The advent of summer weather may be an inspiration to you to take up a new exercise routine, either to fit into that bathing suit or to get some fresh air. But no novice runner should start with the Green Mountain Relay, a 200-mile race that goes over the hills and through the woods of Vermont.
It's designed for a team, but the high-altitude course, above, is still no slouch, even if you have the maximum competition allowance of 12 runners. (That's still more than a half marathon per person, albeit over two days.)
It's too late to sign up for this year's Green Mountain Rally, but if you hang out in Bennington this weekend cheering on the racers (and buying them pasta dinners), maybe you'll get some tips for 2009?
Bromley Mountain is having quite the political summer. Vermont's senior senator, Democrat Patrick Leahy, snuck a provision into a recent farm bill that would have had the federal government sell some national forest land to the ski resort in his state. But President Bush--or more likely one of his aides--caught the earmark; Bush specifically cited the proposed sale as one reason he vetoed the farm bill.
Congress didn't care for that, and they overrode the veto--only to find out that a paperwork mistake will force a re-vote on the entire thing. So Bush may have yet another chance to stick it to Leahy and Bromley Mountain.
In the meantime, the resort has plenty of summer activities on its current property. A three-track alpine slide is the main draw, but the zip line, "space bikes" and water slide also look pretty decent. If they ever get that extra land from the national forest, who knows what might be added... Maybe a statue of a senator?
Our Eat 'n Sleep feature profiles a restaurant in a random city and a hotel nearby. It's kinda like that old show "Dinner and a Movie" but you know, with restaurant and hotels. And better jokes.
We love Vermont for its cheese, its beer and its hippie ski bums. But turns out it's a great place to go for summer hikes, too. That got us thinking that mountaineers heading out on the trails will be looking for a place to fill their bellies and rest their heads after a long day spent with Mother Nature. And as you'd expect, we know just the place for both.
Springfield Vermont is the official home of the The Simpsons, sort of. Now that we know where Homer and crew live, time to make a Vermont pilgrimage, to the official home of the first family of cartoons.
The fourteen Springfields of the United States were encouraged to make videos bolstering their Simpsons-worthiness for viewers to vote on online, and the town of 9,000 took first place with its donut-chasing adventure film.
One bitter Illinois resident, displeased with that Springfield's second-place finish, declared that Vermont isn't even a state in retaliation, while another blogger claimed that the real Simpsons hometown would never win such a contest in the first place. People, please, it's a perfectly cromulent prize, so let's embiggen the winning state.
Citizens of all Springfields in the contest will get a sneak peek of the "Simpsons" movie, although Springfield Vermont will host its July 21 premiere. The movie hits theatres nationwide on July 27th. Closest airport to the Simpson's new official home? MHT in Manchester, New Hampshire.
TurnHere has an interesting video, postulating that Brattleboro, Vermont is a mini San Francisco on the east coast. Supposedly, it's teeming with a heapin' helping of freaks to help round out the comparison.
We found the freaks on display to be lacking a certain freakiness. Unless you count a heavy reliance on a facial hairstyle from the mid-90s to be a prime example of freakiness, which we do not. Other freaks in the video include the shaggy-haired pizza delivery guy and a restaurant owner who broke his foot. Sadly, facial tattoos or flippers are nowhere to be seen.
Brattleboro is a great weekend destination in Vermont, superior to mall-ifed Burlington or too posh Woodstock, but the freak capital of the northeast? We doubt it. It would take a herculean effort to snatch that crown from New York City.
Today's NY Times has a great roundup of some of the better swimming holes across the country. Defined as "a depression in a natural body of water, usually a river, brook or stream, that is at least neck deep, enough to submerge a swimmer", swimming holes, especially finding an undiscovered one, are the topic of swimmingholes.info --and the Times' article's subject is the site's 'northeast correspondent' (sweet job, buddy) Apparently, Vermont's got the mother lode. And they are often found accidently, by seeing kids walking on the side of the road with towels when there's no pool in sight. Read on for a list of the article's suggested best nationwide swimming holes...and then jump away!
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by egw
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