Burlington, VT

 Our third and final day was spent in Burlington, located on the shore of Lake Champlain.  With a population of about 42,000, it is the largest city in VT, and it is funky, alternative, artsy, and full of college students, reminiscent of maybe Asheville, NC

Hippie watching at the Burlington common

Church Street Marketplace

A storm's comin'!

The Waterfront at Lake Champlain

 

For dinner we went to American Flatbread for pizza.  The note at the entrance promised it would be an excellent meal: "Please don't use your cell phone while in the restaurant"

Awesome flatbread pizza :o)

The hostel in Burlington. It was very unusual because the rooms were not separated by walls and doors but by curtains. It was a nice idea but also very loud!  Regardless, the hostel was impeccable, had a pile of yoga mats and blocks for guests to use, and offered Bisquick waffles for breakfast.

The next morning, before heading back to MA, we stopped at the Lake Champlain chocolate factory just south of Burlington.  They were very generous with their samples during the tour :o)

Of course, no trip to VT would be complete with a visit to a maple farm and a taste of a maple creemee (aka softserve).  The overnight storm brought surprisingly chilly temperatures (low 40s) so we didn't bother watching the informational video in their unheated sugar house.

Stowe, Vermont

Between seminars last week, Seth and I took a three night excursion to Vermont.  Besides my annual retreats to Londonderry, VT, we really haven't spent much time in this fabulous little state.  Dodging rain drops, we found plenty to do outside as well as indoors.  

Along scenic Route 100 we took a quick stop at Moss Glen Falls

A short hike through Notch Brook (near Stowe) before the evening rain

 

Some of these plants had very interesting patterns and multiple tiers

We stayed two nights in Stowe.  Being Vermont, of course there was a recreational path to jog along in the morning!

Stowe, VT

We took a nice, long morning hike at the Notch up to Sterling Pond.  It was super steep and very wet!

The mountain pond wasn't all that interesting, but it was a fun and slightly scary hike (I was afraid a thunderstorm would come along at any moment while we were scrambling on the slippery rocks!)

Wow! That is one determined tree!

To reward our hiking efforts, we indulged in some of Vermont's finest culinary treats, beginning with a tour of the Ben and Jerry's Factory!

Ben and Jerry's tour

The Flavor Graveyard

There were some classic flavors here, like chocolate peanut butter cookie dough!

Just around the corner was the Cabot Cheese Annex.  It was such a shame to be stuck inside the shop with dozens of samples during a downpour!

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

This place is known for its cider donuts :o)

A covered pedestrian bridge at Stowe

People in VT are proud of their Green Mountain Coffee!!

Our hotel.  Even with the Living Social Deal it probably wasn't worth it... 

At least the hotel has a lovely, old library to hide from the rain

Time to catch up

The summer holiday has officially begun and sadly it already ended.  My summer classes started last week, one week after my finals ended.  It was a pretty crazy year, and although I didn't post much, nothing really interesting happened outside studying for classes.  However, I'll throw in some fun pictures I missed the past couple months. 

Instead of sunny Cancun we spent a chilly Spring Break in Upstate NY visiting Seth's family and the alpaca that lives down the road.  The alpaca is on the left.

Guess what her name is?  It is Fluffy.

We had dinosaur guests for Easter (by the way, the dino kit is the coolest Easter Egg kit EVER).

Moses made his annual appearance and parted the Dino Sea

Let's fast forward a few months.  During my week off for summer break, I went down to Raleigh for some R&R and to visit Mom for Mother's Day.  I don't think I have been home on Mother's Day since I graduated from UNC 7 years ago...

While I was in town I met up with Meghan in Chapel Hill to see her trashy dress on display in a Franklin Street art gallery.  Seriously, it was made of trash, as were all the other amazingly creative dresses in the gallery. 

 

On my last day in Raleigh I went with Mom and Dad to the Got to Be NC Festival at the state fair grounds.  It really was like a mini state fair!

The Independent Labrador Competition.  These happy dogs don't need their mothers to fold their laundry and make them breakfast because they are independent, haha.

I could watch this cute little Furbee all day!

The Parade of Tractors

We stopped by the rodeo and as I waited for the horses to come out all I saw were these guys fixing the telephone pole.  It took me a little while to figure out what a lineman's rodeo is, but now I know it doesn't involve horses.

For a couple fleeting weeks in spring Prospect Hill is dotted with lovely lady slipper orchids. Although they appear is small groups as well as large packs in this park, I wonder if they are very common in other locations, too?

A rare white lady slipper

Can you see all the little pink pillows carpeting the forest floor?

Looks a bit like an alien wearing a dress

Too close for comfort

I was surprised by how long it has been since I last posted!  I haven't had much time lately, and even if I did there wasn't much to write about. This evening I found myself with a bit of extra time due to cancellations of appointments.  The cancellations were a result of the massive manhunt going on in the town just down the road.  It started with the marathon bombings Monday, which was a very sad and upsetting incident.  Yesterday the situation progressed after photos of the two suspects were released, and this morning we woke up to news on the radio that one suspect was killed overnight and the other was on the loose... in the town right just 4 miles down the road!  We were going to go running but stayed indoors as Waltham was in lockdown and we figured that even though technically we could leave the apartment, Prospect Hill would be an excellent place for someone to hide out.  We know this for a fact; a couple years ago there was an armed attacker suspected of hiding in the park while we were running and we were ushered out by heavily armed guards.

Anyways, there are reports that there are several thousand police and special forces officers from all over MA, NH, and NY in Watertown, and they made their base at the mall where I liked to go shopping :o(  The ultimate surreal experience is seeing pictures of familiar streets filled with SWAT teams and tanks on the BBC... the BBC!

Businesses in Waltham were closed and MBTA public transport was suspended.  FSU, however, was not closed (it is too far away from the excitement) so I drove in to class.  I probably should have just stayed in Framingham all day.  Walthamites (as I like to call the locals) get feisty when they are cooped up all day: the house across the street has parties and people hang out on the balcony drinking (all day into the night); there is a drunk guy right now going up and down our road shouting something; we saw at least one drug deal below our window.  Apparently people get bored when things close.  Hopefully tomorrow will be more normal.    

Nemo

After having a record low amount of snow last year, and an equally underwhelming amount again this year, we were long overdue for a good dumping this weekend.  It is hard to tell how much actually fell, but I'm going to guess 2 and 1/2 feet (though it feels more like 4 feet!).  I am not sure how the storm was given the name Nemo, but here are some pictures of its aftermath.

Our street just an hour or two before the snow began to fall

The next morning

It is funny how all you can see of the car next to Seth's is the antenna

The drifts are up to my head!

The wind blew the snow so that it accumulated very unevenly

Now where in the world do we put all this snow? (I am from the south, so questions like these naturally come to my head) 

 

We decided to go to Brandeis to get out of the house.  Seth was so desperate to work at the library that he actually shoveled his way there!

It is always good to have a guy who likes to shovel... and is highly motivated