On the 22nd of July, Alex, Chantelle and I went to Burlington for one of Al's many orthodontist appointments. But as a small surprise, I decided that after the appointment was through I would take them to the Burlington Waterfront. Since I never drove down into the city of Burlington before, I took along my (now beloved) TomTom GPS. That thing works like a charm. In fact, I tossed the idea around of writing to the company. Something along these lines: "Dear Makers of TomTom: My kids and I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful product. Now we can travel together without the "F-bomb" being heard once in our travels. As my kids could testify, navigation by the use of a traditional map in a city (big or small) was once stressful for me, often producing the most God-awful strings of curse words to offend the human ear. (I still think a string of them hangs over the city of Montreal from our trip in 2007.) But with your product, we now have the freedom to travel swearword-free. God bless you TomTom for bringing peaceful travelling to me and my loved ones." But then I thought better of that idea. LOL
Anyway, below are some photos of the day. Nothing exciting for those familiar with the area, but some of the photos turned out quite nicely, nonetheless.
Our first stop was the Echo Lake Aquarium. We had lunch first in their Think! Cafe. Not bad, the kids had nachos and I had a panini with portabello mushrooms...yummy! The aquarium part of the building isn't a very large place, but it is kind of neat. There are assorted creatures there, mostly fish, snakes, turtles, and frogs. Not all of them are indigenous to the lake though. There are starfish, anemones, shark, large and small salt water fish and tropical rainforest frogs. We enjoyed the experience, although it only took us about 2 hours (including the time spent on lunch) to go through it. It is primarly geared toward grade-school aged kids, though, and there are plenty of gadgets and activities for them to put their little hands on. If you have kids that age, I recommend you take them. It will be fun for them.
After the aquarium, the three of us walked up to Church Street to check out the Church Street Marketplace. It was full of activity and street musicians playing Beatles songs. We went to the book store and I bought Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I have started but not finished, though I find very interesting. [It is about a female professor who invites a group of her best female Iranian students to her home to clandestinely study works of Western literature that are prohibited reading there. It is a liberating forum in which the young women reveal their personalities, hearts and minds not only through the discussion of the books read but also in their choice to unveil themselves of the burkahs and headscarves that are required apparel for women in that culture. Their action to unveil and their reading of restricted texts is a symbolical and psychological emergence from repression. Coming from our culture of almost-anything-goes, it makes me appreciate the personal freedom I enjoy daily (without much real thought of it) just to read any book I choose and to express my thoughts and feelings without fear of injust repercussion.]
On the return trip to Plattsburgh, I decided to take the Burlington VT - Port Kent NY ferry back to NY rather than the customary Grand Isle VT - Cumberland Head NY ferry. We had to make it a shorter day of it though, since the Burlington-Port Kent ferry's last departure each day from the King Street dock is 5pm. While waiting in line to buy our ticket for the ferry Alex snapped this photo of a statue of Champy, the Lake Champlain Monster. We were a bit early to board the ferry, so we parked the car and walked to a bar/restaurant right at the dock and I enjoyed a Corona while we waited.
I think this picture turned out pretty cool. I really like the perspective of the pilings in it.
The back of the Echo Lake Aquarium.
The Burlington Waterfront
Some folks might wonder: Why bother taking pictures of local stuff? Well, I do so for a couple of reasons. One, I have others who read my blog that have never seen the local sights, and, two, I think what is immediately around us often goes unappreciated. So, I am doing my part to appreciate it. Enjoy.
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