All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

Martin Buber

One of my travel goals this year was to visit a new state. By the end of the year, we’ll have added not one but two new states to our list which is super exciting. However, it’s going to be hard to beat this past weekend in Burlington, Vermont.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about The Green State and knew I wanted to visit a place where we could bring our dogs and be able to bring them everywhere with us. We booked the trip and little did I know it would turn out to be one of the most dog friendly and memorable trips we’ve taken together.

Without further ado, here’s tons of info, thoughts, and photos from our trip! More to come on this trip in the coming weeks because it was just too awesome to contain it into one post.

Our Drive Up

We live about 7.5 hours away from Burlington by car, so of course we drove. We really didn’t have any other options, especially with the dogs and we wanted to get around easily while we were there on our own time. Plus, we’re used to long car rides. Whenever we go to see family the 4.5 hours it’s supposed to take always manages to turn into 6+ hours with a lot of sitting in traffic. We were hoping for just a straight drive with some stops of our choosing.

We got exactly that! We loaded up the car and set off only to stop 30 minutes later after we realized our little dog pooped in the back seat. We cleaned that up and were off again this time for longer! Halfway to our destination put us right at lunchtime so we stopped in Albany, NY for a quick bite to eat. We had quite a while in the car to look up restaurants in the area and we ended up at The Fountain Restaurant which had a great menu and was dog friendly.

The whole meal took a little longer than we planned on, but the restaurant was busy. Regardless, we had a really great time, a great-tasting meal, and time well spent outside of the car giving the boys time to stretch their legs. The entire two blocks around where we ate was filled with nothing but other restaurants and drink places. It was such a great place to stop that I’m so glad we decided to make it our halfway point.

The rest of the drive was uneventful outside of making pit stops for the dogs. We pulled up to our Airbnb and it was even cuter than in the pictures. Check in was easy, which after 9 hours on the road we really appreciated. After unpacking and settling in, we drove the 25 minutes to downtown Burlington. (Yes, we purposefully wanted to stay outside of downtown so we could have quiet and a place to ourselves where we could fully relax.)

Church Street Marketplace is a pedestrians only street lined with businesses, boutiques, and restaurants. It’s an amazing place to just walk around, especially on our first partial day. There were so many different types of food to choose from, but we landed on Gaku Ramen for dinner and oh man it was good. Back to the cabin we went and I’m proud to report that we went to bed very early.

First Full Day in Burlington

Our first full day in Burlington was a whirlwind in the best way possible. We packed so much into the day that by the end of it we were so surprised (and happy) about how much we’d seen and done.

Our day started with breakfast in town at August 1st. Get there early because it gets PACKED and stays that way until they close. Our friends recommended this place and while it was yummy, we honestly thought the breakfast was just okay. We found an incredible place on our last day, of course. More on that later!

Fully fueled up, we were ready for our hike at Red Rocks Park. The park itself covered 100 acres and has a few different trails you can hike on. We did most of them since they were all under 3 miles. We ended up doing about 4 miles that day in case anyone is interested. Mickey is getting older and we came prepared after noticing he’s slowing down on walks. I present, the best purchase we’ve ever completed for him: The Stroller.

Mickey’s maiden voyage in the stroller was a resounding success. This 100% not trail approved stroller took those trails like a BOSS. Mickey got to walk and then relax when he got too tired. It made us laugh the entire hike. It was the true MVP of this trip. The views were pretty amazing of the woods and of Lake Champlain. I would 100% recommend this trail to anyone who wants a little nature walk during their trip to Burlington.

Next stop: Zero Gravity Brewing. Their outdoor seating was gorgeous with hanging plants and lots of planters filled with colorful plants. It also had my favorite indoor area with lots of comfy seating, a huge fireplace, and games. We stayed outside since dogs weren’t allowed, but definitely check it out if you’re there! It was lunchtime, so while Will tried some new beers, I got lunch. I’m all about the veggies, so I loved finding healthy options on the menu and settled with a vegetable grain bowl.

After lunch we made a stop at a coffee shop, Speeder & Earl’s, to grab Will a coffee and some friends from grounds. Behind the coffee shop were several art galleries where several artists were featured and even the outside of the buildings were covered in art pieces. We explored in there a bit and I got some fun mountain earrings from a local artist. Yay supporting local!

Before coming to Vermont I looked up several bookstores and Crow Bookshop came highly recommended. It was on Church St. Marketplace, so I walked there and perused for a bit. It had a ton of children’s books and local Vermont history books, which while not my thing, I can appreciate. If that’s your thing, get yourself over there!

Annnnnnd we explored even more! Our next stop was Citizen Cider which quickly became our favorite spot in town. I hate beer, but cider is amazing. I’m a sweet cider person and this place had so many that I loved which almost never happens. I got a flight with 4 different sweet ciders and none of them had added sugar, they’re just naturally sweetened with fruit and I loved them all. They had lots of outdoor patio seating, indoor seating, and there was a deli set up underneath the patio for anyone who wanted something different from their menu.

Back into the main downtown area we went. We stopped at The Houndstooth as a fun stop for our dogs since it was a fun-looking pet store. Yes, we obviously walked out with a cat toy, a giant ball for Atlas, and treats for both dogs. We already had plans for dinner but we wanted to stay in town a little bit longer, so we went to The Whiskey Room.

It doesn’t look like it’s dog friendly, but it does have two small tables outside and the bartenders/servers are super nice. They even gave our dogs some liver treats. We decided that since the day had been so busy we were going to have an easy night at home with some takeout. There was a place 5 minutes from the cabin that did pizzas, mac n cheese, gumbo, etc that looked great. Did it taste good? Yes. Was it anything special? No. I won’t say the name on here because I won’t bad mouth a small business that did absolutely nothing wrong. I do wish just one of their ingredients was made fresh. Everything came from a box or a can and while it tasted fine, it could’ve been so much better.

Day Trip to Stowe

You’re going to have to wait another week for this incredible day trip’s details! It was just too good of a day to not have its own post. For now, read on for more amazing Burlington travel adventures!

Second Full Day In Burlington

After an amazing day exploring Stowe, we were ready to make the most of our last day in Burlington and our last day in Vermont before we drove back to PA. Our day started with the best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. Burlington Bagel Bakery does not mess around with breakfast and it is AMAZING. I got an asiago & roasted red pepper bagel with sun-dried tomato spread, garlic/herb cream cheese, turkey, lettuce, tomato and onion. I would’ve eaten there every single day it was that good.

Since the breweries and other places we wanted to visit didn’t open for another 1.5 hours, we decided to take another scenic walk. This time, instead of the woods, we walked along the waterfront path with views of Lake Champlain. It was a super cute walk with great views and an art installation!

Since most things were still closed we walked to a coffee shop to hang out for a bit. The Soda Plant is an old factory that now houses multiple businesses and an artists’ collective. We got Will a coffee and the dogs a pup cup at Brio and I got a smoothie at Tom Girl. It was a really cute stop that would’ve been even better if we had come on a day other than Sunday when the rest of the shops would be open.

After another quick stop at Citizen Cider, the brewery Will really wanted to try was open, so we walked back across town to Foam Brewers. They had a really cool outdoor area, a spot for a food truck, and a great indoor space with live music. All in all, we had a great time there. It did fill up quickly, so if you have a dog, you might want to get there earlier rather than later.

We had one more stop left on our way back to the car. J Skis is a fun mix of retail ski shop and bar with an outdoor seating area. I loved that the seats were either a ski lift made into a chair or several skis made into Adirondack chairs. It was a super cool themed bar and I’m glad we decided to make one last stop.

Since it was our last night, we wanted to go out to dinner and do something special. On our hike in Red Rocks, we met a couple that told us about Waterworks in Winooski. We looked it up and knew we had to go. Luckily, they had times available for reservations and were dog friendly. It ended up being the coolest place we ate.

Waterworks overlooks the old waterworks building across a river giving diners RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING views as they ate. The outdoor patio was super cute and while we didn’t have a great view of the water, we still got a great view, not to mention great food. I got salmon with broccolini and mashed cauliflower and topped off the night with flourless chocolate cake with raspberry drizzle that was out of this world. After dinner, we wanted to soak up more of the river sights, so we took the boys for a walk along it.

The rest of the night was spent doing the worst part of traveling: packing to go home the next day.

Our Drive Home

Let me just say that traveling on the busiest day of the year was amazing. We never seem to travel south or towards beaches at the end of summer and tend to go north. Almost no one else does this and it makes for some of the easiest road trips we’ve ever taken and destinations that aren’t super busy. ur way home was even less busy than our way up. It was a 7 hour drive, but it flew by. We decided not to stop for a sit down lunch on the way home, so we made even better time. Lunch ended up being leftovers from a few different places we ate during our trip, so it was way better than roadside options!

Still Reading?

I know this was a long one, but there is SO much to do in Burlington and Vermont in general that I didn’t want to shorten anything. In fact, there are not one, but several posts about the trip coming up! Next week will be all about the amazing day that was Stowe. Then I’m working on a dog-friendly brewery guide and a suggested itinerary for pet-friendly trips to Burlington and Stowe.

I can’t wait to share all of these with you in the next few weeks!