The scenic route through upstate New York is the way we chose. Through the heart of Adirondack country. Winding roads, small town after small town, trees abound, and lakes a plenty was the view. The beauty the cool.
The constantly changing speeds combined with curves and hills was not as pleasant. It made me a tad nauseous. It made Tom extremely sick, leading to multiple pull over on narrow roads. He blamed the ills on delicious country cheese we picked up. No one bought it.
The day took much longer than anticipated but the scenery was worth the extra time. As dusk neared, we finally hit the state line and the ferry ride into Vermont.
Destination for the day achieved we decided to find a hotel in Burlington. We drove around for quite awhile searching for a place (not my favorite thing to do as I like to get hotels in advance). Finally got a room, cleaned up quickly, and headed to the Church Street Marketplace. If you've never been there, it's a section of downtown with nothing but shops, eateries, and bars. Plus part of it is sealed off so car traffic cant pass through. Personally, I love cities with this type of central area for things.
It was happening on this Friday night. The people were out in full force, especially the local college kids. I wanted to try The Farmhouse, as its known for good food and brews but when we discovered a 1.5 hour wait, we jettisoned. We ended up at a place called Ken's Pizza and a grabbed an decent pie.
After walking around a we decided to check out Vermont Brewery. Glad we did. Superb quality of beers crossed my lips with many inexpensive samplers. My favorite being the Vermont Smoked Porter.
We were all getting tired so it was time to go back to the hotel. A wise decision to sleep in was made and I awoke feeling refreshed for the first time in days. We decided to end up Portland at the end of the day (wanted to try Bar Harbor but didn't think time would permit) and thought it'd be a good idea to check for hotels. Good idea because they were few and far between. Reservation booked, it was time for a couple of other stops in Burlington.
The first stop was a kick ass liquor store. I needed to purchase some brews that I cannot get back in Indiana. Then it was off to Magic Hat Brewery for some more sampling. We were too early for the tour, but managed to sample just about every thing on tap. Cant believe how much different #9 tastes fresh out the tap. There's much more of an apricot taste not usually present in the bottles.
Having put the other guys through enough of my microbrew fixation, it was time to get some grub. We ended up back downtown, were it was even more crowded than the evening before, and ate at some sports bar. We then walked around a bit and ventured down to shores of Lake Champlain. I failed to see Champ. Disappointment ensued.
It was the middle of the afternoon and we decided to tackle the shorter five hour driving distance to Portland, Maine. If only it was that simple....
(To Be Continued)
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