Travel to Burlington

Can anyone recommend a good route to Burlington from Ithaca? Thanks!

There is no good route to Burlington, but I bet Christine Quinn could offer her experienced thoughts on the least sucky routes.

Basically, it's "Get to Albany via your favourite route," then pick from among the suboptimal routes from there to Burlington.

Getting to Albany: Route 79 east to Whitney Point, Route 206 east to Bainbridge, I-88 east to Albany.

From there, take I-87 north. You'll then either continue north up the lake and take a ferry over (scenic, but slow), or go east around the bottom of the lake via 4 east and 7 north.

The only time I went to Burlington I took the following route from Albany (79-206-88 is the best way from Ithaca to Albany. You pick up 88 in Bainbridge, and 206 in Whitney Point). These directions came from a Vermont resident, but they may have been the easiest as opposed to the fastest.

Get on I-87 and head north to exit 20. You want to get on rt. 149 east, but this means taking a left off of the exit ramp onto rt. 9 north and then a quick right on to rt. 149 east. I believe it is well marked. Take rt. 149 into Fort Anne, NY. At an intersection with a Cumberland Farms you pick up rt. 4 east, by taking a left. At this point rt. 4 east is really going north, but once you get into Whitehall, NY it will bear right, cross the Champlain Canal and soon you will be headed east on rt. 4 in Vermont.

Once on Rt. 4 in Vermont, take exit 2 (rt. 22A, Fair Haven). Take a left off of the exit ramp to head north on 22A. This will bring you 45 miles north into Vergennes and once you are through Vergennes, rt. 22A comes to a "T" with rt. 7. Go left, and you're about 25 miles from the Vermont Pub and Brewery. There's a point where you have to bear left onto St. Paul Street to get into downtown B-town - the fork in the road is less than a mile past the route 189 ramps.

This drive is especially nice if you get into Vermont around sunset, as you can see the sun drop below the mountains on the other side of the lake. Any of the B-town folk can provide better info than I can, though. I'm not actually sure where the rink is, so that might make a difference in your route. I believe that this is the best way to get to the VPB, though.

Yeah, I've done the drive a few times. (Home address: S. Burlington, VT. Weekend address: Lynah, Section C, Row 4, Seat 2). There's no good route, just the lesser of evils.

I agree with Tom's directions. That's the route I always take. For getting to the rink:

Once you turn onto Rt 7 north outside of Vergennes, go north for about 22 miles. You'll start seeing signs for I-189/I-89. In South Burlington, immediately before the on-ramp to I-189, take a right onto Swift St. (There is a Texaco and a Denny's at this intersection.) At the second light on Swift St, take a left onto Spear St. The rink is about 2 miles down on the left.

Random traveler notes:
1) The Mobil station in Whitney Point sells Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (Very evil - hard to resist on the Sunday drive home.)
2) There are good outlet stores at Exit 20 off I-87, if you're into that sort of thing.
3) Don't speed going through Vergennes. If you do and you get to chat with Officer Joe, tell him I said hi and then tell him to go to hell.
4) On Rt 7 North, there's a store called Dakin Farms, which sells all manner of yummy Vermonty food (syrup, cheese, meats, jellies, fudge, etc). If you have time, stop and eat all the samples and buy some stuff. If you don't have time, just stop and eat all the samples.

Good call on Dakin farms.... We're going to order a ham for Christmas for a taste of "home." Although BBQed beef brisket doesn't sound half bad, either....

How about Al's French Fry Shack?

Does anyone know how far the Ben and Jerry's site is from either UVM or Dartmouth? I imagine if Graham '02 and I are taking a roadtrip this weekend, we'll want ice cream....

Al's is always good for a tasty and inexpensive dose of grease.

There's nothing within easy walking distance of the rink, but there are plenty of bars and restaurants in downtown Burlington on Church St, Burlington's (much better) version of The Commons.
For excellent drink and good food: Vermont Pub and Brewery and Ri Ra's Irish pub. Ri Ra's gets extremely crowded on weekend nights.
For food: Three Tomatoes (formerly known as Sweet Tomatoes - trademark issue), Bourbon St Bar and Grill, New England Culinary Institute
For (usually) free music and gravy fries: Nectar's (birthplace of Phish)
Sports bars: Nothing good. Church St Tavern and Finnigan's Pub usually have at least one TV tuned to an NHL game.
Other decent bars on and around Church St: Ake's Place, Red Square, What Ales You

The main plant is in Waterbury, about 45 minutes west of Burlington. It's an easy drive. Pick up 89 South and get off at Exit 10. Turn left onto Rt 10. B&J's is a few miles down the road. Can't miss it.

There's a scoop shop, with a drive-thru no less, on the way up Rt 7. There's another in downtown Burlington.

Are Bootless and Unhorsed still playing anywhere? Are they still together, for that matter?

Bootless and Unhorsed plays at a downtown bar called Rasputin's. Problem is, they play from 6 to 9 on Friday nights. Not at all convenient for a hockey fan. Also, Rasputin's doesn't have quite the same beer-soaked, smoky, sing-obscenities-at-the-top-of-your-voice, dive atmosphere as The Last Chance Saloon did. But I do have a nice mp3 of the classic "Bugger Off" that I can send you.

Christine Quinn '94 wrote:

Rasputin's doesn't have quite the same beer-soaked, smoky, sing-obscenities-at-the-top-of-your-voice, dive atmosphere as The Last Chance Saloon did.

You mean they don't have to re-lacquer the tables once a month?

Looks like a nor'easter is forming for the weekend. Accuweather predicts heavy snow for burlington and hanover on Saturday. How are the roads in this area?

It's all highway (89) between Burlington and Hanover. The road crews usually do a decent job, but it's not heavily traveled and you're going through the Green Mountains. (Not the first time we will have done the UVM to Dartmouth trek in a snowstorm, eh Newman?) You don't have to spend much time on local roads in either town.

Christine and Tom, thanks for the great directions. Just one more question if either of you see this in time, what's the approximate travel time from Albany to Burlington? I need to decide what time to leave...

Just a smidge under 3 hours in good weather and no leaving-Albany-for-the-weekend traffic. Once you get to Saratoga, it's easily < 2.5.

cquinn
Bootless and Unhorsed plays at a downtown bar called Rasputin's. Problem is, they play from 6 to 9 on Friday nights. Not at all convenient for a hockey fan. Also, Rasputin's doesn't have quite the same beer-soaked, smoky, sing-obscenities-at-the-top-of-your-voice, dive atmosphere as The Last Chance Saloon did. But I do have a nice mp3 of the classic "Bugger Off" that I can send you.

Oh wow, there's an album!

Do you guys think Murray and Bâby and LeNeveu will lead us to the Frozen Four this season? Also I'm worried about the possibility of invading Iraq.

French Rage
Do you guys think Murray and Bâby and LeNeveu will lead us to the Frozen Four this season? Also I'm worried about the possibility of invading Iraq.

I dunno, man, but I'm a little troubled by the fact that my wife hasn't graduated from college yet.

Beeeej

French Rage
Do you guys think Murray and Bâby and LeNeveu will lead us to the Frozen Four this season? Also I'm worried about the possibility of invading Iraq.

I dunno, man, but I'm a little troubled by the fact that my wife hasn't graduated from college yet.

As she met you yet?

There may still be time for her.

Trotsky

Beeeej

French Rage
Do you guys think Murray and Bâby and LeNeveu will lead us to the Frozen Four this season? Also I'm worried about the possibility of invading Iraq.

I dunno, man, but I'm a little troubled by the fact that my wife hasn't graduated from college yet.

As she met you yet?

There may still be time for her.

No, but she distinctly remembers hearing me yell at the UNH fans holding up "UHN" signs at Worcester in March, 2002.

In other news, we're all really old.

Not sure that's other news.

Is there a Cornell hockey forum out there for fans who aren't closer to death than their first game?

Trotsky
Not sure that's other news.

Is there a Cornell hockey forum out there for fans who aren't closer to death than their first game?

I don't know if quite that old, but I am doing the math and realizing I'm roughly twice as old as I was when this thread started.

French Rage

Trotsky
Not sure that's other news.

Is there a Cornell hockey forum out there for fans who aren't closer to death than their first game?

I don't know if quite that old, but I am doing the math and realizing I'm roughly twice as old as I was when this thread started.

I'm not sure exactly when I first watched a Cornell game. I do know that if I add the number of years ago that I first played hockey at Lynah to my current age, I get 134.

David Harding

French Rage

Trotsky
Not sure that's other news.

Is there a Cornell hockey forum out there for fans who aren't closer to death than their first game?

I don't know if quite that old, but I am doing the math and realizing I'm roughly twice as old as I was when this thread started.

I'm not sure exactly when I first watched a Cornell game. I do know that if I add the number of years ago that I first played hockey at Lynah to my current age, I get 134.

I don't know why you waited until you were 130 in 2017 to play!

French Rage

David Harding

French Rage

Trotsky
Not sure that's other news.

Is there a Cornell hockey forum out there for fans who aren't closer to death than their first game?

I don't know if quite that old, but I am doing the math and realizing I'm roughly twice as old as I was when this thread started.

I'm not sure exactly when I first watched a Cornell game. I do know that if I add the number of years ago that I first played hockey at Lynah to my current age, I get 134.

I don't know why you waited until you were 130 in 2017 to play!

That would be 138.