Vermont Road Trip: Burlington and Stowe

Stowe, Vermont

This past weekend, we packed up our bags for another few days of exploring and headed to Vermont. This was actually Spencer's idea, which surprised me since I'm usually the one to suggest we go on a trip. I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised though, because I've noticed him getting more and more excited about traveling after each new destination (and to think, this is the kid who'd never been to the ocean before our honeymoon!). Just this morning he was saying how much he was looking forward to our next getaway. That won't be for a while though since I'm prepping for boards from now until May 6th. After that, we've got some fun stuff planned before I start third year rotations - a little something to look forward to after all that studying!

Lake Champlain along the drive to Shelburne Inn 

Shelburne Inn

Our trip to Vermont started in Burlington. Being from New York, we're used to cold weather, but we'd been having pretty mild weather around the holidays so it was kind of a shock to brave temperatures in the teens. Luckily I'd picked up a nice, warm coat before we left and boy am I glad I did! It was so cold during our stay, but thanks to that coat I was toasty for the whole trip. Before getting to Burlington, we stopped in Shelburne at Shelburne Farms. I'd seen the farm mentioned in this post from buzzfeed, and we decided to check it out. We weren't disappointed. Shelburne farms is absolutely beautiful, even in the wintertime. There are multiple buildings, including an Inn that overlooks Lake Champlain. The drive up to the Inn looked like something out of a British film. The road gets so close to the shore of Lake Champlain at one point and we stopped to take it all in. The waters were choppy and dark and the entire scene was shades of blue and gray - beautiful in a wild sort of way. Once we got to the driveway, we walked around to the back of the Inn since its closed for the winter. The front lawn overlooking the lake is huge with fountains and flower beds and a stone railing along the edge. After seeing the rest of the grounds, we headed into Burlington.

the waterfront looking out onto Lake Champlain

Church St.

Church St.

In Burlington, we did some window shopping, checking out Church St., which luckily for us was still decorated for the holidays. I don't think you could come at a prettier time - all the lights and garlands made it so festive. We walked to the waterfront which looks out over Lake Champlain. We made it just in time for a gorgeous sunset before heading back to our hotel. My sister came with us which made it extra special because with all three of us being full-time students and working part-time jobs, we rarely find time where we're all free. Thankfully we were able to find these couple days at the end of my break where the three of us could enjoy a mini vacation.

The next day, we headed to Stowe, a last minute decision that turned out to be the best part of our trip! Stowe is a little resort town further east that attracts a lot of skiers. We didn't bring any ski equipment, but instead checked out the downtown area and then headed to Weissner Woods and the Von Trap Family Lodge. The Lodge is beautiful and I'm sure would make for a great stay (if the $700 +/night charge is any indication of quality), but we were content to just take in the views. Weissner Woods is a little collection of hiking trails that we covered easily in a couple hours We went later in the day and only saw a couple other people out on the trails, which were otherwise quiet.

To end our day we stopped at a covered bridge in Stowe and got a couple quick pictures before we lost the last of daylight. In the pictures above you can see that its snowing at the covered bridge. That was the start of a pretty slow ride home since it snowed all the way through Vermont, forcing us to drive at an agonizingly slow pace. Once we hit the Adirondack region, the snow turned to hail and quickly to sleet and then rain. That drive wasn't too fun, but it didn't take away from a wonderful weekend. Now that I'm back at the school grind, I'm missing the luxury of having free time, but I'm glad we got to savor the last bit of the free time we had. Enjoy your Wednesday!!