VT Trip Report: It really is the Green Mountain State!
 

My family and I are just back from a week long trip to Southern VT (8/12-8/19). There were 6 adults, 3 kids around the age of 3 and 1 8-year old. It seems that not enough people are aware of how lovely VT is, or just don't have it on their vacation radar. Granted, VT is not a tourist haven. Other than Manchester, we did not find many places to shop and were not impressed with the restaurants we ate at. But, there are plenty of outdoor activities to occupy people of all ages and the countryside is beautiful. I was surprised at the number of streams and rivers flowing through the area.

Here is a snapshot of our experiences:
Lodging:
We rented a 5 bedroom house in Andover, off Rt 11. It had gorgeous views and a huge wraparound deck but was a bit too rustic for my taste. The furniture and carpeting were terribly outdated. The kids had a blast though. We built a fire every night, and they ran around and had bug hunts during the day. The house had a steep dirt road to get up to it which was challenging at first but we got used to it.

Towns visited:
Manchester Center - home of countless outlets and Orvis; if you love to read, visit the Northshire Bookstore and you could spend an entire day browsing. The kids section there is huge!
Manchester - home of the Equinox Resort, a beautiful hotel with that offers numerous outdoor adventures.
Quechee - home of the VT Institute of Natural Science and Simon Pearce Glass, a beautiful gorge, a covered bridge and several shops; we had wanted to have lunch at the restaurant at Simon Pearce but it was mobbed.
Grafton - a quintessential VT town with amazing old homes, a cheese factory and a covered bridge.
Weston - home of the VT Country Store; loved the assortment of cheese and bulk candy, but the toys and household items were a bit expensive.
Londonderry - the closest town with a supermarket, nothing to do there really.
Bellows Falls - one of the larger towns in VT; we spent most of our time at Sams, an outdoor sports clothing store with great kids clothes too.
Chester - a small town with big victorian homes, a few art galleries and a delicious bakery called Baba-a-Louis.

Activities:
VT Institute of Natural Science - Quechee - the highlight of our trip! Admission is $8 for adults and is well worth the cost. Be sure to go for the 30 min raptor show. Afterwards, for just $5, you have the chance to have your photo taken with an owl or falcon. The VINS is expanding with a larger visitor center and gift shop area. I'd love to go back and see the results.

Sugarbush Farm - Woodstock- was a bit disappointed that the farm did not have many animals; we enjoyed the cheese and maple syrup tasting however.

Mountain View Ranch - Danby - horseback riding; $35 for 1 hr trail ride and $5 for a 10 min ride for the kids. The brochure advertised pony rides but when we showed up, they gave us full size horses. I was a bit apprehensive about my 2.5 yr old riding such a big horse, but she did great and the horse ambled along at a slow pace.

Jamaica State Park - $2.50 admission per adult. Had a neat stream with a sandy area to play at. It was primarily a foot deep, then dropped off to around 7 feet near the opposite bank.

Bike riding - the terrain was much more hilly than we anticipated; we rode a 24 mile loop from Londonderry to Weston to Andover which, despite the 2 mile 8% grade climb, was quite fun because it was downhill towards the end for almost 8 miles!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. My husband felt that we drove too much but that is because everything is spread out. Plus you have the mountains to contend with, you can't drive drive right through them. I didn't see a moose on this trip, and knew that I wouldn't but still hoped to :) So, for our next visit, we'll explore the Northern Kingdom.

terrific! my sister in law and her fiance are moving to VT this week. i'm going to copy your post and email it to her!

lynne

While you were in Quechee did you go in the 'I had one of those' museum. It was included with the kiddies train ride and is inside a building with 4 or 5 working model train track layouts. The number of toys that they have that I got Christmas's ago is amazing. They also have lunch boxes featuring every tv show ever. My son has some cars that I had kept in the attic & enjoyed spotting the ones he has. The outlets upstairs had all he junk you threw away years ago for big bucks & now you wished you'd kept them.

Glad you enjoyed our state! We live maybe half an hour north of Manchester, on several acres, on a high ridge, with views of the mountains, in a small town. We absolutely love it here.

There are some good restaurants, depending on what you like. I will admit that we went to Maine recently for our anniversary and enjoyed the wonderful SEA FOOD there, because that's not easy to come by around here!

Our favorite restaurant here is a restored 1800's tavern, on Route 7, in Danby, called "The White Dog Tavern". Great food, small, quiet, and with moderate prices.

Having enjoyed camping in the beautiful state parks for many years, we retired up here after working in southern New England all during our careers, and we feel as if we found paradise! Laid back living, gorgeous mountains and scenery everywhere, nice neighbors who help when needed but mind their business otherwise, and all kinds of animals -- foxes, squirrels, deer, and even a bobcat one evening.

We've had fawns born right down the slope from the house, maybe 50 feet away, every summer! The joy of quietly observing that fawn stay in one place for up to a week (they have no scent when newborn and mother leaves them like that), and then, if you're lucky, seeing the fawn leap up and run to nurse when mother shows up at the edge of the woods!

Manchester IS a shopper's paradise, I guess, but we avoid it like the plague on summer weekends. Best during the week and between summer and winter -- except "leaf peeper" season, of course.

Again, glad you enjoyed our state. Did you know that the whole state has just about 625,000 people?

Vermonter

The house sounds perfect, esp with a fireplace. That's the kind of place at which we like to stay. I was greatly surprised when we rented a beach house in NC to find everything like brand new. Not sure if it's a New England tradition to put the old or used furniture in the camp/cottage but it's what we expect. Too bad you missed lunch at Simon Pearce. Our strategy was to arrive early and be there when the restaurant opened. We had a table by the window overlooking the river. BTW anything under 14.2 hands qualifies as a pony but I think pony ride just means an adult walking a horse around a ring with a child rider. Glad your family had a wonderful vacation. Thanks for the report.

We didn't have the chance to go in any shops in Quechee. There were a few that looked interesting though as we drove by the gorge overlooks. I had no idea that Simon Pearce would be so crowded. But, we should have known better because we showed up around 1:00pm.

retiredvermonter - Even after viewing the vast stretches of uninhabited land, I'm still surprised at VT's population. The seclusion that you can find in many areas of the state adds greatly to its charm.

kcapuani:

Yes, the peace and quiet are marvelous. We're on several acres here on our "perch", and it's often as quiet at night with the windows open as when they are closed!

We love it, and cannot imagine why more retirees don't choose the serenity of places like this.

To each his or her own, of course!

Vermonter

We live in western New Hampshire, just a stone's throw from Vermont, and yes, it is an idyillic area to live. People rarely lock their front doors, and moose are sometimes seen ambling on the dirt roads. BUT the winters up here are brutal, and can be very taxing both mentally and physically. Living in Northern New England is not for everyone!

Was Bill Bryson right then that there are only 3 seasons in Hanover - if it isn't winter its coming and if it isn't coming its been (with only 4 weeks inbetween for summer). A bit like the Irish if you can see the mountains its going to rain and if you can't see them its raining.
After just returning to the UK from New Hampshire & Vermont where everything was blooming and lovely we have stepped straight into autumn and wish I was back there with you all.

Yes, winter here can be kind of rough, but, if you're retired, you pour more coffee and just watch it snow until the plow comes!

Vermont is an amazingly beautiful state. I just returned from a 1 week reunion of friends based around Brattleboro.

The scenic outlook at Hogback Mountain (and great VT gift shop) on route 9 is worth a stop between Brattleboro going over to Wilmington and Bennington.

One more stop I would highly recommend is the museum in Shelburne, VT, see website at www.shelburnemuseum.org

They don't call it the Green Mountain State for nothing!!