So to catch you up…no Heady Topper after a number of attempts. But I will prevail! To end our day in Burlington we walked around downtown. There are a few blocks that are closed to vehicles making a nice open-air shopping district. The town is very eccentric with a lot of art and unique personalities walking around.
One of my favorite bands, Phish, was from around the area so we made our way to the bar they used to play. The bar Nectar’s was just a short walk off the main drag and was where Phish played some of their first bar gigs. There’s even a record named in honor of the owner.
After walking around the streets for a bit in the hot fall sun, we made our way to get ice cream. And of course, we had to stop at the local favorite, Ben and Jerry’s. Lennox drove, Colette co-piloted, Sienna and I held on for dear life and Katie ran furiously to catch up while taking pics!
As we started to make our way back to the car we passed by a Burton store. Katie reminded me that Burlington was the home of Burton Snowboards. (How this slipped my mind I’ll never know) So we quickly checked our phones and found that the corporate HQ was close by and had a flagship store open to the public. With time quickly ticking down until they closed we jumped in the car and sped off.
Now anyone that knows me intimately knows that I love Burton. It’s the only brand of snowboard I ride and have been doing so since the early 90’s. Making our way to the corporate HQ was sort of a pilgrimage for me. It did not disappoint. The main entrance and store is located right next to the marketing department. The employees that were there were friendly and offered cookies to the kids. The office was also dog-friendly, so many pups were running around, which Colette and Sienna and Lennox just loved. The foyer was awesome. One area had the mission and values of the Company boldly written across the walls and another wall had a timeline of Burton snowboard evolution told with signature boards from across the years. We shopped at the store got some cool gear. Embedded in the floor at different points around the store were signature boards and prototypes rode by some of the great riders of the past and present. The Craig Kelly R&D building tour was closed when we were there, which was a bummer, but I guess that means another reason to venture this way again.
Getting some Heady (Topper)
So on our final day in Vermont and no luck getting Heady, we decided to go to the source. Up in the mountains in the small ski town of Stowe, VT lies the source of my craft beer search. The Alchemist, home of Heady Topper, and other delicious craft delicacies.
My quest finished we decided to celebrate by taking a gondola up Mount Mansfield to take in the beautiful views on this fine day.
With our day winding down we had one final stop. One of the most well-known ice creameries in the US lay a mere 10 miles away. So off we went for a sample and tour of the world famous Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory!
The tour was very fun and we had a wonderful guide who was very funny. As would be expected, Ben and Jerry’s is a very socially conscious company and does a lot of good for local and worldwide causes. After the tour, we got to sample the goods. We ate ice cream and walked the flavor graveyard. The flavor graveyard was a bunch of tombstones with the names of flavors that the company had retired. All in all a sweet way to end the Vermont trip for sure!
