Vermont Vacation Part Uno

Here we are in gorgeous Vermont...and let me tell you...this has been a wonderful vacation so far. And it's only half over! We hopped in the car Thursday evening, and Brad, being the indomitable chronicler that he is, immediately pulled out his camera and took "The First Picture Of the Vacation: Departure" as we sat in the driveway.

And then he grabbed the map to held it up in front of us to take another picture, and then some stranger - a guest of our landlords, I guess- pulled into our driveway and parked next to us as we were smiling for that picture. I felt raaaather silly.

ANYWAY- we zoomed northwest into a spectacular sunset and made good time to Burlington. We couldn't find our hotel at first because they had CHANGED the name on us. Ah well. We are very impressed with our room - the colors, the furniture...my favorite part are the PILLOWS. I am now convinced that one should not be cheap on pillows. I'm going to go home and buy the most expensive, luxurious pillows EVER MADE. And also - the blankets. They're DOWN. As in- goose feathers.

A little sidenote: Yesterday was Brad's birthday. I got him a watch - a very special watch- one which I have been resisting for years. It's a calculator watch. The ultimate symbol of geekdom. But to show him how much I love him, I have relented and bestowed the privilege of wearing said watch. And I bought him a blogger T-shirt- with the symbol ( the demented looking B of blogspot) on it and everything.

Okay- back to vacation. After breakfasting at good old Dunkin Donuts this morning, we explored Burlington and the surrounding environs by car. The weather was beautiful. I mean- idyllic. Perfect. I wondered if we might stumble across the place where our family vacationed about um...twenty years ago- in Shelburne- right on Lake Champlain. Not that I would have really recognized it...but it was neat to think that we could have driven close to it. We drove back to the middle of Burlington and down to the waterfront. We parked and rented bikes and took off on a ride...that ended up being TWENTY MILES LONG. Yes- you read right. Twenty. 2-0. If it had been up to me, we probably would have gone about one quarter of that. But Brad looked at the map, saw a causeway that went out in the middle of the lake, and decided that we were going to the very end of it, ten miles away. So we did. It was unspeakably beautiful. But, being the flabby noodle that I am, I'm still feeling the effects of it. We had lunch at a little outdoor booth thingy after coming back to the middle of Burlington - including a dessert of Ben & Jerry's- what Vermont vacation would be complete without B & J's?!! And then I had to take a nap and relax for a few hours to recoup!! Yes, I am a wimp. We had dinner at a Chinese place...and now we are lounging around, revelling in the reality that although it feels like Saturday night, it's only Friday night.

It's just SO beautiful here. And not just weatherwise. I have to recommend this place to everyone - even if it is Vermont and anti-Bush bumperstickers on the backs of Volvos are rampant. (Actually- it's not that bad.) The lake- the mountains- the old buildings in downtown Burlington, the farm country in Shelburne- it all feeds a beauty hunger in my spirit.