.... THINGS TO
DO ....
The Lake Champlain Islands
Region has been a vacation destination for 150 years.
If you can tear yourself away from the house and the lake there's a wide
range of activities to enjoy...
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below)
To supplement the small grocery stores on the Islands you may want to make one trip
to Burlington for more specialized products.
In addition to a particularly good supermarket (Shaw's
Supermarket, just north of Exit 16 off Rte 89, open 6am daily), Burlington
boasts several fine markets specializing in Vermont products:
City
Market (82 So. Winooski Ave., 7am - 11pm); Fresh
Market Cheese Outlet (400 Pine St., 802-862-3968)
Healthy Living Natural Foods (4
Market Street - left off Dorset St. across from University Mall entrance,
802-863-2569, 8am - 8pm 7 days)
Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers
(1186 Williston Rd, So. Burlington, 10am - 7pm Mon-Sat)
Things to do nearby - right on the Islands
- Visit the Hyde Log Cabin,
oldest log cabin in Vermont! Or the world famous Chazy Reef, with its
480,000,000 year old fossils!
- Check out the Islands Center for
the Arts' interesting and varied calendar.
- For "antiquers" there are innumerable antique stores on
the Islands
- Local produce is available at Pomykala Farm, Grand Isle, or at the
South Hero Farmer's Market, every Wednesday from 4-7 pm
- Explore North Hero's legendary "Best of New England"
general store, Hero's Welcome
and enjoy one of their delicious made-to-order sandwiches. And then
rent a kayak from them, bring it back to the house, and explore the lake!
- Buy a prize winning apple pie at Hacketts Orchard, 86 South
Street, South Hero, (802) 372-4848
- Enjoy some of the many events at South Hero’s own Snow Farm Vineyard
- Spend an afternoon on the sandy beaches of nearby Knight Point State
Park or Alburg
Dunes State Park
- Visit historic Isle La Motte
and see:
- St. Anne’s Shrine and the
memorial to Samuel de Champlain, who discovered our Lake
- a quarry with the
oldest fossils in North America,
- or have tea at historic Fisk Farm
- You may wish to familiarize yourself, before you arrive, with an
"Online
History Tour" of the Lake Champlain Islands
- Play golf at
many courses: on the islands is the 18-hole Alburg Golf Links (there's a
discount coupon in the free local paper, the "Islander") and two
9-hole courses: Wilcox
Cove Golf Course and Apple Tree Bay.
A bit further away you might also try the West Bolton Golf Club, 25
minutes from Burlington or the International, in
Québec, a 40 minute drive from the house.
- There's always
tennis available on Shore Acres's
clay courts. Call to reserve a court.
- Rent a kayak,
canoe or bike
for the day from Hero's
Welcome's Lake Store. and the North Hero Marina (802-372-5953).
For biking maps and destinations click here.
- A wide range of
motor or sail boats are also available for rent at the North Hero Marina, or North Hero House.
- Let An Bradon Fishing Charters in
South Hero take you to the best fishing spots.
- For a wonderful
view climb (or drive up) Whiteface
in Lake Placid, NY - the
conical mountain across the Lake.
- Bike the Island Rail Trail along the
waterfront from Burlington to Colchester or around the Islands.
- Take a day hike on one of Vermont's
Long Trail trails, managed by the Green Mountain Club. Always
take a map.
(from the house phone there is no need to dial
"802" for Burlington or more local calls)
- Several
suggestions under nearby attractions would be
perfect for families, too - especially spending an afternoon on the sandy
beaches of nearby Knight Point State Park or Alburg Dunes State Park
- Call Driftwood
Tours (802-373-0022 or 802-899-2998) and ask Captain Holly Poulin to
pick you up at the swimming dock in her pontoon boat for a cruise around
North Hero Island ~ or join one of her regularly scheduled tours
that leave from the North Hero House dock.
- Take a tractor
tour of Shelburne Farms
through an Olmsted designed landscape and the visit the largest barn in
America!
- Drive to the
lovely New England village of Stowe via dramatic Smugglers’ Notch
via Jeffersonville, take the ski lift up Mount
Mansfield for incredible views, then finish the day with a tour of Ben & Jerry's
Ice Cream factory!
- Visit the
adorable llamas at South Hero's Crescent Bay Farms
- Enjoy a
sidewalk lunch and people watching along Church Street Marketplace,
a pedestrian mall is the heart of Burlington. It is a lively scene
day and night, with numerous restaurants and bars with outside seating in
addition to the many shops. Frequent concerts and ubiquitous street
performers add to the carnival atmosphere.
- Children of all
ages will enjoy the ECHO Leahy
Center, the new lake aquarium and science center on Burlington's waterfront
- Watch
nationally famous Lake
Champlain Chocolates being made in Burlington or visit the Vermont Teddy Bear
Factory further down Route 7 in Shelburne.
- Besides the
huge Champlain Valley Fair (Aug.
23-Sept.31), a wide variety of events, take place, year-round, at the Champlain Valley Exposition
Center in Essex Junction, from quilt festivals to Circus Smirkus and
Elton John performances
- Get a new view
of lake on a Lake Champlain
Shoreline Cruise or on Northern Lights,
offering brunch, luncheon, narrated and dinner damce cruises out of
Burlington (802) 864-9669
- Check out the schedule
for Island Arts, an active local
arts organization with many summer programs.
- Some of New
England's finest crafts are for sale at the Vermont State Craft Center, Frog Hollow, in Burlington
- Spend a day at
the unique Shelburne
Museum, one of the nation's premier collections of Americana.
- Attend a Vermont Mozart Festival concert at the
Grand
Isle Lake House (862-7352) or at Snow
Farm Winery on South Hero.
- The Flynn Theatre website is the
place to find tickets and directions to many of the region's cultural
events
- Enjoy a Vermont Symphony concert on the lawn of
the Inn
at Shelburne Farms, one of Vermont's most impressive homes (now an
inn), constructed in 1887-88 as the summer home for Dr. William Seward
Webb and his wife Lila Vanderbilt Webb.
- Attend a play
at St. Michael's
Playhouse.
- The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum highlights
the central rôle of the lake in early U.S. history and the Fleming Museum at the University
of Vermont has a variety of changing exhibits.
- Don't forget:
the cosmopolitan city of Montreal,
with its marvelous Montreal
Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux Arts), and international
atmosphere, is only 65 miles away!
- If you enjoy
great food a visit to Montreal's wonderful open air market, Marché
Jean-Talon, is a must. Filled with fresh meats, fish and produce, it
is surrounded by gourmet stores offering fine artisanal breads and cheeses
and smoked meats of all kinds. Two favorite are La Fromagerie Hamel
and Le Marché des Saveurs du Quebec ("market of the flavors of
Quebec"). Marché Jean-Talon has its own Metro stop on the
orange and blue lines.
- Enjoy
antiquing, locally or at the famous Kennedy Brothers Antique
Center in Vergennes.
- Take the Charlotte Ferry to
historic Essex,
NY, for lunch at the Essex Shipyard Restaurant (518-963-4200), in the Adirondack's Lake Champlain
Region
- Float above the
Green Mountains on a Above
Reality hot air balloon ride: 1-877-386-7473
- Attend a Revolutionary War re-enactment at Lake Champlain's
historic Fort Ticonderoga
- Take one of the
daily tours of Magic Hat Brewery in
Burlington.
- Visit
extraordinary the Ausable Chasm,
across the Lake in New York State
- The Vermont Wildflower Farm
in Charlotte is a must for gardeners.
- Check out the Lake Champlain Region website
Eating out - locally
(from the house phone there is no need to dial
"802" for Burlington or more local calls)
- Shore Acres - a local
favorite, with wonderful views. Reservations suggested.
372-8722
- North Hero House - In
"downtown" North Hero. Reservations suggested.
372-4735
- The Blue Paddle Bistro in
South Hero. Delicious food, friendly owners, unique bar. 372-4814
- Links on the Lake
- at the Alburg Country Club - 10 miles from the house, nice view, good
value. 796-3586
- Ruthcliffe's - on Isle La
Motte (800) 769-8162
- McKee Pub
& Pizza - take-out or eat-in pizza on Rte 2 in Keeler Bay
372-5454
- Kim's
Snack Bar - a roadside diner: hot dogs, onion rings and soft-serve ice
cream, etc., on Rte. 2, south of A&B Convenience store, Grand Isle
Eating out off-island - worth the trip
(from the house phone there is no need to dial
"802" for Burlington or more local calls)
- Junior's Italian - good Italian
food, 85 South Park Drive,
Colchester, Exit 16 south off Rte 89 (802) 655-5555
- Looking for
breakfast, brunch or lunch? Try Sneakers, 36 Main Street,
Winooski, 7am to 3pm, daily; or have a quick lunch coming to or from the
airpot at Al’s French Fries, 1251
Williston Road
- Windjammer Restaurant
- good American food. Behind Best Western, Williston Rd (the
road from Rte 89 to the airport), South Burlington (802) 862-6585
- Trattoria Delia - an
upscale and recommended Italian restaurant in downtown Burlington.
Reservations suggested (802) 864-5253
- Chef's
Corner Café Bakery - wonderful pastries and salads, 415 Essex
Rd, Williston, one block north. of Taft's Corner (802) 878-5524
- Craving
extraordinary Chinese food? Try A Single Pebble in
Burlington, open every evening and for lunch on weekdays. You can make a reservation on
line or call (802) 865-5200.
- Koto - a Japanese steakhouse on Rte 7,
just south of I89 intersection, So. Burlington (802) 660-8976
- Café Shelburne – contemporary French restaurant,
5573 Shelburne Rd, Shelburne (802) 985-3939
- Leunig's Bistro - Church &
College Streets, (802) 862-5306; or Sweetwaters Bistro - 120 Church
St. (802) 864-9800. Both serve good food and overlook Church
Street, Burlington's lively pedestrian mall
- Pauline's Café -
1834 Shelburne Rd., S. Burlington, VT (802) 862-1081
- In Burlington,
near the Lake or on the waterfront: Ice
House Restaurant, (802) 864-1800, Taste
of Burlington, (802) 658-4844, or Greenstreet's
Restaurant, 30 Main St. (802) 862-4930.
- Café Mooney Bay - on the New
York shore, directly across the Lake from the house, at the marina with
all the masts. (518) 561-0140
- Black
Sheep Bistro, Vergennes (802) 877-9991 Rave reviews!
- And, finally,
try one of the restaurants run by Vermont's famous New England Culinary Institute,
(NECI), (802) 862-6324
- Butler's (or the more
casual, Tavern) at
The Inn at Essex, 70 Essex Way, Essex, VT Reservations strongly
suggested (802) 764-1413
- Chef's Table - 118
Main Street, Montpelier, Reservations appreciated. (802) 229-9202
FYI: the average daily high temperatures
in Burlington are: June 76°, July 81°, Aug. 77°, Sept. 69°, Oct. 61°
Interested in learning more about the lake?
-another
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