is famous for and that I loved from the very beginning of my stay: you have really good beer here and really good cheese!!!
Shelburne Farms produces really good cheese, and my favourite own was “Tractor Cheese” – I still don´t really know what the name comes from, but I liked it a lot. I tried all kinds of Cheddar, but also some really good goat cheese.
Talking about beer – I tried several of the IPAs, I really like these. I had really good beer and even better food at The Farm House, a gastropub located in Downtown Burlington. If you come here on a Friday or Saturday, expect to wait 30 to 60 minutes for a table – but this does not matter at all, because you spend this time downstairs in a great bar trying some of the beer. The burgers are just fantastic and most of the products are grown, raised, and produced in Vermont.
photo courtesy of farmhousetg.com
Talking about eating and drinking… since my first visit to the USA (some 27 years ago….), I am a big fan of Ben & Jerry´s. Being in Burlington, I had to visit their shop on Church Street, even if it was too cold for me to actually eat ice-cream. I had a wonderful hot Chocolate instead.
Church Street is such a nice street to walk around, do some shopping and eat and drink.
My favourite store on Church Street definitely was the Outdoor Gear Exchange – I did some serious shopping there (running and hiking clothes), they have everything you might need for your outdoor adventures and they have amazing sales and you can get used products there. I came out of this store with a huuuuge bag of new clothes. Afterwards I needed a break and just opposite, also on Church Street, is the Uncommon Ground, where you´ll have your delicious coffee sitting at the window and watching people passing by. I could have stayed there for hours… As a runner, I had to leave Burlington for on Sunday, I could not help it – I found out about theNor’witch Halloween 13.1/26.2/50 k. That was such a beautifully organized running event! I ran the marathon (the organizers said something about the course being “hilly” , only after I signed up I realized, that it had more than 3000 feet ascent and descent…) – I loved the event! And it even stopped raining while we were running! I simply fell in love with Burlington/Vermont. I like the city, I like the people – everything is so relaxed, everybody is so friendly. I enjoyed my stay a lot, I definitely will come back. 
Andrea running the Nor'witch marathon. photo credit @alrunninghappy
Thank you, Andrea, for this inspiring and wonderful Trip Tour! Burlington really does offer the best of city life and country life and is well worth a Weekend Around! Be sure to check out Andrea at @alrunninghappy and Running Happy.
2 Comments
Kathy
11/8/2018 03:04:18 pm
Yay, Vermont! Leave a Reply. |
