How to Better Explore Burlington
Although we live in a small place, I find that it is often still too easy to get tunnel vision that encourages us to adhere to our usual path, forgetting to explore even so far as our backyards. Yes, we’ll travel, we’ll go out of town for a few weekends, but its as if we’re under the impression that we’ve already seen all there is to see under own feet. Since moving to Burlington, every couple of months I seem to have a “re-awakening”, when I realize that I’ve been assuming that I’ve already seen and done it all and given myself a free pass to give up trying new things, and then suddenly I remember again the extent of what really is going on in our city.
Although I’m as big a fan of traveling as anyone, its an even bigger breath of fresh air to realize that there is actually tons of new exploring to be done right here in the vicinity of our homes. One means that I’ve found to keeping up this spirit of domestic exploration, is the organization called Localvore, whose mission is to connect local businesses, industries, and events with local people.
And with offices down on the waterfront in the building to the left of the Skinny Pancake, Localvore couldn’t be more local themselves. The way it works is simple; Localvore offers coupons and discounts at local businesses and for local activities on their website, which locals can buy in order to get deals at places that they already eat and shop at, or get to try entirely new places for incredibly cheaply! It’s a win-win-win. There’s absolutely no downside here.
This week, I went on a Localvore experiment of my own in order to see this outcome in action. Although there were some more expensive deals, I went for the “Pay $6 for $12 of food at Shalimar of India”, because its cheap, 50% off, and who doesn’t love indian food? And in the end, my Localvore adventure absolutely paid off. Not only did I get to try some spicy new indian foods at a new place, the whole thing revived my spirit of adventure, and afterwards my friend and I went gallavanting off to a show at the Flynn and then discovered the brand new “Lamp Shop” on Winooski Ave.
Despite having hardly travelled more than a few blocks away from my dorm room, the night fulfilled some of the wanderlustiness that had been plaguing me recently. It wasn’t very far, sure, but a grand adventure nonetheless.
For a new experience of your own, check out the Localvore website to see what deals they’re offering this week! Happy exploring! ♥
