Friday, Sept 28, Burlington, Vermont

Woke up to a cloudy, damp morning. 9C.
Drove north to Burlington and the skies cleared - for a short while.

We found a place to park near the Church Street Marketplace (similar to Sparks St in Ottawa). As we wandered along the street, we came across this interesting-looking bicycle. The owner was nowhere in sight.

There are many decorated Teddy Bears along the street, sponsored by companies. Remember Toronto's moose?

After enjoying a pub lunch at Ri Ra Irish Pub, we came across a side street which had the entire wall covered with beautiful murals depicting a parade.

The next stop was Ethan Allen Park where we walked up a trail amongst towering trees to reach the Ethan Allen Tower, erected in 1905 to honour Vermont's revolutionary war hero.

We climbed the tower which offers good views of Green Mountain, the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. Unfortunately, the day was cloudy, which limited the visibility. This area is in the "Banana Belt", so the leaves haven't turned much yet.






On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, where we took a guided tour. It offered a glimpse of the step-by-step creative process required to hand craft these jointed teddy bears.

A bear is created in 12 minutes, from start to finish, and they produce almost 500,000 bears a year, which are shipped all over the world!





That was enough for one day, as we headed back to the campground.