[iman]

If your moving to vermont Burlington is by far the best city to relocate to. It has 4 great colleges, cafes, bookstores, natural grocers, hemp shops, and anything you could possibly want!!!!!!!

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by iman

If your moving to vermont Burlington is by far the best city to relocate to. It has 4 great colleges, cafes, bookstores, natural grocers, hemp shops, and anything you could possibly want!!!!!!!

I agree with you IMAN. We may have somewhat different reasons for it, but we share a love for Burlington.

Having recently turned 50, I can tell you Burlington was always an interesting town, but has changed (mostly for the better I think) dramatically over the recent years.

Burlington now has a gorgeous Waterfront Park, with a children's hands-on science museum, a boardwalk, a municipal boathouse and an extraordinary Bike Path. But as recently as about 15 years ago - that waterfront was mere weeds and railroad tracks. Burlington now has a pedestrian main street full of sidewalk cafes and trendy shops. But not too long ago there were cars and parking meters and the local kids cruising up and down the street. Leunigs restaurant was an A & W. One of the trendy boutiques was a hardware store. You get the idea…

Here are a few of my favorite things (about Burlington...and VT)

1) It's only a short trip to Vermont from Burlington.

;-)

2) It's very pedestrian-friendly, and the traffic is manageable when you do drive.

3) There's a rather dizzying amount of performing arts activity here. The Flynn Center, Nectars, Higher Ground, and all the other local clubs are just part of the picture: did you know, for instance, that VT was the first State in the nation to create a Symphony Orchestra with an act of it's legislature? There's also the free concert series in Battery Park, The Mozart Festival, The Champlain Valley Folk Festival, Flynnspace, The Lane Series, The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and so on. It's endless.

4) The rest of the arts scene: The new Waterfront Theatre, The South End Art Hop, and the various galleries and museums are good examples of this.

5) The sustainable agriculture/value-added food/intervale/artisanal wine cheese, bread makers etc who have emerged in the wake of Ben and Jerrys are doing an amazing thing. Many local restaurants advertise their ties with local food purveyors and everybody seems to benefit. In the 5o's IBM seemed like the model for economic growth and industry. Now there's the whole Vermont Products world. VT has more artisan cheese makers per capita than any other state in the nation. And we have breweries and wineries and bakeries springing up seemingly after every rain like mushrooms.

6) There are 4 major destination ski/snowboard resorts within an hour drive. And then there's Jay Peak, which is a little farther and worth every mile.

7) The Bike Path and waterfront (s). It's possible to start in downtown Burlington and ride INTO Malletts Bay on The Colchester Causeway. The causeway is an old railroad trestle which allows you to ride your bike a mile INTO the lake on a 15 foot wide bike path. It's like going sailing, but you're on your bike - or on foot.

8) Montreal Canada is an hour and three quarters North. I drive through the Champlain Islands on the back roads and reliably get there or back in less than 2 hours. Anybody who gets to know the city falls in love with it.

9) Boston is 3.5 hours by car. NYC is a short flight on Jet Blue.

10) There are 4 distinct seasons. Outdoor recreation is something of a civic religion here...

We have a citizen legislature, the only capitol city in the country without a McDonalds, and a US Senator who brought The Grateful Dead to the Senate dining room for Lunch.

What's not to like?

[vter]

Great posts!
I gotta crack up at the McDonalds comment though...while it may be true that Montpelier does not technically have a McD's within it's borders, there is one less than a quarter mile away from the town line in Berlin. AND, a Burger King.

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by vter

Great posts!
I gotta crack up at the McDonalds comment though...while it may be true that Montpelier does not technically have a McD's within it's borders, there is one less than a quarter mile away from the town line in Berlin. AND, a Burger King.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing vter? ;-)

VT was also the last State in the nation to get a SprawlMart (Oh how I wish it had been a Target)!

VT was the first State to outlaw slavery...er, actually, we weren't a state quite yet - but you'll often hear this said and it's sort of true...

VT is so different than any other state, we've taken to referring to other states as "America", as in "I'm making a quick trip to America - just a Sox game though...I'll be back tonight".

[vter]

I hear ya on Target!!

[sevdie]

Originally Posted by chaz longue

I agree with you IMAN. We may have somewhat different reasons for it, but we share a love for Burlington.

Having recently turned 50, I can tell you Burlington was always an interesting town, but has changed (mostly for the better I think) dramatically over the recent years.

Burlington now has a gorgeous Waterfront Park, with a children's hands-on science museum, a boardwalk, a municipal boathouse and an extraordinary Bike Path. But as recently as about 15 years ago - that waterfront was mere weeds and railroad tracks. Burlington now has a pedestrian main street full of sidewalk cafes and trendy shops. But not too long ago there were cars and parking meters and the local kids cruising up and down the street. Leunigs restaurant was an A & W. One of the trendy boutiques was a hardware store. You get the idea…

Here are a few of my favorite things (about Burlington...and VT)

1) It's only a short trip to Vermont from Burlington.

;-)

2) It's very pedestrian-friendly, and the traffic is manageable when you do drive.

3) There's a rather dizzying amount of performing arts activity here. The Flynn Center, Nectars, Higher Ground, and all the other local clubs are just part of the picture: did you know, for instance, that VT was the first State in the nation to create a Symphony Orchestra with an act of it's legislature? There's also the free concert series in Battery Park, The Mozart Festival, The Champlain Valley Folk Festival, Flynnspace, The Lane Series, The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and so on. It's endless.

4) The rest of the arts scene: The new Waterfront Theatre, The South End Art Hop, and the various galleries and museums are good examples of this.

5) The sustainable agriculture/value-added food/intervale/artisanal wine cheese, bread makers etc who have emerged in the wake of Ben and Jerrys are doing an amazing thing. Many local restaurants advertise their ties with local food purveyors and everybody seems to benefit. In the 5o's IBM seemed like the model for economic growth and industry. Now there's the whole Vermont Products world. VT has more artisan cheese makers per capita than any other state in the nation. And we have breweries and wineries and bakeries springing up seemingly after every rain like mushrooms.

6) There are 4 major destination ski/snowboard resorts within an hour drive. And then there's Jay Peak, which is a little farther and worth every mile.

7) The Bike Path and waterfront (s). It's possible to start in downtown Burlington and ride INTO Malletts Bay on The Colchester Causeway. The causeway is an old railroad trestle which allows you to ride your bike a mile INTO the lake on a 15 foot wide bike path. It's like going sailing, but you're on your bike - or on foot.

8) Montreal Canada is an hour and three quarters North. I drive through the Champlain Islands on the back roads and reliably get there or back in less than 2 hours. Anybody who gets to know the city falls in love with it.

9) Boston is 3.5 hours by car. NYC is a short flight on Jet Blue.

10) There are 4 distinct seasons. Outdoor recreation is something of a civic religion here...

We have a citizen legislature, the only capitol city in the country without a McDonalds, and a US Senator who brought The Grateful Dead to the Senate dining room for Lunch.

What's not to like?

I loved your post about Burlington. My husband and I are very much into performing arts and would love to relocate to New England. I will do some research on Burlington. Would you say it is more suburban or rural?

[sevdie]

Sounds like a cool place. The first to outlaw slavery huh? That gets points in my book.

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by sevdie

Sounds like a cool place. The first to outlaw slavery huh? That gets points in my book.

There's a museum here that's a significant Underground Railroad site.
People here are very proud of VT's traditions in this respect.
There are many important African American historical figures, even though there's haven't been to many African American Vermonters compared to other states...

[sevdie]

I'm coming to Burlington! We're planning for October and I will post about it here when I get back.

[digdug]

Am I sensing a very liberal vibe in Burlington? Hemp shops? Why does that make for a good city? First State to outlaw slavery? Um, that was very very long ago. How does that play into modern society?

Not trying to be flame bait here, just curious as I've never been to VT and would like to visit someday.