One Day in Burlington, Vermont (Biking the Island Line Trail, Coffee, & BBQ!)

We have been totally enjoying our time here in Vermont. Everything has just been so lovely. After spending yesterday learning all about maple syrup, trying different grades of syrup, and having our first ever maple creamies, we've headed about an hour north to Burlington, Vermont. Burlington is a vibrant, welcoming, and beautiful city that is located on the shore of Lake Champlain and is the most populous city in Vermont. And today we're going to spend the day exploring the city, We're starting off our day in the heart of downtown Burlington at the Church Street Marketplace. It's a four block outdoor pedestrian mall lined with shops and restaurants and it's really reminding us of the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, which is an area we really love. The first photo I ever saw of Burlington was of the Church Street Marketplace and I instantly knew I wanted to come here. It's a tree-lined brick walkway that has all these colorful flags hanging over it, really cool buildings, and it all leads up to this really pretty church at the end. It's just really cute. We came to a coffee shop called Perky Planet, but this place is more than just a coffee shop. They have a mission to break down the barriers to employment for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which we just think is so amazing. Some of the things we've read that they've done is they've insulated the ceiling to reduce echoes for their employees that have hearing impairments, and they've also implemented some other technologies to make certain tasks more accessible. We've been to another coffee shop like this called Bitty and Bo's and we love that they are creating an inclusive and positive working environment for those with disabilities. So we got a drink called Feel the Burn, which is maple syrup and cayenne. We're basically on a maple syrup diet while we're here in Vermont. We're gonna have as many maple things as we can, and you can see all of the cayenne on the top. I'm a little scared, but I'm also kind of cold, so I want to feel the burn. Oh! At first it's sweet, and then I got a kick of cayenne. Oh, that's fun. It like surprises you. It sneaks up on you. You're like, oh, this is so sweet and maple-y, and then bam, cayenne. Oh, there's so much cayenne right there. That'll warm you up on a cool day like this. You just feel warm on the inside and your throat. Wow. But it's sweet, spicy, super good. One of the things we've been most excited to do here in Burlington is bike the Island Line Trail. This 14-mile trail starts from just south of downtown Burlington and takes you across Lake Champlain via a causeway and bike ferry to South Hero, Vermont. Since the route we want to do is about 24 miles, we're renting e-bikes from Local Motion, which costs $40 for four hours. That way we can bike the path with extra power. It was just so much fun, so we are pumped to be back on them. We made it to North Beach, which is a beach just north of downtown Burlington that's on Lake Champlain, which is a 490 square mile lake that runs along Vermont, New York, and goes all the way up to the province of Quebec and Canada. And if you can see behind me, all of these mountains, those are the Adirondacks in New York. And just less than a week ago, we hiked to the highest point over there, which is crazy to think we were all the way up here, now we're all the way down here. The next part of the trail is the Colchester Causeway, which is a narrow strip of land that takes you three miles across Lake Champlain. We have been totally enjoying our time here in Vermont. Everything has just been so lovely. The lovely views, everybody's been so friendly and nice. Everybody waves at you, says hello. Vermont is awesome. We made it to a spot on the causeway called The Cut, which is a 200-foot gap, and the only way to get across is to take a bike ferry. This ferry runs seasonally from the summertime until mid-October, and it's donation-based, so they suggest around a $10 donation for a round-trip ride. We had full intentions to go on this ferry. We were so excited for the ferry, but to be honest, we were going to go across and then basically immediately turn right back around, so $20 seemed a little steep to do that, so as much as we want to ride it and as much as we'd like to help support the ferry, I think we're going to turn around. My butt can finally decompress. I love riding bikes, but I still get the butt pains. For our final stop in Burlington, we're at Bluebird BBQ. We first saw this place on diners, drive-ins, and dives, and you guys know we're always on the hunt for awesome barbecue across the U.S., so we're gonna see how it stacks up. We're dining in their brand new front yard area, which has a slightly more limited menu than their full menu, which is takeout only right now, but we got three goodies to share. So first up, we have the slow-smoked spare ribs, which have a mountain maple glaze on them. Gotta get maple in every form that we can. And then these are the crispy brussel sprouts, which have a maple sweet and sour on them, and these are the burnt ends, which are one of our favorite types of barbecue. They're cut from the point, which is the fattier side of the brisket, and then these are double smoked, and they're in their classic red sauce. Alright, brisket is king and the name of our van is brisket, so you know what you gotta go with first. Oh my goodness, these are huge! These are just straight meat candy. As soon as it hits your mouth, it just starts to melt and dissolve. It is so good. And then also the red sauce on there is nice and tomatoey and just very good barbecue flavor. These are delicious. Alright, it's time to get your hands dirty. And your face. And your face, baby. Oh wow, that came off the bone so fast. These are just so juicy and tender. You can see how easily it pulled away from the bone there. They're smoked. You can taste that smoky flavor and then you can see the grill marks where they kind of put them back on there to kind of caramelize that maple sauce on there. It's just sweet, a little bit spicy. I know this might seem like a weird thing to get at a barbecue restaurant, but I read they were really good and brussels sprouts are one of my favorite vegetables, especially when they put like sauce and kind of like roast them and get them crispy. These are going to be really good, I can tell. They have the perfect mix of like fresh tasting, but also that kind of like crispy, like burnt taste as well. And then the sauce that's on there just gives it a little bit of sweetness. These are kind of just like brussels sprouts candy. They're so good. Also they have quite a few vegetarian and I think even vegan options on their menu, which isn't always common at barbecue spots. So this place really caters to everyone, which we think is awesome. We've headed about 30 minutes east of Burlington to the town of Waterbury and for the next couple nights we're staying at the Best Western Plus Waterbury Stow, which has mountain views, a beautiful property with walking paths, a really cool pool, ping pong tables, holla! And even a covered bridge, so it's full of New England vibes. We love our van, but the key for us to sustaining full-time van life long term is to get the occasional break, especially when we're out east when things are even more challenging than normal. So a big thank you to Best Western for hooking us up with a place to stay while we explore the area for the next couple days. We are going to enjoy the hotel tonight and in our next video our plan is to have the most perfect fall day here in this area. Did I win? Yeah you did. That's how you get down in a covered bridge.