Yesterday we covered the "Good" of Burlington Vermont, so today it is only right that we cover the bad and the ugly. Quite honestly, these things are a bit trivial and I wouldn't allow any of them to keep me from visiting Burlington. In fact, though the list of negatives might be longer than the list of positives, the good things about Burlington far outweigh the bad.
So let's get to it!
How early it gets dark
This one isn't a gripe as much as it is an observation, but it could have an impact on your plans. Although Burlington is only about 700 miles East of where @mrsbozz and I live, I wasn't quite prepared for how early it gets dark there. We were out and about at 5:30 some evenings and the sun was already most of the way down. Plus, that was before the time change. Now that we are off daylight savings time, I wouldn't be shocked if it was full on night time at 5:00 now.
Again, not a big deal, but if you are out for a walk or off sightseeing, it could have an impact on your planned activities.
We came too late
While checking out the fall colors wasn't the main reason that @mrsbozz and I traveled to Vermont, it was an added bonus of our trip. Unfortunately, due to a weird Spring season and some perhaps the fact that we had arrived a bit too late, the colors weren't quite what we had been expecting. In fact, on our flight home we flew back to the airport in Detroit and then had to make the two hour drive home. It was a sunny Tuesday morning and we saw more brilliant colors in the trees on our drive home from Detroit than we did in Vermont.
Additionally, as I mentioned in another post, there were a few places we wanted to visit that were already closed for the season. Mid September to Mid October is probably your best bet to visit Burlington. There will likely be a lot more people around, but you hopefully won't run into the same issues we did.
Unpredictable weather
This one is really just a fact of life. Especially these days when things are so crazy with the weather, but tagging onto the point above, the time of year we visited made it difficult to do things due to the rain and cold. It also made it hard to pack because you didn't know if you needed warm clothes or cool clothes. That's another reason I would drive next time versus flying and having to check multiple bags.
We got maybe two days of nice weather while we were in Vermont and although we had a great time, I can't help but think it could have been better if the weather had been nicer.
The food
I'm going to bundle a couple different cons together into this single heading. While the food also made my "good" list, there were some things that left @mrsbozz and I a little turned off. The first was the lack of Mexican restaurants in Burlington. There just weren't that many options and the one we did find (that I will review at a later date) wasn't that great. In a town that has a Mediterranean joint on every corner, I just would have expected more SouthWestern fare.
By the end of the trip, we were actually tired of eating. I think I mentioned that once already, so take it as a good or a bad. It was just a fact that all the rich amazing food, was almost a bit too much.
Many of the places in Burlington don't open until 4 or 5 PM. That makes it difficult when you are just looking to get a bite of lunch somewhere. It really narrows down your options. You might not think that would be a big deal in a town that has so many choices anyway, but it was. We struggled to find places to eat lunch when we weren't outside of Burlington.
The average meal cost for us in Burlington, VT was $80 to $100. That's for two people with a couple of alcoholic beverages and a decent tip. My wife and I don't usually splurge like that, but since we were on vacation, I tried not to let it bug me too much. That seemed to be pretty standard everywhere we went. It's still cheaper than Vegas or one of the bigger cities, but if you visit, just be prepared.
Finally, as far as food goes, many restaurants are doing the pay with QR code thing now. I don't like that. While limiting interaction and customer convenience is probably the goal, I don't like the idea of scanning a random QR code from a security standpoint. In addition to that, I always feel like I need to check in with the server anyway to let them know that I used the pay with QR code option so they don't think I am dining and dashing.
I can see how it would be really easy for people to cheat the establishment out of what is due them. You could just yell as you are walking out the door I paid with QR code. They won't know if you did or not until they go check and by then you could be long gone.
Driving in Burlington
I know I mentioned yesterday that Burlington is a very drive-able city and while I still believe that to be true, there are a couple things that left @mrsbozz and I confounded by other drivers in the city.
First of all, people seemed to run a lot of red lights in the downtown area. I don't know if it is because the lights are on the corners and not suspended above the intersection like you usually see, but people would just blow through red lights. You basically had to treat every intersection like a four way stop just in case.
Another thing we noticed was people jumping the left turn lane. Here's what I mean. Imagine you come up to an intersection with a red light and you are in the lane that is supposed to go straight through. Ahead of you there are cars also going straight through in the opposite direction, but then there is also someone in the left turn lane facing you.
Traditionally, and according to the law, once the light turns green that car turning left is supposed to wait for traffic to clear and then turn left. That's not how they roll in Burlington. As soon as that light turns green, that car is turning left no matter what. If you hit the gas as soon as the light turns to go straight, you are likely going to run right into the side of that turning car.
I wanted to think it was just a fluke, but it happened so many times that we decided it must be a common thing there. Luckily once you know to watch out for it, you can hopefully avoid an accident.
Vermont in general seems to be where people come to buy Subarus. There were so many of them on the road. We thought it would be fun to count them at first, but we quickly gave up because there were just so many. I would guess 70% of the cars on the road in Vermont are Subarus.
Huge homeless/drug problem
Finally, I saw mention of this in articles and other places, but @mrsbozz and I didn't notice it so much while we visited. Yes, we saw a lot of homeless people, but most of them seemed to be relatively harmless and even when we were walking alone outside of the main downtown area at night, we didn't feel unsafe.
That isn't to imply that drug users are dangerous, but many times the two go hand in hand. In fact, I just read the city council approved spending money to improve security in the Church Street area due to the growing number of thefts and drug incidents.
From what I have read, it isn't uncommon these days to find used needles laying around pretty much everywhere in Burlington. Again, we never noticed that, but i've seen it mentioned enough times that I doubt it is completely made up.
I wouldn't let it deter me (or you) from visiting Burlington, but it is sad that such an idyllic place suffers the same tribulations that many bigger cities do.
Final thoughts
This was truly an amazing trip. It was a good introduction for @mrsbozz and I to what the North East of the United States has to offer. I definitely don't think this will be our last or only visit to the New England states. Five days was almost too short a time to explore everything that Burlington and the surrounding area has to offer. Even if the weather had been nicer, I think we could have easily spent a week and a half exploring. Though I don't know if our waistlines or wallets could have kept up!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
Don't come to the UK in Winter especially Scotland. When I worked in Shetland the islands way up north we were lucky some days to see any daylight haha
Even here now at 5pm yep full on night time now and it is only November!
Wow, that is crazy. Now that we had the time change it gets dark pretty early here in Michigan, but more like 5:30 or 6. Definitely not 4 or 5!
My wife is from England. (American here) I am the one weirdo who loves England in the winter. I guess I just thrive in the cold dark and damp. 😀
Hehe well my wife is from Colorado and loves autumn and winter here too!
Weather changes nowadays are just unbelievable. You should see how it just started raining all of a sudden here yesterday.
About the road car movement stuff, that's really not cool. Knowing there's a high risk level of accident.
We had the sky open up on us suddenly last night as well. A front came through and we had some pretty intense thunderstorms. Luckily traffic moves pretty slowly there and if you know what to watch out for, it isn't too bad!
Phew... weather is really doing well. Lol. I hope to travel around the world soon too 🥹.
Good luck!
Hehe thank ya 🥹
It's a bit funny to me that a lot of the bad is something out of the city's control. It gets dark early, the timing of the visit, and the weather. As you have mentioned going mid-Sept to mid-Oct might fix a lot of the things above. I don't even consider eating too much as a problem. As for the last two, they are an inconvenience, but at least it really didn't affect your trip so much.
Yeah, like I said, some of them were just observations. Burlington really is a great place to visit. The nightlife is awesome and the overall atmosphere was great.
There is no doubt that the meal looks good but that's quite expensive
Spending $80 on a meal is a lot mean
Kudos to you though and the atmosphere looks good
It is a lot. My wife and I mostly eat at home when we aren't traveling though, so it is worth it to go a little crazy every now and then.
The getting dark thing is pretty normal in Japan. Here it is getting dark around 5 right now. I'd be interested in looking at a map and seeing where they sit in the time zone. I know, for example, even during winter, Indiana is about an hour off from where they should be. That is to say, true noon when the sun is overhead in Indiana is around 1pm. If Indiana were actually set on the proper time zone, everyone would be shocked at how early it got dark. I wonder what it is for Michigan and Vermont.
I think I just had a small heart attack.
About the unpredictable weather, it might give you a good idea next time if you can find a local almanac. I remember I read a Mark Twain essay once where he detailed how the midwest actually has something like a dozen seasons instead of the standard four and he detailed each one. It was funny but also I completely agreed with him. I imagine everywhere is the same, with their own unique seasons and weather patterns. That kind of thing might be better captured in a local almanac, if some a thing can be found.
It's not totally uncommon here, especially now that we kicked back off daylight savings time, but it was just weird when we were sitting out at a cafe and it started getting dark and I looked at my phone and realized it was only 5:00 PM! That is a good point about the almanac. I honestly never put much stock in them, but I have seen your posts lately about them and it is interesting. Yeah, the food prices were a bit of a shock to us too, but like I said in the other post when you hang out somewhere for a while, and drink several drinks because you know you can walk back to your hotel and don't have to drive, then order an app and a couple main dishes, it can really add up. Plus I tend to tip pretty generously.
Great summary Bozz. That was a comprehensive list and really good to know if you plan to goto Burlington or the NE.
$80-100 per meal seems quite a lot. I think one of the top restaurants here I spent just €25 or so for myself, food and a beer. You guys seem to really pay more there. I wonder why it is so expensive?
I don't understand how people choose to take drugs and go down that route in life. It's not as if kids don't see and learn about it from an early age how bad it is.
Yeah, I think part of it is inflation, but there is also other stuff at play I think. Some areas are just more expensive. When the average cost of a dish is $20, then drinks are $5 a piece, plus an appetizer at $10 or more, it all adds up. Especially if you are out walking around and you feel like having more than one drink because you don't have to worry about driving. The drug thing is a tough one for sure. I think there are a lot of reasons. Some of them not as unbelievable as you might think. Prescription drug addiction hasn't helped with that either. Once you see how someone can progress from Oxy to heroin on the street, it's a bit easier to understand.
What a shame there isn't more Mexican food there, I love good Mexican! Too bad you missed the leaves, but at least in Michigan you got some nice ones on the drive home.
That left turn at the light thing is weird. Might as well just have stop signs! Everyplace had weird driving rules, in Puerto Rico after midnight red lights are considered stop signs, you don't have to wait for the light!
I wonder if the homeless there head south for winter? When I worked in Tucson, AZ a lot of homeless travelled there like hobos for the winter and lived in huge homeless camps on open desert areas. Homelessness and drugs are becoming more of an issue everywhere sadly.
I'm glad you guys at least had a nice trip. It's nice to celebrate!
Yeah, it was weird about the Mexican food. There were some stand alone taco joints, but nowhere that you could really get entree service. That is weird about Puerto Rico. I think it is similar near where I live, but they at least flip the red lights so they flash. If it just stayed solid I would sit there all night! We have noticed in several big cities that we have visited that the homeless numbers are increasing. Heck, we have a number of homeless people that bounce around the small towns where we live as well. It's sad.
I feel the same way. I don't like the whole menu and order on your phone thing. And it makes me feel like they see me as old and out of the loop when I ask for a physical menu. Even though I am very likely more technology savvy than they are in many cases. It is just the human aspect.
Yeah, I agree with that. I don't really like that either. I get why they did it during Covid and stuff. It might save them some dollars now that we are past that, but it still detracts from the experience. What I really hate though is the chain restaurants with a kiosk at the table. It's like why should I even tip my waiter, they just told me to do everything through the kiosk.
Burlington is a pretty shitty city, ahem village, imho. It's a place I would only sleep through if I had to go to New York and wanted a rest driving from Montreal. Which I did once or twice.
:) Tell me how you really feel! We enjoyed our time there. It was a fun place to visit. I can only handle big cities in small doses.
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