After our day of trekking through and up the mountain we decided to scale back our activities a bit and head into Burlington for the Farmers Market. On our way we decided to stop at a local shoe store to try and find some shoes better suited for hiking. My friend Phlerb was wearing what looked to be Italian made sandals after all, and my wife Karin had on Tevas. Something had to be done.
Surprisingly enough, we all ended up with new shoes. I was especially happy because they had a pair of hiking boots big enough to fit my size 15 gunboats, and more importantly that were only $49.99! What a deal.
After spending far too much time in the shoe store we headed on to what is quite possibly the biggest Farmers Market I have ever been to — it is better described as an art, craft and food market with farm fresh produce available.
Vermont is known for its Maple syrup and after sampling a few of the Dragonfly Maple syrup offering we left with three large flasks of their darker maple syrup. We also ended up trying some of the Samosa Man’s fried samosas (triangular pieces of dough with filling friend to a golden perfection) which were pretty damn tasty.
Burlington is a college town and it has that laid back college feel. As we walked around the park you couldn’t help but notice that there were dogs everywhere, people relaxing in the shade and kids running without a care in the world. It was an odd thing for me to see. In Illinois we have a deeper mistrust in the common man. Everyone is a potential kidnapper or child abuser.
Its sad to say and even admit, but its true. We live with a paranoia of the worst possible things and it seems like the most normal thing in the world. In Vermont, the lack of such feelings is disconcerting to say the least. But I digress.
Moving on, we headed to Church street which we would learn was perpetually closed to give people a place to walk, performers a place to entertain, and artisans and food purveyors a place to hawk their wares. The thing I especially liked was the alabaster church spire that rose above the din of commotion in the street. It was like a beacon calling us to it.
Along the way we stopped to play of various huge boulders strewn along the way on the sidewalk — the kids could not get enough of climbing on these huge rocks from its glacial past. When we were about halfway to our destination we began to hear a distant thundering of drums.
As the noise drew steadily louder Karin told me it was the 25th Anniversary Gay Pride Parade. Well all right I thought, thinking back to how wild the Chicago parade was in the past, I knew deep down that it would be watered down somewhat given the number of children present.
Never the less, I took a lot of photos which I will be sure to post when I get back home. After the parade we continued our trek to the end of the street and the kids played around in the ground level recessed spray fountains. Phil and I quietly stepped away to look in local bookstore for hidden treasures.
As the day closed we again found ourselves exhausted and ready to just chill out. After dinner we put the kids to bed and queued up Borat on the big screen. It was as Sacha would say — “Very Nice!”
Tags: Art Craft, burlington, caitlin, Child Abuser, church street, Common Man, fair, Farmers Market, Flasks, Food Market, Food Purveyors, Fresh Produce, gay pride, Golden Perfection, Gunboats, hannah, Hiking Boots, Kidnapper, Maple Syrup, maverick, Mistrust, New Shoes, parade, phil, shanin, Shoe Store, Triangular Pieces, vermont, Vermont Adventure, Wares, Wife KarinYou must be logged in to post a comment.
