NDR: Upstate NY or Vermont Question

[mrs.jacinthe]

Anyone familiar with either/both upstate NY or Vermont (any part)?

DH has promised me that as part of our trip "back east" to visit family, we can have a whole day just for us, as an actual vacation day.

I'm thinking I'd like to spend the day just being a tourist somewhere - wandering the shops, eating a nice lunch, perhaps visiting a winery tasting room or something. We will probably need to cap the afternoon at about 3:30 or 4:00 so we have time to drive that evening to IL's house in NH.

Any suggestions of a town/area that would be fun/relaxing? H has suggested Stowe, VT and/or Burlington.

[InBetweenDays]

I went to school in Burlington at UVM. I LOVED Burlington. Tons of great cute shops and restaurants. Church Street is the main street through Burlington and is blocked off to any cars so it is easy to stroll around.

For restaurants: The Red Onion was one of my favorite places for sandwiches, Sweetwaters is just great overall American food, Nectar's (off Church Street a block or so) has great gravy fries (and is where Phish played one of their first gigs), Leunig's is a great sort of Parisian restaurant, Three Tomatoes has good pizza and Italian food, and the Vermont Pub & Brewery has great pub food (but is also off Church Street a bit).

I know you mentioned a winery, but you could try the Magic Hat brewery which is just south of Burlington. Best beer around, and unfortunately they don't sell it out here in Seattle. A good friend was just back there and said their new beer - called Elderbeer - is great.

Stowe is also very quaint. Much smaller than Burlington, but very New Englandy. We went there to ski but didn't spent much time in the town so I don't really have any recommendations.

Other things to do in the area:
Shelburne Farms/Museum
Ben & Jerry's Factory
Hike Camel's Hump or Mt. Mansfield
Stroll along the lake and look for "Champ", the Lake Champlian monster

Man, now I want to go back to Vermont!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Thanks for the Burlington recs ... we've considered Ben and Jerry's, but I'm just not 100% invested in that. Have you done the tour? Is it worth the $4 or whatever?

[tarheels]

My mom's a retired flight attendant and used to do layovers in Burlington and LOVED it. It's been 15 years and I can still remember her calling me from her hotel room at night telling me how fun the shopping was downtown and when they'd have fairs and such on the weekends and how great the restaurants were. Burlington was the only layover she was ever that excited about. DH and I really want to do Vermont someday (we wanna be leafers! Family Guy anyone? ), so it's really a no brainer for me, esp when given the alternative of upstate NY.

I have nothing kind to say about upstate NY (with which I unfortunately have a number of ties), so I will be polite and keep my mouth shut. I just don't think there's any comparison between what seems like a fabulous little town (Burlington) and the tired mill or farming towns in upstate along 87 and 90. Maaaybe Saratoga Springs, but eh, not compared to Burlington.

[Susie]

Lake Placid is a very pretty option in upstate NY. I do a lot of backpacking in the Adirondacks, so that's what I know. Saratoga Springs is nice too, but my opinion is probably slanted due to accessibility from where I live. I know people who love Burlington too.

If you're into wineries, the Finger Lakes are where I'd head (I went to college in that area), but that's a couple hours west of eastern upstate NY/Vermont. I tended to like Seneca Lake's wineries best, although Cayuga's also very good, and my favorite individual winery is on Keuka.

[tardyfortheparty]

I love Burlington and Stowe, but if I had minimal time in VT, I would skip the Ben & Jerry's tour. I thought it was overrated. We had great fun in Burlington wandering in stores and took a great cruise on Lake Champlain.

[sailorgray]

Susie - where'd you go to college?

[InBetweenDays]

Jun 12, 2012 14:08:58 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Thanks for the Burlington recs ... we've considered Ben and Jerry's, but I'm just not 100% invested in that. Have you done the tour? Is it worth the $4 or whatever?

I've done the tour but it was years ago. Like over 15 years ago. I agree with the PP. If you have a limited time it probably isn't worth it. If you had a few days maybe.

[natablue]

Jun 12, 2012 14:38:01 GMT -5 Susie said:

Lake Placid is a very pretty option in upstate NY. I do a lot of backpacking in the Adirondacks, so that's what I know. Saratoga Springs is nice too, but my opinion is probably slanted due to accessibility from where I live. I know people who love Burlington too.

If you're into wineries, the Finger Lakes are where I'd head (I went to college in that area), but that's a couple hours west of eastern upstate NY/Vermont. I tended to like Seneca Lake's wineries best, although Cayuga's also very good, and my favorite individual winery is on Keuka.

Susie, I live in the Finger Lakes! Which wineries do you like?

I didn't offer any suggestions to OP due to this area's distance from where it seems she'll be traveling.

[lolzlala]

As a lifelong Vermonter, I second the Burlington recommendation, and would reject Stowe in the summer. The B&J factory is a bit of a drive from Burlington so would skip it if you are visiting the Burlington area - plus Waterbury is a tiny town with not much else to do. As stated before, Burlington has the Magic Hat factory tour (free as far as I remember), but there is also Lake Champlain Chocolate factory on Pine Street (not far from Church Street which is pretty nice (they also do tours that should be free). The downtown area has Church Street (stores and restaurants upstairs and downstairs) but also City Hall Park (which usually has music or a farmer's market), Burlington City Arts (an art gallery right on Church street) and the waterfront. The waterfront has an aquarium/Science museum (Definitely not as big as most) restaurants with live music, and the Spirit of Ethan Allen - a dinner cruise which goes out on Lake Champlain a few times a day. The waterfront also has a boardwalk which is really nice in the summer, a park right there, a community boathouse (which, depending on the day, may have sailing lessons or something of the like going on), and a beach nearby.

Outside the downtown area, Shelburne is pretty nice, they have Shelburne Farms which has a nice Inn and Resturant, the Shelburne Museum which is a grand estate with many historical buildings and artifacts, each building was brought in from around New England and rebuilt there and restored to represent it's historical use. Also, the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory is on Route 7 in Shelburne.

As far as wineries in VT, you are most likely to find places known for their Ice Wine (more alcohol content, made with frozen grapes). Not far outside Burlington I know there is Boyden Valley Winery in Cambridge (a small town north east of Burlington - can get there going north on route 7 then east on route 15). They do tours and tastings.

I most recently lived just north of Burlington so I'm fairly familiar with things up there. Other popular areas to visit in VT tend to be Woodstock (Longtrail brewery nearby, lots of shopping, quechee george nearby also, quaint little downtown area) and Manchester (lots and lots of factory outlets, a sweet bookstore, another cute little New England town once you exit the outlet area).

[315bride]

I love both Upstate NY and VT. I think, though, if you're hoping to get to new NH by the end of the day, VT is a better option. The suggestions above for Burlington and area sound fantastic.

[jamesonontherocks]

...mmm magic hat....
i iwish it wasn't 720 so i could pop a #9 out of the fridge

[Susie]

sailor - I went to Cornell.

natablue - My favorite is Dr. Frank's. Others that I remember liking were Heron Hill, Chateau Lafayette Renau, Wagner, and Anthony Road. Bully Hill I don't like so much.

[mrs.jacinthe]

You guys are so helpful! InBetween, that's kinda what I was thinking about the Ben & Jerry's tour.

I had been leaning toward Stowe because I am a quiet small-town sort of girl (and the hotels are cheaper, LOL), but perhaps we'll switch to Burlington. Hmmm.

FWIW, we'll be driving up from OH, staying the night in a hotel/probably eating dinner, and then just exploring over the morning and early afternoon before we move on to NH. It's kind of a last-minute thing, since we're leaving here on Friday, but H noticed that I've been complaining about using all his vacation days and not getting any actual "us" time ... so I'm going to appreciate the mini-vacation.

[wawa]

I'll just ditto the recs for Burlington. We visited my sister up there (UVM grad) and had a fabulous time. We hit the Magic Hat tour (yes it's free.), Champlain Chocolates, walked around town for a while, and then drove out to buy/tour some cheese places.

[natablue]

Jun 13, 2012 8:37:34 GMT -5 Susie said:

sailor - I went to Cornell.

natablue - My favorite is Dr. Frank's. Others that I remember liking were Heron Hill, Chateau Lafayette Renau, Wagner, and Anthony Road. Bully Hill I don't like so much.

Dr. Franks is fantastic. The other ones are great as well. Bully Hill is one of the few I haven't been to. There's also been a ton of others that have opened up in the area just in the past 3-4 years, plus several new breweries!