Saturday, July 30, 2011

The road to Vermont

Well, my family's now arrived in Burlington, Vermont, a destination we went to for no reason other than the fact that it's only a few hours from Ottawa and we've never been there before.

It was a fun adventure getting here. We stopped off for dinner at  a Ponderosa Steakhouse, which unfortunately turned out to be nothing like the Ponderosa restaurants that we remembered from living in New York some twenty years ago. Maybe it's a different chain? Maybe they've re-vamped the chain? Maybe we're getting old and our memories are faulty?

After dinner, it began to ran, and we drove through the  heart of Akwesasne Mohawk territory, amused at the alternating signs inviting people to gamble at the casino and signs urging people not to gamble.

  The route we chose was not, I suspect, the most direct route but it was certainly scenic. The landscape was dotted with trees, houses, and the occasional giant wind turbines. I have, by the way, an irrational distrust of wind turbines. 

We took a small ferry across the long lake that makes up the Champlain.  I have an irrational distrust of small ferries. But luckily despite the fast pace of the boat, it barely felt like we were moving, except for the wind blowing through the sun roof, which felt great because it was still humid after the rain. 



Finally we arrived in the quaint city of Burlington, where even the smallest most ordinary looking houses have grand white columns adorning the entrances. Whenever I mention Vermont, I'm usually told that it isn't very densely populated but it is a beautiful state. Kind of like Namibia, I guess. When I mention Burlington, the biggest city in the state, all I'm ever told is:

1. You'll be the only Asian there you ever see.

2. Phish is from Burlington.

3. Seriously, it's a really white.

It's true. Everyone's very friendly though, and my parents could probably stand to abstain from Asian food for a few days.


but then again, there are the dumpling stands on Church Street