VERMONT
The Green Mountain State
Rt. 100, in the White River Valley
[ Top 20 | First Impressions | Culture | Views | Leaf Peeping | Bakeries | Sightseeing]
Warning: this page is incomplete!
Karen's Top Twenty List
I love Vermont, but it was a bit of a culture shock when I first moved there. These are some of the things that differentiate Vermont from the rest of the country - it's what makes Vermont a great place to live.
Only in Vermont! You'll know you're in Vermont when:
20. People on the street stop and talk to you for no reason, and service workers (retail clerks, parking attendants, taxi drivers) are actually quite cheery.
19. Most cars have at least 2 bumperstickers (The first time my mother came to Burlington, she said to me "Well, your car will fit right in here."), and ~80% of the cars have vanity plates (free in Vermont).
18. The mayor of the state's largest city belongs to the Progressive Party.
17. The only true Vermonters are people whose family have been here for 20 generations and say things like "Jezum Crow!" Everyone else is a carpetbagger.
16. Every town has a green square, a country store, and a white, steepled church.
15. Everyone's a Phish fan.
14. You can drive on the highway at night and see shooting stars.
13. No one seems to have a steady job. Or if they do, it's something unusual and complicated.
12. Neighboring towns have the same name, but with a different prefix or suffix word. For example: Essex, Essex Center, Essex Junction, North Essex, South Essex, West Essex, East Essex.
11. Vermont geography: The road name on the map is different from the name on the road signs, which is different from what the locals call that road. Roads that are labeled on the map as smaller paved roads are actually dirt. Roads that are mapped as dirt roads are actually overgrown logging tracks. Roads that are mapped as overgrown logging tracks are actually hiking trails - don't try to drive those! I am convinced that the widespread map discrepencies are a Vermont conspiracy to keep the carpetbaggers out of their state.
10. You start drinking apple cider and eating chedder cheese with almost every meal.
9. If it's not named after Ira or Ethan Allen, it's named Green Mountain something or other.
8. The chain grocery stores have at least 2-3 aisles of organic foods, and one or two made-in-Vermont aisles.
7. The local heros are two drag-queens (Cherrie Tart and Yolanda) from public access TV, and people have bumperstickers that say "Yolanda is my copilot."
6. A local farmer is running for congress (both in the movies and in real life), and wins the primary by a landslide.
5. Even the most politically conservative Vermonters are anti-sprawl and pro-environment. Any Vermonter will proudly explain that there isn't a single billboard in the state.
4. On the nightly news, the weatherman (who always wears a bow tie) complains that the weather doesn't look good because there's not enough snow in the forecast.
3. The first time I realised Vermont was a strange and cool place: I was driving through the middle of nowhere, flipping radio stations. I flipped through Celtic music, a progressive talk show, punk rock, and traditional Indian music. Just about that time, I drove past the Central Vermont Center for Chinese Art.
2. The incumbant congressional representative (Bernie Sanders) is independant of party and runs campaign ads about banning land-mines worldwide (I almost cried when I saw that ad! Imagine that, politicians that care about real issues!)
And the number one way to know you must be in VERMONT.........
1. Everyone gets the day off from work on Town Meeting Day.
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First impressions
I didn't know anything about Vermont when I first moved there. The first time I set foot in Vermont was when I went to interview at UVM for my graduate position in 1998. I'd already visited other graduate schools in Colorado, California, and Washington, but the projects on offer at UVM's geology department sounded more interesting to me, so I decided I should at least check it out. I wanted to get up there and back to Maryland as soon as possible because I was about to go on a 3 month trip to visit Andrew in Australia. My mother was worried about me driving so far by myself, so I got my friend Janice to go with me. We planned to be in Vermont for a day and a half.
The half day was the day we arrived in Burlington. It was a gray, February day and we arrived in the late afternoon. I remember being scared to drive over 40 mph on the "narrow country roads" (Rt. 22A - now I have a hard time going less than 55 mph on it!). Janice wanted to eat lobster, being in New England and all, so we went to a seafood restaruant on Shelburne Road. Both of us were a bit baffled when the waiter brought Janice's lobster. Being Mid-Atlantic people, we'd only ever cracked open crab shells! After dinner we decided to explore downtown Burlington. My first impression of Burlington? I couldn't believe how many people were walking aorund after dark in the middle of winter. We couldn't find a place to park, and I wanted to get up early, so we just did a loop around the downtown area and went back to the motel.
I didn't see any more of Burlington the next day, even though it was a beautiful day with blue skies. I mostly stayed on campus talking to various geology faculty and grad students, while Janice did the exploring for me. Janice had agreed to pick me up in the afternoon, at which time we planned to go to Montreal for the evening. I distinctly remember the first two things she said to me when she came to pick me up. #1: "This town is awsome, Karen! If you don't move here, I will!!" and #2:"Look over there. There's a LAKE!! We didn't see that last night!" So I looked and said "Woah! You're right!" We were at one of those vantage points in Burlington where it looks like the lake is a big wall of blue that you could reach out and touch (like in the photo below).
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View down Main Street in Burlington, Vermont. Lake Champlain and the Adirondaks beyond. |
To be continued...
