50 Reasons Vermont is Awesome!

I made reference in my last post to making a list of over 100 reasons Vermont is better than Jersey, in an attempt to convince my sister and her family to move up here. Obviously, that means a lot of those reasons were specific to her, and to Jersey being inferior. That being said, I was asked to share my list. Even though it is constantly being added to, I thought I would go ahead and share an amended list; one that is slightly modified and compacted into 50 reasons.

Parenting.com made a bunch of ranking lists, including: (1-4)

1. The Safest City in America
2. The 2nd overall Best City
3. The Best City for Education
4. #2 in their 10 Best Cities for Families list
5. Listed as the happiest small city in a Gallup survey
6. Listed by the CDC as the healthiest state
7. Great schools and teachers (see reason #3)
8. Fresh, clean air (especially in comparison to Jersey. The original reason may have been something along the lines of, “it doesn’t smell like garbage here”)
9. Cheaper living with more space
10. Closer to family
11. Awesome parks
12. Lake Champlain! Great for kayaking, sailing, fishing and it was designated a Great Lake for a (very) short time. Sadly, Lake Champlian : Great Lake as Pluto : Planet
13. Hot air balloon festival in Stowe
14. Skiing, snowboarding, sledding and snow clean enough to play in
15. Four seasons
16. Leaf Peeping season
17. Traffic/rush hour is almost non-existent
18. Friendlier people
19. Camping and hiking nearby
20. Lots of farmers’ markets, artisan/craft fairs
21. Family friendly. There was even a “families with kids under 10” sectioned-off viewing area at the Mardi Gras parade!
22. Tons of Kids’ activities, play groups, open gyms, music, etc.
23. FREE Community events and parades
24. Cutest ever trick or treating event in the morning on Church St for little kids for Halloween
25. Community swimming pools
26. Apple picking, berry picking and cut your own Christmas trees
27. World famous maple syrup; sugar houses and sugar on snow
28. Lots of farms around = fresh, local produce and eggs, as well as local honey
29. Farm shares
30. Ben & Jerry’s and Cabot
31. Local politicians and government agencies who actually listen and respond to people
32. There are towns and there is rural country, and it’s not far in between the two
33. Movie theaters where you don’t have to buy your tickets in advance to see a movie
34. Safer homes (I don’t know if this is true of all Jersey, but my sister’s place has only two circuit breakers for their entire apartment. One is dedicated to the fridge, which means the other one is responsible for everything else that is electronic in their apartment. This results in the circuit breaker tripping frequently and needing to be reset, which means it’s a huge fire hazard)
35. You can see stars at night, even in the cities
36. Northern Lights!
37. The roads are cleared often during snow storms and salted in advance
38. The towns shovel the sidewalks so there is still a path to walk during/right after snow storms
39. Bike Path
40. Jay Peak Pump House (Indoor waterpark!)
41. Champ! (We have our very own lake monster!)
42. Educational museums/science center
43. Pet friendly
44. Champlain Valley Fair, as well as plenty of other specialty Fairs for agriculture, livestock, etc.
45. Ice skating
46. Wind and solar power is common
47. Same-sex marriage is legal
48. Local wineries
49. VT Restaurant week
50. Local and touring theater and music events/concerts

[typography font=”Delius Swash Caps” size=”20″ size_format=”px”]What about you? What do you love about Vermont?[/typography]