Third Anniversary

Three years ago, Clint and I said our vows in a small Iowa town called Decorah. Since then, we have spent our anniversary in a new city each year. Our first anniversary was in Iowa City, our second was in New York, and our third in two different towns in Vermont. We were lucky to have the whole day to celebrate.

Part 1: Village of Shelburne, Vermont
Here we were able to spend our afternoon doing what I love the most: perusing a book store and drinking coffee. We had been meaning to see Shelburne for some time now, and with it being only a half hour away and with plenty of time on our hands, we decided to finally pay a visit.

Our first stop was a quaint shop by the name of Flying Pig Bookstore. In addition to an adorable name, it had a wonderful set up, with a wide array of children's books, especially. There were still plenty of adult books too, and after picking up two of them, I decided we needed to leave before buying out the whole store. It feels so good to support local bookstores, and Vermont has plenty of them! (Which is unfortunate for my bank account).

Our second stop was a really classy little shop called Village Wine and Coffee. With a wide selection of both coffee and wines, it easily became one of our favorite places we've seen so far. I ordered a latte, Clint ordered a tea, and we both eyed the wine selection, though we decided to pass this one time. We'll be back for you, Village Wine!



Our final stop in the Shelburne Village was its Country Store, which held a
wide variety of authentic Vermont goods such as syrup, cheese, and cremees, Vermont's name for soft serve ice cream. Specifically, its renowned MAPLE cremee. They...were...amazing, even when much of mine ended up on my shirt.





Part 2: Burlington, Vermont

One of our very favorite places in Burlington so far (which should be a surprise to no one) is the Roxy Theater. Being as our wedding had a movie theme, what better way to celebrate our anniversary than seeing a movie? We had luck on our side, since it happened to be showing a movie that both of us had wanted to see, The Way, Way Back. This was an adorable movie, which caused plenty of laughing (and no shortage of tears) and it was a wonderful way to start our anniversary evening. I miss my Fleur Cinema, but this is becoming an acceptable replacement.

Dinner was a little more challenging to decide on. Burlington has DOZENS of unique restaurants, and even once we've lived here for two years, there's a chance we won't be able to get to all of them. Such a great selection comes with the challenge of where to go when we actually are able to go out to eat (our first dinner date since we've been here!), but we had great success with our selection, El Gato. My only requirement was that we sit outside, and other bonus features would include cheap drinks and appetizers. El Gato provided all of these things. With some confusion with our reservation, we were offered free guacamole (no brainer!) and the specialty of the evening was five dollar margaritas. It was a fiesta, for sure.


All in all, our anniversary just showed us how lucky we are to be married to each other, and how lucky we are to live in a town like Burlington.