Top 6 Favorites of Church Street

In my last post I listed my 4 favorite places in Burlington. Church Street was one of them. Church Street itself is full of shops and restaurants.  This is a list of my favorite parts of Church Street.

*Restaurants aren't included...they'll be covered in my next post.*

1. Burlington Town Center 
The Burlington Town Center is the mall in downtown Burlington. It has many entrances, one located on Church Street. It has many popular retailers such as Gap, American Eagle, and, my personal obsession, Ann Taylor Loft. Other shops such as Urban Outfitters and Banana Republic are located directly on Church Street.

2. Tradewinds
One of my favorite stores to wander around is Tradewinds. They have jewelry from all over the world as well as wood carvings and metal figures. Basically there's just a lot of really cool stuff to look at. And it smells nice as well.



3. Ben & Jerry's
I am a massive fan of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I actually had to keep a count of the number of pints I ate last semester to slow myself down. (9, by the way. I ate 9 pints. Gross. But delicious.) The scoop shop is a spot I frequent regularly. I tend to lean toward getting Chocolate Therapy since it's Scoop Shop Only meaning it can't be bought as a pint. So sad. So yummy. I also really like the Berry Berry Extraordinary Sorbet. Also, while we're on the topic of Ben & Jerry's, the factory in Waterbury offers tours. Check those out on the weekends...it's only a few exits down from SMC.

4. Zinnia
Like Tradewinds I love wandering around Zinnia. They have really nice jewelry with a prices ranging from very reasonable to fairly expensive.

5. Lake Champlain Chocolates
Lake Champlain Chocolates is a Vermont company whose factory is located on Pine Street in Burlington (like B&J there are factory tours offered.) They make all kinds of different chocolates and hot chocolate. Yum.

6. Street Acts
One of the cool parts of Church Street is that it's full of street performers. On nice days it's fun to sit on a bench and listen to a guitar/violin duet or watch this guy to the left do his act. He's hilarious and around all the time.

Quick Life Update

I've been blogging a bit recently, but haven't had the chance to post any pictures or fun facts from my summer. So here it is.

With Michelle in the fort we built with
the seniors. We were so proud.

I've been living up at Tyler Place for the summer, which has been so nice since it really limits the driving I have to do. I've worked with every age group except for teens and have been back in the Playhouse with the little ones this week. The summer is absolutely flying by. I only have five weeks left, which is sad. Not too sad though since I'm pretty pumped for orientation this year! Until then I'll be loving the TP lifestyle. I'll babysit a good amount but also leave some room for fun like Thursday night Dance Parties!

Lilly, Patricia, and I at Dance Party a few weeks ago.

It was also my birthday on June 18, which was a really fun day. I was home with the family for a little while and had a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake. Yum. Then I headed to Burlington where I spent the night with Coligny and Maria, who I'll be living with this coming year at SMC.



Keep checking in for more posts. Next Friday I'll be putting out my Top 6 Favorites of Church street, which is kind of a continuation of my last post, My Top 4 Favorite Places in Burlington.

A view of the sunset on my way home from work.

Top 4 Favorite Places in Burlington

I've decided on writing a new string of blog posts about places in Burlington. Based on the Class of 2015 Facebook page there are a lot of people that are insanely pumped for the fall. Many are excited to explore the area around SMC. I figured I'd write about my favorite places to give a preview of the area.

So here they are, my top 4 favorites:

1. The Waterfront

Burlington has a great location. At the bottom of the hill sits Lake Champlain. The waterfront is a great place to go to grab a bite to eat or a creemee (yes, get used to it, you're in VT now...it's a creemee NOT a soft serve) at Burlington Bay Cafe, walk down the side of the lake, or just take a seat on the swinging benches.

2. Church Street
One of the main attractions of Burlington is Church Street Marketplace. It's an entire street closed off to traffic with shops and restaurants. A lot of people will head there just for an afternoon to wander around and get away from SMC for a bit. It's also nice to go out for dinner on the weekends since there are so many delicious restaurants. My favorite is going shopping at the mall and Church Street shops, get dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (blog post to come) and grab ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.

It doesn't look like much on the outside but it's a great
addition to the Burlington area.

3. Higher Ground

SMC XC taking a pic on a beach not far from North Beach.

The big place for music around Burlington is Higher Ground. It's a couple minute drive from SMC and has tons of great shows though out the year. It's a pretty small venue which makes for a nice small show. The tickets are usually pretty cheap. Check out the calendar for upcoming shows.


4. North Beach
As mentioned, Burlington is located next to Lake Champlain. While Vermont might not get to enjoy the ocean like the rest of New England, we still have some sandy beaches on the shores of the lake. One of these is North Beach. I love going with friends during the early fall semester when it's still kind of summery.

So there you have it, the top places around Burlington (other than SMC of course.) Be sure to check back in a week or two for my next post, Top 5 Favorite Places on Church Street!

is there a lot of pressure to be a fast runner on the cross country team?

No not at all! Everyone is pushed, but not against each other. Molly encourages personal improvement throughout the season. She's just as happy when the slowest girl gains time as she is when the fastest one does.

Ask me anything!