Day 12: The Green Mountain State

Kim had put the girls to sleep in bed with her (I think), so I wasn't disturbed at all in the morning.  So thoughtful! :-)  We all did get up pretty early though to pack up the girls who were staying with Kim's parents while she and Dennis were in CA.  [Kim's parents, the Rowes, live just across the lake -- as the crow flies -- still on the NY side of Lake Champlain, but we had about a 20-minute drive back across the peninsula to the mainland and then a little south on the lake.]  And Dunkin Donuts for breakfast as we were running a little later than we originally wanted.  :-)

After a few minutes with the Rowes, Kim said good-bye to the girls while they were occupied with grandpa and then we were on the road again.  Kim was riding with me across the lake on the ferry and then into the Burlington airport so that we could have some more time together.  On her return, her sister was going to pick her up in Burlington and she'd take the ferry back over.  This was the first time I'd ever driven onto a ferry, and it was easy.  The guys working on the boats might look like a bunch of slackers, but they really know what they are doing, and are pretty efficient!  :-)

After dropping Kim off at the airport, I headed into the town of Burlington and my destination for lunch, the Skinny Pancake!  A fabulous crepe place on Lake Road.

The line was pretty long, and the service is not actually what you call efficient, but very friendly, and gives you time to read the gigantic menu written on chalkboards above the counter.  And gave me time to change my mind several times.....  Let's see, do I really want breakfast?  and have a crepe with eggs and cheese and mushrooms and spinach?  or maybe an all-veggie one?  Or a sweet breakfast with nutella and strawberries?  what about eggs and bacon and a crepe on the side?  Or stick with lunch and have the chicken and mushroom crepe?  Hmmmmm....  I ended up with a "Johnny crepe", a cornmeal crepe stuffed with BBQ pulled pork and cheese, and served with a root veggie coleslaw. Yum!!!  I did manage to snag a table outside, so powered up the laptop to check email and look up some things I wanted to do in Burlington, while I waited on my food.  Well worth the wait, it was fabulous!!

Kim had been nice enough to call her sister and ask her for spa recommendations in Burlington.  At this point, I've been driving a lot, and could use a good massage, so I looked up the places that were recommended.  And I also checked out the geography of the Church Street pedestrian mall (where to park?) and the hours for the bar I wanted to go to that night (Nectar's).  After leaving the Skinny Pancake, I did wander along the lake walking path for a while, and sat down in the grass and soaked up some sun for a few minutes.  But I had my laptop with me, not my book, and I was afraid that I would actually fall asleep if I sat for more than a few minutes.  :-)

I then went back to my car and parked near Church Street for some window-shopping as well as some actual shopping.  They had a "Life Is Good" store, and that's one of my weaknesses, so I had to visit there, plus some of the Vermont stores (gotta' get my Christmas ornament!).  I also browsed a few clothing stores, but remember that I'm actually unemployed and shouldn't be spending a lot of $$ on things I don't need.  [Like I need another "Life is Good" tshirt.......  Oh well!]

They had these painted cows all up and down the pedestrian mall.  This one was done by Ben and Jerry's and was outside the B&J store.  [go figure!]  I was going to get some ice cream while wandering, but when I went in, seemed as though the entire population of Montreal had gotten there just before me, and the line snaked around several times within the store itself full of French-speakers translating the flavors.  I decided that I'd wait on the ice cream.  [and no, I never got any, so I left Vermont with no B&J.]

Realizing that if I had any hope of staying awake that evening for my plans at Nectar's, I decided to go check in at my hotel (a Quality Inn in Shelburne about 4 miles south), take a nap and a shower, and then come back out.  And I felt like a whole new person after!  [maybe I should have fit in that massage as well!]

I went back to the pedestrian mall area for dinner -- great recommendations and superb people-watching.  I had dinner (outside) at an Irish pub called Ri Ra.  A nice glass of sauvignon blanc, an okay potato soup, and then a phenomenal grilled salmon club sandwich (who knew that grilled salmon, tomato and bacon would be so yummy together???).  Inside of regular fries, I had "chips and curry" which meant fries with a curry dipping sauce.  Not sure it was the best choice with the grilled salmon, but really good anyway.  The live music started up in all the bars restaurants up and down this stretch of Church Street, and it was a beautiful evening.

After dinner, I went around the corner to Nectar's.  They are known for their gravy fries, but I was stuffed and there was no way I was having any more fries!

So I go in, and the first band is about to start (one guy on guitar, so do you call that a band?), but the place is pretty empty.  And it's divided into two spaces really -- one side is more lounging and pool tables, with a bar; and the other side is more a bar and music venue.  So I sit at the bar (on the music side) and order a drink and then tell the bartender (Dorsey) that I also need to buy a tshirt.  She says that the manager has just left with the key to the merchandise cabinet, but that he'll be back by 9pm.  Okay, so I settle in.

I'm people-watching, talking to a few people and Dorsey, listening to the guy (Lionel Thompson maybe?) and his guitar and watching a group in a corner set up for a high school reunion (that's just weird to me, and they all get nametags with pictures of themselves from their high school yearbooks).  It's around 8:40pm when Dorsey comes over to me and says that my drinks are on the house because I've sat there almost two hours, and her manager just got back and reminded her that they've lost the key to the merchandise cabinet (for two weeks now) and don't have any way to get into it.
I stayed for the start of the next band, but didn't really like them that much, and wanted to get to bed relatively early as I was getting up early to head to the Finger Lakes region of NY for a weekend of wine tasting!  :-)  Headed on back to the Quality Inn and bedtime!