Mary S. Butler

The one thing I miss most about owning a car is the ability to road trip at a whim. Now that I live in New York, it takes a bit more planning. Part of our preparation for this Fourth of July weekend trip was getting a DC power inverter for Dave’s MacBook Pro and a Sprint wireless card. One of the benefits of being connected while driving was the ease with which we were able to bypass fast-food chain restaurants at rest areas and navigate to roadhouses, courtesy of the Sprint Location & Search application and the carrier’s Google partnership, which powers location-enabled searches and maps.

I also wanted to capture some trip notes along the way, especially for the return portion, which we are doing this afternoon/evening, and are stuck in the inevitable back-to-the-city Sunday night traffic. Although as bad as the Manhattan re-entry traffic is, and I write this in hour nine of what should have been a six-hour return trip and still have another 40 miles to go, I can appreciate how much better New York state driving is compared to Illinois.

I still marvel at these thoroughfares in New York and New Jersey called Parkways. They are billboard- and double tractor trailer-free and are much more attractive than the pothole-scarred, perennially under construction I-55, I-90, I-94, I-290 and I-294 expressways and/or tollways that Chicagoans have to traverse on ingress to/egress from the city.

[For a Butler family trip last month from my parent’s home on the northwest side to Kalahari Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, we had the Chicago driver’s trifecta – bad-condition roads, lanes blocked due to road constuction (regardless of how much of the latter you endure, it doesn’t seem to lessen the former) and multiple-mile traffic backups preceding each of the cashboxes placed at 10-mile intervals in Illinois.]

For this July 4th extended-weekend trip we had four days and two cities, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and Burlington, Vt., which we wanted to visit. Some of the highlights, and lowlights, from this trip:

+ We left the Lower East Side on Wednesday and drove to Saratoga Springs. We spent the night at the lovely Saratoga Arms, which combines the charm of a B&B with the amenities of a hotel, and walked down the street for an impeccable dinner at Chez Sophie. Although we were a few weeks too early for the Saratoga Race Course season, we weren’t there to bet on the horses. We came for the water. The effervescent mineral water at the Lincoln Bath House, to be exact. Seemingly one of the best values among spa treatments is a soak in a mineral bath ($20 for 40 minutes; add $5 if you want an aromatherapy oil added).

- Unfortunately, I didn’t learn until after my bath had been poured that the naturally cold, highly carbonated pale green mineral water is mixed with hot tap water to bring the water closer to body temperature. (The chlorinated tap water being added to the mineral water causes a reaction that turns the water a murky brown, as seen in the above photo.) If you want an all mineral water soak, you need to specifically request it at the time you make your reservation. Considering the negative publicity the state-owned facility received after the New York Post reported last March that the mineral water was being diluted, I would have expected the staff to have volunteered this information upfront.

+ On Thursday we took the Essex Junction ferry to cross Lake Champlain from the New York side to Vermont. While getting ready to board the ferry, I spotted a beautiful 2005 Airstream Safari trailer in the queue. The driver, Rich Luhr, was nice enough to give me permission to photograph his 30-foot trailer as well as himself. Rich is the editor and publisher of Airstream Life magazine. He and his wife Eleanor, along with their then five-year-old daughter Emma, set out in an Airstream in October 2005 for what was supposed to be a six-month trip. Almost three years later, they are just now completing this stage of their American journey. They are spending the summer with family in Vermont and in August will begin a 3,000-mile tour from Vermont to Arizona (via N.Y., Ohio, Ind., Mo., Ks., Colo. and Utah) with many stops along the way. By October they plan to end up at their new home in Tucson, Arizona. Read more about the Airstream lifestyle, as well as the Luhr family adventures, on the family’s Tour of America blog. (Rich also told us about Vintage Trailer Jam 2008, which takes place July 11-18 in Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs.)

+ We spent Thursday through Sunday in Burlingon, Vt. and were utterly charmed. Much of our time was spent near Waterfront Park and in the four-block Church Street Marketplace area. We had a number of excellent meals, including dinners at American Flatbread and Taste of Burlington, breakfast at Penny Cluse Cafe and coffee and bagels at Muddy Waters.

- As an SPG Gold member, I try to stay in a Starwood hotel whenever possible. In Burlington, my only choice was a Sheraton. If I had to do it over again, I would have passed up the opportunity to earn points — and receive indifferent service — in favor of the waterfront proximity of the Hilton Burlington or Courtyard by Marriott Burlington Harbor.

Burlington reminds me a lot of Portland, Ore. in that both are bike-friendly, have a coffee culture, are green in both sensibility and surroundings, and possess the good manners of a small town along with the cultural activities of larger cities.

Three days is not enough time to explore all that Burlington has to offer. Dave and I hope to make a return trip this fall and plan to bring more recreational equipment, including our bikes, next time.