Where do I Sign Up to Become a Green Mountain Boy?

Vermont is straight up incredible. Although housing is wicked expensive and jobs are a bit scarce, I really love this place. It's truly green everywhere.

Yesterday I hiked the Waterbury Trail up to Mt. Hunger and saw a 360-degree view of the state from 3500 feet. It was a vicious hike because it had been raining since the night before and the trail was basically a smaller-scale stream. I had to tuck my poles a couple of times so that I could use both hands to pull myself up some of the soaked boulder scrambles. I loved it. It made me a lot more tired than I remember, but I felt exhilarated when I got back to the van. As strange as it might be, this was the first hike of this Summer I did el lobo solo. Stephanie stayed at Amy and Pete's while I was out. I wish she could have seen the summit, but I was glad to move at my own pace for the jaunt. Selfish, aren't I?

We've been toying with the idea of settling in this state because it's so amazing. People in the crosswalks here have the right of way - NO MATTER WHAT. There is a really unique school in Warren, Vermont called Yestermorrow that teaches a bunch of courses on design combined with building. Most places focus on one or the other, but in this school, you learn design elements and then you build whatever it is you've designed. It's mostly for architects, landscape and furniture designers, but I think anyone would benefit from their courses.

Pete gave us the tour of his company, Magic Hat Brewing in Burlington this afternoon. It's pretty cool how this little brewery is growing. We sampled quite a few of their local offerings, so Pete had to drive us home :) Pete works in the lab making sure that each brew that's released for the public is top quality and won't degrade beyond a reasonable level during the life of the beer. He checked while he was in Michigan, and the Magic Hat beer he found was only two or three weeks old! That's pretty amazing if you check some of the other domestic brews that take 3 months to get to a shelf where we can buy them. I highly recommend this beer.

Well, the peeps are getting dinner ready, so I best be heading down to pitch in. Maybe we won't be leaving as soon as we planned...