Why We Love Vermont

At the top of Deer Leap drinking a beer - our first VT hike.

I know the blog is about Rutland but I wanted the first post to be about why we love Vermont and how, no matter what (losing jobs, changing careers, any other unplanned life event), we would choose to stay in Vermont.

Vermont is a way of life. My husband and I are both Ithaca college graduates which is located in Ithaca, a very liberal, forward thinking city in upstate New York and before moving to Vermont figured that it was like a big Ithaca. In general it is, which is probably why we love the state so much but it's even better than Ithaca, something we didn't think was possible.

I like lists. I have ADD so lists help me write down my thoughts in the random order they tend to come out without babbling on (just kidding I still babble). To do lists are my jam and are the sole reason I have never been fired from a job because without them I'd be lost. With that being said here is a list of why we (maybe just me but I think Tom agrees with most) love Vermont:

Traffic doesn't exist. I mean it does but nothing like the traffic we were use to living in Utica, Ithaca, Syracuse or Rochester ,New York. Even in Burlington it's not bad although native Vermonters may disagree.

Mountains are everywhere. You can go for a walk in "the city" of Rutland and no matter where you turn you see gorgeous mountains. Now, go for a hike and at the peak there are endless mountains that will take your breathe away, it's like nothing you've ever seen before.

This picture was taken from a window at our first apartment in Rutland on Main St.!

The people. I'm sure there are other places in the country, hell I'm sure other places in the northeast that have nice people. But it honestly seems like the entire state is pretty damn nice. No matter how much someone has or doesn't have they are always there to help you out any way they can and they never expect anything in return. Every business we go into, everyone is always so nice even when you walk in with two young kids. And on the kids note, no one has ever made us feel bad for bringing our kids with us just about everywhere we go. They come to breweries and go out to dinner with us and not once has anyone given us a hard time, in fact they usually seem to treat us even better (maybe it's the gigantic bags under my eyes that make them feel bad).

 

The beer is kick ass. I know my husband agrees with me on this one and we love the beer here. Not just the beer but the beer community and businesses and everything that goes with it. We are now certified beer snobs thanks to the amazing brews that can be found all over the state. Our favorite? Foley Brothers Fair Maiden Double IPA, and Zero Gravity is our favorite brewery as a whole. There will be many more posts about beer and breweries and our love of beer and breweries.

The Vermont Pub & Brewery in downtown Burlington.

Local food, everywhere. Just about every restaurant uses local ingredients whether vegetables, breads or meat. I'm pretty sure the only time we've eaten at a chain restaurant since living in VT is when we've been given a gift card to Applebee's but even then we just went to the bar which happened to have local beer on tap. Our only gripe with Vermont is the lack of Mexican food in the Rutland area. There's a few decent ones in Burlington but as a whole the state seems to lack good Mexican restaurants (someone please email me and prove me wrong, tell me every Mexican restaurant I've missed!).

Family friendly jobs. Ok so maybe we've just been blessed with wicked cool companies, but before I had kids I was scared about the ramifications on my career. At every job I've always been told to put my family first, I've had great maternity leave and I was even hired while pregnant by my current employer (I know they can't legally discriminate but still they didn't even bat an eyelash). When Finn was born my then employer let me come back 30hrs over 3 days so I could stay home with him 2 days a week until he turned 1. I could go on but you get it.

Nothing to do with jobs but the breweries are also family friendly!

It's runner friendly. Ok when I first moved to Rutland I was pissed at its lack of paved trails and over abundance of hills. Now my race times thank me as those hills make my races so much easier. I love passing people on "hills" at races - I need to make a shirt about running Vermont hills, maybe "in Vermont we run mountains," it's a jumping off point, I digress!

Most local 5k's allow strollers and sometimes dogs so it's a family affair!

The size. Vermont is small but I love that. We can take a day trip to Burlington and it's no big deal. You can take a day trip to just about anywhere in the state from central Vermont. None of the cities are all that big, even Burlington is small compared to the cities we're use to. There are people who love big cities, we are not those people.

Chittenden Reservoir near Mt. Top Inn 

It's location. Vermont is pretty centrally located in the northeast. From Rutland, at least, we can get to Boston or Portland in 3hrs. We've never been but you can also get to NYC and Montreal pretty quickly as well. We've taken the train to NYC from Albany which was cheap and easy but driving is much quicker, but again traffic!

Lake Champlain in Burlington.

Skiing, duh. I am not a skier. Tom is a skier and learned to ski about three years ago and of course picked it up super quick and is super good. I, on the other hand, have no want or need to ever learn to ski. I hate heights and I hate the cold. I know, I live in Vermont but I hate the cold, I love the snow and mountains but from the lodge drinking a beer! I do however want the boys to learn to ski at a young age since everyone who skis loves it and being 15 minutes from the best mountain in the east, Killington, we'd be stupid not to. And I also secretly hope they'll be good and will go to Killington Mountain School and travel the world - I'm not a helicopter mom I promise!

Taken by my husband at Killington.

So there's our short list. We could go on but studies show most people won't even read through that entire list, so stay in suspense until the next list.

Vermont isn't for everyone, but if you like amazing beer and nice people and hate traffic then it may just be the place for you.

Hiked to the top of Pico Mtn.