Burlington, VT: So Much Fun, I Forgot to Get Taco Bell 🤯

It was nearly dark by the time I boarded the ferry from Plattsburgh, NY to Grand Isle, VT. While the fading colors on the boat ride were beautiful, I didn't realize how much more natural beauty the darkness was hiding until I returned to the shores of Lake Champlain the next morning. 

The view from the ferry. It was a tad chilly being out in the open air on the water at 7:30 pm. 

In Burlington, I had my first success with Couchsurfing, when Jamie offered to host me for the evening. 

Jamie was born in Texas but grew up in Connecticut before going to college at UVM (University of Vermont - as I learned from Jamie, it's abbreviated UVM for it's Latin name: Universitas Viridis Montis, which translates to University of the Green Mountains). After college, Jamie moved out to Boulder, CO and later Leadville, CO for the natural beauty and outdoors recreation opportunities on offer there (he's big into skiing and mountain biking). While in Colorado, Jamie worked for Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential campaign, which he describes as the favorite job he's ever had. He said the energy and passion amongst the young people working the campaign in Colorado was contagious and that there was a real feeling that every single phone call and door knocked on had the potential to make a difference, a quality that was lacking in his prior work in sales. While there were great highs working on the Bernie campaign, there were also some frustrating lows; Jamie lamented the blatantly illegal and gross tactics the Democratic party employed to push Hillary Clinton ahead of Bernie for the Democratic nomination and the fact that no one was ever held accountable for these breaches of campaign law. Jamie was also very active in local politics and community organization in Leadville. He mentioned this as a contributing factor in his decision to leave Colorado, saying that the lack of professionalism and arrogant insistence on unique/bespoke solutions over more efficient and proven solutions made it feel like taxpayer money was being squandered on projects that failed to deliver any tangible benefits. Ultimately though, Jamie said he chose to leave Colorado due to the lack of community. He had come for the natural beauty and ultimately came to the realization that natural beauty isn't enough - community is what makes a place home, and he said he never truly found that there. Community was ultimately what drew Jamie back to Burlington a year or two ago, and I really appreciated how Jamie gave me a taste of that community during my short stay in Burlington (more on that in a minute). With his condo in Leadville providing some passive income, Jamie's had the flexibility to try his hand at a number of different jobs since being back in Burlington. Currently, he's building mountain biking trails and learning carpentry/house renovation from a friend. He's stayed politically engaged since moving back to Burlington and is very concerned with the current state of the country. He worries that life as we know it may be coming to end - that the government is coming for everyone's rights and that government violence against civilians will increase. While I haven't encountered such strong sentiments/poignant political anxiety elsewhere in my travels yet, I could understand where Jamie's concern came from given his personal experiences. In recent months, he's seen neighbors be taken by ICE and had many friends who have lost privileges they used to take for granted. Lately, Jamie's found himself quite torn: part of him wants to fight back, part of him wants to move another country; part of him wants to invest more in the people and activities that fill his cup, but part of him feels like spending time on his own interests is selfish or that he's not doing enough. Regardless of where you find yourself on the political spectrum, I think this final quandary of Jamie's is something we all must grapple with: How do we balance purpose and pleasure in our search for a meaningful, satisfying life.

 

As I mentioned, Jamie did a fantastic job of giving me a taste of the local community in Burlington, starting with an amateur film festival the night I arrived. 

The Mothership Monthly Film Festival (MMFF) hosts a monthly amateur short form film contest. Each month has a different theme or prompt for filmmakers. The October meeting was the final meeting of the film festival year and therefore the screening featured the films that won each of the previous months' contests with a vote to determine the best film of the year. While many of the people submitting films were first time filmmakers, I was blown away by the quality of the films (granted, the meeting I attended only featured winning entries from prior months). There were comedies, dramas, documentaries, animated films, and action thrillers. Some of my favorites were a satirical film about an a man's response to his apartment being destroyed when the local river flooded, an animated film where a man mistakenly turned himself into a piano in his ex-girlfriend's apartment, a vampire spoof, and a documentary exploring the history of King Street (one of the main roads of Burlington). The ultimate winner ended up being an animated film called "Nostalgia: The Most Fun a Girl Can Have With Her Clothes On" which followed a girl who was inspired by an old photo to escape the drudgery and stress of her adult life by going to an emo band reunion tour with her highschool best friend who she hadn't spoken to in year. 

The next morning started with a bike ride to the beach for some ultimate frisbee with Jamie's adult pickup league. 

 

The views on the shore of Lake Champlain were fantastic (the Adirondacks to the west and the Green Mountains to the south) as were the people I met and the workout I got while playing ultimate frisbee. While I've unfortunately forgotten names, I recall meeting all sorts of friendly people: a lady originally from Saranac Lake (in the Adirondacks) who was taking on a leadership role with the local ultimate frisbee organization, a man who had moved to Burlington to be closer to his kids and grandkids, a carpenter from NYC who also taught line dancing.

After a quick plunge in Lake Champlain to cool off, Jamie and I grabbed a bite at Deep City Brunch, a new restaurant run by the head chef of an old favorite that recently closed. While I had originally planned to leave Burlington before noon, we ended getting into a pretty involved conversation covering everything from religion to philosophy to conspiracy theories (Jamie doesn't put much stock in most conspiracy theories, but admitted that he finds the Birds Aren't Real conspiracy theory to be rather entertaining).

During my time in Burlington, I was struck by how many people Jamie knew - it almost felt like most of the population of Burlington could be covered in 1-2 degrees of separation. This phenomenon made more sense when Jamie told me that Burlington - while the biggest city in Vermont - only has a population of about 43,000 people. I was shocked when I first heard this - how could such a small city be so iconic that most people in America have heard of it? As I rode out of town, the reality of just how sparsely populated Vermont is hit home. I had forgotten to get Taco Bell before leaving Burlington and began searching Google Maps as I approached the New Hampshire border. Turns out there only 5 Taco Bells in the entire state of Vermont and the closest one was over an hour out of my way - a stark contrast from the every third exit Taco Bell density I've seen in most other states. Having left 3 hours later than intended and hoping to land in New Hampshire before the storm brewing overhead broke loose, I opted skip the Taco Bell for the time being. Gotta leave a reason to come back, after all. Maybe Taco Bell will pay to fly me back out to Vermont after I've done a Taco Bell in every other state.

I'll close with a thought from Jamie that stuck with me: When you're in a one-on-one conversation with someone, in that moment you're more connected to that person than you are to anyone else on Planet Earth.

Find your community, 

K-Train