Biking and Hiking in Burlington

 12 June 2022

Today was our only full day in Burlington. Last night we decided to reserve some bikes from Local Motion to check out the bike trail Burlington has to offer. The reservation started at 10, so we were able to sleep in a bit. 

We started the day by stopping at Meyer’s Bagels for a quick breakfast. They were making the bagels in house and baked them in a wood burning oven similar to a giant pizza oven. I had a Montreal spiced bagel with Tofutti vegan cream cheese while Ross had the Intervale sandwich that came with lots of veggies and he picked a sesame and sunflower bagel. He also picked up an iced coffee. The place was packed with customers and the entrance/exit was guarded by a very handsome Saint Bernard while it was waiting for its owner inside. They made it known they were not happy to be waiting outside. So fluffy!!

After snacking our tasty food on a picnic table outside we headed to the bike shop. The shop, like everything was within walking distance from our Air BnB, so the car hasn’t moved since we arrived. We got to the shop just a few minutes past 10 and our bikes were waiting outside for us. After a quick review of the bike path we were off!

The bike path is very scenic and full of people. Walkers, runners, leisure bikers, intense bikers, roller skaters (blades, quads, speed, skate skis), and tons of dogs. The train is very popular! It was paved for about half the route, then switched to a very manageable gravel until the turn around point. The path takes you out into the Colchester Causeway and it used to be an old railroad. We had water on both sides of us and you could see the green mountains off in the distance. At the end of the trail, there is a very short ferry ride to South Hero island. We laughed at how short the ferry ride was. When we read about it we imagined a much larger gap, but it is only 200 feet gap between the path we were on and the other side. We decided not to check out the island based on how much time we had and the advice of the bike shop folks. 

After a short stop at the end of the trail, we headed back. As promised by the bike shop and one cyclist we passed, the return was much more windy while still out on the Causeway. We could definitely feel that headwind making us work harder, but once we got into the trees again, the ride was smooth sailing. About half way back we stopped at a smoothie stand that was parked at a park. We got a peanut butter chocolate smoothie and a fruit smoothie. There was some sort of men’s softball game going on, so we sat and watched a few minutes of that. There were only a few family spectators, but it was fun to watch. With smoothies giving us a little nourishment for the remainder of our ride, we headed back.

Although we had about 40 minutes left on our rental, we decided to call it a day with the bikes. A great success! We rested outside the bike shop for a few minutes before heading over to the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. It’s like a science museum/Discovery World. Ross and I have a lot of fun with interactive museums, so this was right up our alley! 

There was a special exhibit on dragons, sea creatures, and unicorns which was fun. Then we found the super interactive section. We played for at least 20 minutes trying to get a ping pong ball to follow a “create your own path” where the ball starts moving by a fan blowing air up a tube. We both had the same idea to get the ball to end up in the starting spot so it would flow in a perpetual fashion. I was very close, but never got my path to work. Ross was successful twice and I was so excited…another parent got a kick out of my child like giddiness! 

Turn the Sound OFF - Bad Audio! :(

We moved onto all the other interactive displays including using a strobe light shining down on dripping water, changing the rate of the strobe to see if you could make it look like the drops were not moving or flowing upward instead of down. AND dropping water into blowing air that made the droplets float in midair. So much fun! We should really get back to Discovery World sometime. “Kid” museums are way better than just reading about stuff in “Grown Up” museums. Bonus - the museum is a Blue Star partner, so our entry was free!

By the time we were done playing around, it was about 3 and we hadn’t eaten much for the day. One of the places on our to-do list was the Skinny Pancake. Lucky for us, it was right across the street! We got a nice comfy table outside and order a savory crepe plus some weird beet potato pancake things. The crepe was amazing, the beets….more up Ross’ alley than mine. While eating, some guy sat down a few tables over with a big Irish Wolfhound. The girls working the hostess station outside couldn’t get enough of the dog and were giving him all the love and attention. A few other servers came out to take photos with him too. Such a good dog.

Once again fueled for a few more hours, it was time to hit up Church street again to see what stores were open. Almost everything was open for a few hours, so we did some browsing. There’s all sorts of shops along Church street and plenty of music and restaurants too. Even though we had just eaten, we were both in need of a pick me up, so we popped into a coffee shop. Ross got the standard iced coffee and I got a chai latte, but added some Vermont maple syrup instead of vanilla. Apparently it is very Vermont to add maple syrup to your coffee.

One of my “goals” which was kind of a joke, but I guess not really, was to pick up some flannel from Vermont, because when I think of Vermont, I feel like everyone owns flannel. Well wouldn’t you know it, there’s a Vermont Flannel Company and they have a shop on Church street. After some debate, I am now the proud owner of a flannel hoodie I look forward to wearing all fall and winter! We spend some time in the Fjall Raven store, tried a few things on, but couldn’t pull the trigger on anything, even the discounted stuff. Great clothes, but I’m not ready for them just yet. But I did manage to get two pair of shorts from Black Diamond, which almost doubles my functional shorts collection. Hooray!

We walked the rest of Church street, found out the board game store was closed earlier than we thought, so we were just about done with this area of Burlington for the day. We weren’t quite ready to go back to our room, but also not quite ready for another small meal. We found that Arts Riot, a bar that (should have) served food was open until 9 and it was very close to our BnB. We headed back that way! 

We got rained on a little while walking, but nothing  terrible and it was refreshing too. When we got to Arts Riot they told us the kitchen was closed, but luckily there was a food truck right outside that we could order from. We picked up a beverage from the bar, I scampered off to the bathroom, and Ross grabbed a snack. The bar was about to start showing an old, crappy horror movie, Pirranah, so we enjoyed that while we snacked. We also saw a few games in the corner, so we played some Guess Who and random questions on poker chips. Ross won Guess Who (first person to three wins). 

After another long day, it was time to get back to the room, relax, and write the blog. Tomorrow we move onto Montpelier, but not before sleeping in!

Stats for the day:

Steps: 22,258

Miles Biked: 20

Giant Dog Encounters: 2+