Less than two weeks but more than 1000 miles ago, we headed up I-89 for Stowe, stopping first at Vermont's cool welcoming center in Sharon.
In contrast to the state's official gateway center on I-91 in Guilford, this was an ordinary highway rest area until then-governor Howard Dean had the bright idea to secure Federal funding to turn it into Vermont's Vietnam War memorial. In addition to a reminder about the meaning of war to this small state, it's now includes tropical vegetation recycling its water, rocking chairs and free Green Mountain Coffee, the better to peruse the free handouts and maps covering the entire state.
Exit in Sharon and you can find a choice of places to eat in South Royalton, home of the Vermont Law School. We discovered another handy stop in Middlesex (turn left off Exit 9 and it's on the right. Red Hen Bakery fills the space that was formerly Camp Mead.
Great breads, salads, deli.
In Stowe we stayed at Fiddlers Green, one of the town's most reasonably priced and pleasant places to stay if you like genuine old ski lodges. Our room under the eaves was small but cool, with the sound of the brook to lull us to sleep. We tried for dinner reservations at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury, Vermont's dining sensation of the season. No luck. You need to reserve ten days in advance. Instead, we had a great time with friends at Harrison's, a true find right there but hidden downstairs in the middle of the village.
The tone of Vermont's most famous old resort was been in the 1940s by the Stowe Resort Company (it's changed names but not essential ownership by the insurance company now known as AIG). The rope tow that first hauled skiers up the first 4-mile long ski trail here in 1937 was a Cadillac and the most ski resort's most recent expansion--which has been a decade in the works and will be completed this coming December with the opening of its new base lodge and village at Spruce Peak--is deluxe to the max. The new condo hotel at Spruce Peak is stunning but the smallest studio room, off season, is $500 per night and that doesn't even include parking.
Still there are so many sides to Stowe. We can all gawk at the beauty of the new lodge and take advantage of the town's three elaborate spas, great skiing, exceptional biking, hiking on and around Mt. Mansfield (Vermont's highest mountain)and wide choice of dining.
Exit in Sharon and you can find a choice of places to eat in South Royalton, home of the Vermont Law School. We discovered another handy stop in Middlesex (turn left off Exit 9 and it's on the right. Red Hen Bakery fills the space that was formerly Camp Mead.
Great breads, salads, deli.
In Stowe we stayed at Fiddlers Green, one of the town's most reasonably priced and pleasant places to stay if you like genuine old ski lodges. Our room under the eaves was small but cool, with the sound of the brook to lull us to sleep. We tried for dinner reservations at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury, Vermont's dining sensation of the season. No luck. You need to reserve ten days in advance. Instead, we had a great time with friends at Harrison's, a true find right there but hidden downstairs in the middle of the village.
The tone of Vermont's most famous old resort was been in the 1940s by the Stowe Resort Company (it's changed names but not essential ownership by the insurance company now known as AIG). The rope tow that first hauled skiers up the first 4-mile long ski trail here in 1937 was a Cadillac and the most ski resort's most recent expansion--which has been a decade in the works and will be completed this coming December with the opening of its new base lodge and village at Spruce Peak--is deluxe to the max. The new condo hotel at Spruce Peak is stunning but the smallest studio room, off season, is $500 per night and that doesn't even include parking.
Still there are so many sides to Stowe. We can all gawk at the beauty of the new lodge and take advantage of the town's three elaborate spas, great skiing, exceptional biking, hiking on and around Mt. Mansfield (Vermont's highest mountain)and wide choice of dining.
The Lamoille River Valley
Most places to stay, eat and shop are strung along Route 108, "The Mountain Road", which climbs from Stowe Village (down on Route 100) up through Smugglers Notch (Vermont's highest pass) and down into the Lamoille River Valley. Half way down the other side Smugglers' Notch Village rises like a mirage out of wooded mountainside--more than 600 condos, accommodating more than 2600 people, more than half of them kids.
Known affectionately as "Smug's", this resort is a gift to America's dwindling middle class, an affordable family vacation based on a week's stay in well designed and equipped condo units. Kids are heavily scheduled in age appropriate day camps and adults have a choice of programs, most included in the basic price. Condos are clustered in "villages," each with recreation facilities. Shuttle buses circulate constantly, cutting down on traffic. In summer there are plenty of pools and water slides and variations thereon. In winter there's skiing.
We spent the night at Smugs and continued on Jeffersonville, good for galleries and eating at 158 Main (formerly Windridge Bakery), one of Vermont's best rural sources of locally produced ingredients, artfully served as salads, soups and just about anything. The same can be said of Persico's Pum & Main in Johnson, 9 miles east. Johnson is a small but lively college town, also home of Johnson Woolen Mills, which no longer produces wool but buys it locally and still turns out its iconic jackets and workpants as well as other very Vermont clothing.
The Lamoille River Valley is essentially quiet farm country. We checked out numerous B&Bs and stopped at the Boyden Winery in Cambridge, which we remembered fondly from previous visits but were frustrated with this time around. There were wine tastings but just if you were willing to pay $5 --which entitled you to try 13 wines. Who wants to try 13 wines in a place where you have to drive along narrow, rural roads to get anywhere else? We have never seen a winery that charges for a small sampling or wine so you can see what you might like to buy.
Obviously the place is now geared to groups and functions, not the casual visitors who just wants a sense and maybe a token taste of farmlife and wine?
We dined in St. Albans at Chow Bella -- nice atmosphere, good food and wine and found our way to Sampler House B&B in Milton. This turned out to be a real find, a deceptively small cape with spacious rooms featuring beautiful carpentry work by Peter Martin, tastefully decorated by wife Deborah, who also knows how to cook!
Vermont's Northwest Corner
On up to Vermont's Northwest Corner--to Swanton and the Tyler Place Famkily Resort in HIghgate Springs, then across through the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge to Arlburg, the northernmost US town in the Champlain Islands. The Thomas Mott B&B is right on the water, facing across the bay to the Green Mountains and the evening was so perfect, we decided to go get take-out to bring back to dine on the dock here. Unfortunately by the time drive the 10 minutes into the village of Arlburg, both stores had closed down their delis for the night and it was another 20 minutes (each way) down to Hero's Welcome, the island's largest general store/stakeout source. Luckily the drive is beautiful and we made it in plenty of time to dine on the dock.
Next day it took more than 4 hours to make the same drive--this time stopping at every B&B and rediscovering Isle La Motte, site of St. Anne's Shrine-
which happens to mark the spot that Samuel Champlain first stepped ashore in what would be Vermont in 1609--reason for big celebrations in 2009. Near the southern tip of this island there's also Fisk Farm, formerly a major source of the island's distinctive black marble but now, thanks to preservationist Linda Fitch, an arts center with and place to explore geological history. Fitch is also responsible for the new hiking paths and interpretive center a few miles away at a site geologists recognize as the world's oldest reef. A short and fascinating video explains all.
Eventually we made our way to the Burlington home of my Vermont co-author Diane Foulds and her partner, Vermont writer Joe Citro and dined at a great little Vietnamese restaurant (buy the 12th edition of our book!).
Champlain Valley
Traveling on down Route 7 we spent a happy hour in Horsford's Nursery in Charlotte, buying hydrangea bushes and a clematis. I'm an enthusiastic but untutored gardener and need a place that's big on informed advice--which Vermont's oldest and one of it's biggest nurseries is.
Vergennes is a great little town but it was mobbed so we headed out to the Basin Harbor Club to check out the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (allow an hour if you are interested in history)
and to lunch at the resort's informal and pleasant Red Mill. Like Tyler Place, Basin Harbor is a lakeside, family-geared resort with accommodations in cottages and children's programs so that adults can take their ease. There's a major golf course here too. Both places are wonderfully traditional old resorts and prices are per person.
Chasing down remote B&Bs proved frustrating enough to make us finally seriously consider buying a GPS. But when do we have time for that? Or money?
Our final stop was Mary's at Baldwin Creek in Bristol, one of Vermont's first to emphasize local ingredients and still leading that charge.
Enough! We finally made it home around 9pm and my husband--who was very much a part of this expedition--isn't ready to go anywhere soon again.
Sunday we did make it to Marblehead to celebrate my birthday with dear friends--again GPS would have come in handy.
Maine Detour
Come Thursday, Sept. 4 we were off again at 6AM, this time heading for The Samoset in Rockland, Maine, site of our annual Northeast Chapter meeting of SATW (Society of American Travel Writers). The professional development session was on blogging but I was too tired to concentrate properly--just got the impression that I'm doing everything wrong but not how to do it right....
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