February 14th-- The Waterfront

The Waterfront couldn't look better on a day like today!

The first thing I noticed while at the waterfront was the sky above Lake Champlain. The sky over Burlington is dark and altogether gloomy, despite the 40 degree weather, but over Lake Champlain the sky lightens and the clouds shift. It's definitely a nice change of pace from the frigid cold we have been experiencing and the partially blue sky has an uplifting effect on my mood. Seeing the dark clouds shift over the lake, away from me and towards the city, gave me a feeling of peace. Perhaps spring is finally coming!

While visiting the waterfront, I couldn't help but notice several other patterns. For one, it was apparent that the snow and ice covering the lake and boardwalk area in general is melting. The ice sheets covering Lake Champlain were cracked all over- as indicated by the picture above, which I took today around 3:30 in the afternoon. It illustrates the melting snow and ice, as well as the movement of storm clouds across the lake towards downtown Burlington. The ground around the waterfront was very wet, another indicator of melting snow and ice.

Another pattern I noticed were the many birds flying and congregating on the lake ice. There were mainly small, black birds, making shrill cawing noises. They concentrated over the lake, not really bothering to fly onto the mainland other than for a few to land on the railing of the observation deck, where I took the above picture. It appeared that there was really only one type of bird flying around the waterfront today, but I'm sure more will arrive as the weather becomes warmer.

I can't wait to visit the waterfront on our first sunny, dry, somewhat warm day of the impending spring!