Burlington & Grand Isle, VT

As the day before had finished beautifully the next day we woke up to the same beautiful weather. The sun was shining, birds were singing and the white caps of the lake were gone, replaced by glass still water. Today we were pretty excited because we were going to go touring for the first time. We got up, put the bed up and back to the couch in the van and we were off to our first town, Burlington, VT.

Neither Julie nor I had ever been to Burlington before so we were not so sure what to expect. What we found was a small, vibrant cosmopolitan city. Burlington is more or less a well off college town with the University of Vermont giving the town its young, hip & hippy vibes and attitude. We started our tour in the morning in the center of town in search of a good cup of coffee. We found it on the pedestrian only Church Street at Uncommon Grounds Coffee. We then strolled down Church Street which was just coming to life. The pedestrian only area covers 4 blocks of non-stop shops and restaurants. This was surprising for us that this was here considering the size of Burlington.

After walking down Church Street with our coffee’s for a bit longer we were in search of a visitors center to find out what exactly it was that we should be looking to do in this town. After getting directions from some friendly police officers we found it a few blocks away. In talking with the front desk agent we were told the two biggest things in Burlington were the Church street area (which we had just walked down) and the Burlington waterfront. We were also told to try a maple creamee, which is a soft serve vanilla-maple flavor soft serve ice cream.

After turning the corner from the visitor’s center and starting our walk down the hill we found a restaurant overlooking Burlington bay, which sold creamees. We ordered one and sat down to try it and take in the spectacular view. The maple creamee was pretty good and worth the small price but what was really amazing was the view. In front of us on this beautifully sunny day sat Lake Champlain with ferries headed across to NY and peaks of the eastern Adirondack Mountains beyond that. It was really an incredible sight.

After finishing our ice cream we headed down to the park. The city of Burlington has really done a great job investing in their waterfront. Heavy industry is kept at an absolute minimum and what they have left is mostly parkland for all their citizens to enjoy. We strolled along the park watching parents with a bubble maker make bubbles for their children, college kids playing frisbee and sat down for a bit to watch kids at a skate park. This was all with beautiful Lake Champlain in the background.

By this time we were starting to get hungry for lunch so we started our stroll back up the hill and ended up back on Church Street. We ended up at a French-American bistro called Leunig’s Bistro. We got the last seating before their lunch ended. We were lucky that we did as I was able to enjoy duck taco’s while Julie ate cauliflower risotto which she loved. Two thumbs up for Leunig’s from us! From downtown Burlington we got back into our van, which Julie has now named “Bubbles” as she is champagne colored and we headed to South Burlington, which is home to the Magic Hat Brewery. Magic Hat is definitely a product of Burlington’s hip/hippy culture as the vibe and artwork inside were somewhere close to a New Orleans/Jazz Festival/Vermont mash up. While we thought it was pretty crazy inside we still enjoyed their beer. It’s hard to dislike Magic Hat’s #9.

At this point it was getting close to 5pm and we wanted to make it back to Grand Isle, which was about 30 min north so we could enjoy some of our campsite and make a great camp dinner. We said adios to Magic Hat and the city of Burlington, which we loved. We will be back for sure.

We woke up to another beautiful day at our campsite on Grand Isle and had decided to spend the entire day on the island. We had noticed signs for a winery the day (Snow Farm Vineyard & Winery) before and decided that it was a good destination to aim for. Our campground was located in the middle of the island so we thought that the winery could not be more than 5 to 6 miles away. We took the bikes off the bike rack, made sure that the tire pressure was correct in all tires and we were off. As soon as we reached the main road from the campground the wind hit us. While it was a beautiful day with minimal wind a few thousand feet away, now it was still beautiful and sunny but with a 20mph headwind coming at us. Still we pushed on though. We rode past summer cottages and houses on our right side overlooking the lake and farms and pastures on our left with the occasional cow or bull staring at us as we rode by. We had to stop a few times on the way not only to take pictures because the scenery was beautiful but because the wind was difficult to pedal against. Finally though after passing what seemed like the 100th bend in the road the winery appeared. A single building with vineyards in the background, it appeared to look like a painting as we rode closer.

The inside of the building was small and quaint as we sat down for our tasting. Every now and then a high school senior would pop in to use the bathroom. We found out that one of the high schools in the area was doing an 11-mile walk as a fundraiser for a charity. We thought it was pretty neat and a long walk as well. The wines turned out to be excellent. We decided on a bottle and was told that there were picnic tables out in the vineyard so we took the bottle, some glasses and headed out. We each had a glass and admired the views. We could still not believe that we were here on a random Wednesday afternoon in May just thinking that a short 3 weeks prior we were in our office cubes in Rochester trying to imagine what the trip was going to be like. After hanging out in the vineyard for an hour or so it was time to ride back to the campground. We put the wine bottle in one of our bike water bottle holders and rode back to the campground. By this time the wind had died down which made the ride back a breeze.

Back at the campground we wanted to enjoy our last night at Lake Champlain. We made dinner outdoors, watched the sunset and enjoyed each other’s company. It was a great first destination.