Cool town: Burlington, Vermont

[Normy]

-I flew into Burlington, Vermont yesterday morning and I have to tell you that this is a wonderful place!

On the shores of lake Champlain, it is a pretty place with no crime and everyone seems intelligent. There is a bike path known as the Burlington Bikepath, and it runs along the lake. Yesterday I ran 8 miles on the north section, today I did 5 on the southern section. I was amazed at how many people were out there on both days! The measure of a place for intelligence can easily be shown as to how much of the population is out on nice days. Yesterday the Burlington Bike Trail was PACKED. I ran a slalom during my 8 mile run, dodging the people who were every 100 feet. I'm serious- I ran 4 miles north, turned around, and came back, and during that 4 miles each way I ran around people and had hundreds of people pass me on bicycles!

I was in San Francisco during the fall of 2008 for a day or two, and I saw the same thing on the bike path there. This path leads one around the top of the city, over the Golden Gate bridge, and then into Sausalito, which is a COOL little town. This bike path in Burlington reminded me of this.

I've been here for a day and a half and I have had a GREAT time! This is another of the "undiscovered places" That you hear about!

If if weren't for the obnoxious ugly hideous incredibly cold winters that they get here...I'd be interested in buying a house.

N!

[Buckterrier]

Northern New England is a fantastic place. And you are probably right. It doesn't get it's due because of the severe, long winters. Of course if you enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, or snowmobiling then those winters are awesome.
Took a long motorcycle trip one year. On our way back we went through Burlington and onto a ferry across the lake. Was awesome. After a long day in the saddle to be on a ferry with the scooters at dust on the lake is something I've never forgotten about.

[Rot 911]

My wife and I almost moved up there. Spent a week up there in May back in 2002 when my wife got a job offer. Didn't move because of the long, dark, cold winters. Even the locals mentioned how depressing it gets up there in the winter.

[flatbutt]

that's no lie. While i didn't spend the winter in Vt, I did spend one in Claremont NH. Brrrrrrrrrr...for a really long time.

[stomachmonkey]

Burlington is awesome.

You get used to the winters.

A lot of those people that you saw out and about were likely down staters, Manhattanites.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Burlington is awesome.

You get used to the winters.

No SOME people get used to the winters, lots of people don't.

[widgeon13]

If you can't get accustomed to the winters, there are two options, move or commit suicide. Now stop complaining.

Well, then again if you live where I live there are actually 6 seasons, winter, spring, mud season, black fly season, summer and fall. Since I'm not a big people fan, I like it here just the way it is.

Burlington is a nice place to visit on a sunny day though.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by Normy

This is another of the "undiscovered places" That you hear about!

Burlington is hardly undiscovered. Its won magazine awards for most liveable city on at least one occasion (that I know of, perhaps more than once).

After living there for 10 years, I bailed. Winter sucked, but mostly I left because there are very few career opportunities. There are so many people who want to live there and are willing to get paid ****e in order to do so, its a field day for employers. Its the "quality of life" penalty, as in: "this place is so fabulous and progressive, so we don't need to pay you as much" This would possibly be ok if the cost of living were much lower than other places...but its not really.

A popular bumper sticker when I was there said: "Moonlight in Vermont or starve"

On the plus side, Vermont summers are epic. The countryside is spectacular, there are NO BILLBOARDS (against the law), great mountain roads, etc.

[Evans, Marv]

Spent one of the neatest Christmases ever there. Visited my former wife's uncle & family. He had & did everything Vermont. Wood fired furnace for the house, shot deer in the back yard which we had for Christmas dinner, and harvested maple sap he made into syrup and sold. We skated on his pond behind the house. It was great fun, but I already knew I wouldn't want to be there year round.

[Esel Mann]

One of my favorite slogans is "Welcome to Vermont, now go home!".

Vermont's a great place. Burlington is nice. Very nice in fact. Schools are very good too. However Chittenden county is by no means representative of the rest of the state. In fact it can be an entirely different experience outside Chittenden county.

It can be very difficult to do business in the state. By business I don't mean B&B's or trinket shops. I'm talking good paying jobs in manufacturing or design, etc. Yes such exists but it's more of an exception rather than a rule.

I'd move back in a second, if it weren't for the fact that relocating my business there would result in me being bent over a saw horse and used like the village bicycle until everyone's had a ride at my expense.

[RShepHorse]

No, we just say "Welcome to Vermont".....
the winter's take care of the 'now go home' part!
it might be that the frigid natural and business climate have let Burlington tailor itself into a much better than average place - so be it.