New England Fall Foliage Trip Day Seven: Chillin’ in Vermont

As we finished out our first week of the trip, we decided it was time for a chill morning. Our classy little Airbnb apartment in Waterbury was the perfect place to catch up on some laundry and spread out in the sunny living area and on the furnished balcony to spend time reading, catching up on messages, or whatever we needed to on our own.

Julian walked over to a local coffee shop, PK Coffee, to secure his morning Americano.

Some of the group set out to scope out a lunch spot around noon and ended up at McGillicuddy’s Irish Pub.

After some filling comfort foods, they explored the Waterbury Village Historic District on foot. A number of shops were closed since it was Monday (which also often makes Monday a good choice for a down day when traveling!), but they snagged a deal at the Bargain Boutique thrift store and enjoyed window shopping as necessary.

Mid-afternoon brought our excursion to Burlington, Vermont. We walked up and down the Church Street Marketplace, popping into a few select shops…

…namely Crow Bookshop (because I just can’t get enough of all these fabulous little bookshops!).

We could see Lake Champlain a few blocks away, so we meandered out to Battery Park along the waterfront.

Leaf-lined sidewalks led us back to Church Street where we met up with a friend of ours for dinner.

Sweetwaters was our friend’s restaurant recommendation, and we thoroughly enjoyed the food, the service, and the alfresco seating. It was also great to visit and catch up!

In honor of Burlington as the birthplace of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, our friend offered to buy us each a bowl at the shop down the street. Who can resist such an offer? Not I! From dozens of flavors, we each made our selections and our small bowls got piled high with creamy deliciousness. Pretty sure we ended up with more ice cream than most people who ordered large bowls thanks to the generous scooping of our server!

We bid farewell to our friend and waddled back to our car, resolved to walk a few extra steps tomorrow to make up for the evening’s indulgence. On our way back to Waterbury, we stopped at a store so Noelle could pick up some new sunglasses to replace her broken ones. Of course that called for a sunglasses modeling session!

Along the Church Street Marketplace we saw a store called “Keep Vermont Weird.” Wondering if we’ve been here too long… Time to move on to the next destination. So long, Green Mountain State!