June 24th was our wedding anniversary, so we decided to take the weekend and get off the grid in Vermont. Mike used to live in Burlington, but we hadn't really ever explored the city together or with dogs, so we packed up the Jeep, booked a cabin on AirBnB and hit the road for a two-night getaway!
We drove up from Connecticut after work on Saturday night (Thanks, retail) and woke up on Sunday morning in our beautiful AirBnB, a one-room cabin with solar-powered electricity and no running water, and a stunning view of Camel's Hump, the mountain we planned on climbing during our stay, but we'll get to that later.
Day 1
The dogs took a while to adjust to our new home for the weekend, so they woke us up at 5:30. Not ideal, but that early morning walk made up for it.
After breakfast, we piled into our beloved Jeep, Rubi (after taking the top down, of course), and left our cabin for the day to venture into Burlington, with a few stops along the way. We decided to pause at Smuggler's Notch, a mountain pass that separates Mount Mansfield from Spruce Peak and the Sterling range. The road going through it is narrow and only open part of the year, but when accessible, it's a very popular destination for hikers, boulderers, and outdoorsy types of all sorts. It was actually here that we discovered Gio absolutely loves scrambling up rocks. He may or may not be part mountain goat.
We honestly could have stayed and explored the notch for hours, but we had to venture onward to meet up with some old friends for lunch and to let the pups stretch their legs in a fenced in backyard.
Okay, we promise they did play, but they were very content to just lay in the shade for the most part -- of course getting under the deck definitely was intriguing!! As some of you know, Aloy is a lover of digging holes, and when it comes to Gio, he's a true wolf: he loves a dark den to hide in!
Bellies full and dogs sufficiently run, we said goodbye to Carl and Kristen and made our way into Burlington to explore the city.... Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon!