Burlington, Vermont, Monday, August 9:  Kay’s Shopping & Exploring Day  I dropped Donald off at the trail head that he was going to ride this morning around 11 am.  He was expecting his ride to last about three hours.

I headed to Lake Street in Burlington which borders Lake Champlain.

On the way I stopped at city market to check it out. It was a lovely medium size grocery store with a lot of specialty items, beautiful fruits and vegetables, meat, a lot of wine, and quite a bit of prepared food for sale. I was looking for water and didn’t find any.  It reminded me of Ucrops in Richmond Virginia, a specialty grocery store that my sister and BIL loved.

Back on the road I found my way to downtown and Lake Street. Couldn’t find any parking spaces so I circled a couple of blocks.  I decided to pull into a parking deck that said it was for the general public. There was no one to give me a parking sticker or a ticket. Everything was done through an app. I called the help number because I didn’t want to download another app. I parked my car and went down to the office and entered my information in the machine.I charged two dollars on my credit card to park for two hours..

I followed a long breezeway to Church Street that appeared to be very busy.

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The street was closed off to traffic and was a brick street. All the shops were open, there were many kiosks and tents with things for sale. Many of the restaurants had outside seating. It reminded me a lot of European cities where streets were limited to foot traffic only.  There were lots of young people and older people walking and shopping, eating lunch and visiting.  Many people were walking their dogs, too.

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I wandered up and down the street, browsing through some of the shops and I enjoyed the gentle breeze off Lake Champlain.  It was a bustling crowd and I finally picked a place for my lunch.  It was called POKE.  I had a child’s poke with green noodles, edamame, chicken, corn, cilantro, tortilla strips, green onions, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, and a sweet & spicy chili sauce.  It was delicious and just the right size for a light lunch.

I almost weakened and nearly went next door for a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, but I decided that I was full.  Ben & jerry’s corporate offices and plant are in Vermont. We passed by it yesterday as we were driving Highway 100 north and south touring Vermont.

I took several pictures of murals that were around the area of church Street.

There were many cultures represented in this area.  Burlington appears to be a very diversified area. I imagine the proximity of the University of Vermont has something to do with that. I’m guessing that school hasn’t started yet either here.

I went back to the parking garage and drove to the pick up zone where Donald would be completing his bike ride. I just opened my iPad to begin reading my book and lo and behold if he doesn’t appear. He had a first today!  He took a bike ferry from the mainland to an island.  The temperature was around 80° with a lovely breeze. We drove to Costco to pick up some supplies and an early birthday present for Donald before returning to our hotel. I had a good time exploring today and I think Donald enjoyed his ride on this rail trail.  We say goodbye to Vermont tomorrow and head to New Hampshire.  Our New England adventure continues…..

Thursday, August 12:  Lunch with an Old Friend in New Hampshire  We had lunch today (Thursday) at Woodstock Inn & Brewery in Woodstock, New Hampshire, with Chris Laux, a cousin of my brother-in-law, and a native of my hometown of Morrilton.  He lives on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire now.  His dad and my dad were best friends when we were growing up.  We had a great visit, but I forgot to get a picture!