New England Trip

Today we went for a cruise of the shoreline of Lake Champlain on the "Sprirt of Ethan Allen," a 140 foot boat (a motor vessel, not a sailboat). The boat had three decks, and a deli/bar, and provided a narrated tour of the lake shore at Burlington, VT. It was nice to be out on the water, and we got a good view of the city and some education about the lake's history. From the water, the views of the Adirondack mountains on the New York side and the Green Mountains of Vermont were really beautiful.

In the evening we met John and Joyce Hamerslaugh for a wonderful dinner and a walk through downtown Burlington. The town's main street, closed to auto traffic, is a great gathering place, full of people walking, shopping and having dinner in restaurants with tables out in the street. We have been so impressed with Vermont's civic responsibility, for example, keeping the landscape free of unsightly advertising, and making recycling a priority with easily accessible collection facilities. We learned on the cruise that the tallest building in Burlington is only 11 stories high, to protect the beauty of the skyline and the surrounding mountains. We also learned, however, that the city gave that building's developer a variance to exceed the city's building height limit by 2 stories in return for the developer's commitment to build affordable housing nearby. But, like anywhere else, things sometimes go wrong. The 11 story building was built, but the affordable housing wasn't. The developer paid a fine, but townspeople are still grumbling about the extra 2 stories that they feel spoils the view.

Tomorrow we are off to New Hampshire and then to Nova Scotia. It will be interesting to be in Canada for the Fourth of July. We will send more posts to the blog when we come back into Maine.