Vermont

This past weekend I went to visit Matt, a good friend who recently moved to Burlington, Vermont. I took quite a few pictures, and Matt posted shots of our hike on his site. Anya unfortunately had to stay in Seattle, but I think she had fun without me around (although she's too nice to admit it).

Matt and I took advantage of gorgeous weather on Friday to climb Mount Hunger, a 3600' hump in the Green Mountains with spectacular views. After a leg-burning hike through birch and spruce forests (and some scrambling over icy rocks near the top), we were rewarded with a perfectly sunny and almost wind-free view from the top. From there we could see nearby Mount Mansfield (Vermont's tallest) and the Stowe ski area on its flanks. In the east we could see across Vermont to New Hampshire's Presidential Range, including snow-covered Mt Washington - New England's highest peak. To our west was a great panorama of New York's Adirondack Mountains. After our hike we walked around Stowe, which despite the large ski area has maintained its quaint New England village feel.

Back in Burlington on Saturday, Matt showed me around the University of Vermont (where he's doing his Master's in Special Education). The campus is spread across the top of a broad hill with great views in all directions. The campus, with its old, oversized red-brick buildings felt a lot bigger than you would expect of a school with only 12,000 students.

We then walked around downtown Burlington, which is centered around pedestrian-only Church Street. It's a lively place with many shops, restaurants, bars, etc.; the many transplants from Boston and New York also means that there are a lot more options for good food & drink than would typically be available in a town of only 40,000 people (fun fact: Burlington is Vermont's largest city, but it's the smallest 'largest city' of any state).

It was a great weekend; it was a lot of fun visiting with Matt and getting to see his new surroundings. Burlington is cute and is a nice place to visit.

To finish, I'll just comment on some Vermont stereotypes:
- Maple syrup: yep, there's a lot of it and they seem proud of it
- Cheddar cheese: yes, and Vermont's cows have much more scenic beauty than their Wisconsin counterparts
- Beautiful fall colors: probably, although I missed the best of it
- Mean East Coast people: Not true, Vermonters are actually quite friendly
- Ben & Jerry's: Nobody goes there since they sold out to Unilever