January in the Green Mountain State

Last week, I left New York for the first time since coming back to the US to take a ski trip to Vermont with my older sister. It has become somewhat of a tradition for us to do this every year for her late January birthday. It is a nice way for her to get back to Vermont (where she went to college) and for me to get in my snowboarding for the year. I’m not the biggest fan of the cold, but once I actually get out on the mountain I always enjoy it. This trip was also a great reminder that even though I am no longer living abroad, I can still find the same sense of adventure that I crave by taking mini trips like this.

We started out with a walk around Burlington, Vermont on Sunday afternoon. My sister and I were wearing matching hats and jackets that say “US Ski Team” on them, which ended up attracting more attention than we anticipated. People were definitely looking our way more than usual, and one shop owner even asked us if we had come from a nearby race. We had fun with it for a while, but ultimately decided that it would be best to start covering the logo with a scarf if we wanted to maintain a lower profile, haha.

Anyways, aside from the cold, I really love Burlington. It has such a strong community-oriented feel, and there is a huge emphasis on local food and sustainability. One new thing I tried this trip was a CBD maple candy (the CBD trend has really taken hold in Burlington, and there are plenty of stores selling it in various forms). CBD is derived from the hemp or cannabis plant, but it doesn’t contain the high-inducing THC that marijuana has. There is evidence that it supports relaxation, pain relief, and sleep. Anyways, Ceres Natural Remedies is a great place in Burlington to find any edibles, lotions, etc. that you are in search of.

After our afternoon of shopping, the next stop was Burlington Hot Yoga for a restorative yoga class. The studio uses infrared heat, which is a welcome respite from the Burlington cold. The teacher also used tuning forks as a form of sound therapy which made for a cool addition to class. For me, it is easy to get in the routine of just going to power vinyasa classes to get a good workout in, but this was a good reminder that restorative yoga is just as needed and beneficial sometimes. I left the class feeling relaxed, and thinking that CBD and restorative yoga is a great way to close out the week.

Our Sunday ended with dinner at Flatbread, one of our longtime favorites for a good wood fired pizza. We got to sit right next to the fireplace in case the infrared yoga didn’t do the trick with warming us up. Afterwards, we returned to our Airbnb to watch the Grammy’s and get some rest for our ski days on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday and Tuesday were great days for snowboarding (and skiing). The conditions definitely weren’t what I would call easy (there was a dense layer of fog at the top of the mountain and it was icing for some of the day on Tuesday). But, the intense conditions were a good challenge. I realized that I have been snowboarding for 10 years now. So, whenever I’m feeling like a beginner on a black diamond trail, that fact alone makes me feel a bit more confident. All in all, this trip was a nice reminder that especially while I’m at home, it is still possible, and perhaps even more important to step outside of my comfort zone.

Thank you for reading, xoxo

Alexandra