For the first time since the pandemic started, I finally went on a trip and it's not an exaggeration to say that it was glorious. I basically haven't been outside of New Jersey / New York since March 2020 and getting away and having a change of scenery was exactly what my mental and emotional health needed. I know I sound super dramatic but that's truly how I felt! And I'm so glad my first real vacation in almost two years was a road trip to Vermont with Alexa! Traveling by car (or train) is all I'm comfortable with at the moment so this was perfect.
Day 1 • We left Friday morning from my apartment and I was preparing myself for the long 6 hour drive (I did all the driving during the entire trip), but it flew by! We both joked that we were so busy talking that when we looked up, suddenly we were in Vermont. Alexa and I are pretty efficient travelers so we left early, ate in the car, made only one stop (for gas, food, & bathroom all in one shot) before we reached our first destination, the Vermont Icelandic Horse Farm.
It was a great stopping point because it gave us time to stretch our legs. We didn't want to ride the horses so we were there to walk around, admire the farm, take photos, and pet some horses (we met a lovely horse named Loki). From there, we drove another hour and arrived at our
Airbnb! If you're in Stowe by yourself or with one other person, I can't recommend this place enough. It's on the smaller side but it's conveniently located, cozy, and Heidi is the sweetest host you'll ever meet.
Since we were both tired from the long day of driving, we picked up food from
Piecasso and watched
Falling in Love (which we enjoyed!).
Day 2 • We picked up breakfast at Stowe Bee and Bakery (highly recommend) before venturing out on our two scenic drives! First we drove through Stowe Hollow and Little River Dam, which had breathtaking yellow foliage, streams, and winding roads. Then we stopped by Ben & Jerry's Factory (did you know they originated in Vermont?), and had lunch at Cold Hollow Cider Mill. From there, we drove through Edson Hill and West Hill, which still had beautiful foliage but also a lot of farmland (we really enjoyed seeing cows and horses everywhere!).
Then in the late afternoon we got to attend the Stowe Arts Fall Festival (I'm in love with the Kokeshi dolls by the artist I met there; I got one for myself!). It was fun to walk around and see all the local artistry. And finally, we ended the day with dinner at Swiss Fondue By Heinz, which was great. A word of advice though: make dinner reservations weeks in advance. We had a bunch of restaurants on our list but they were all completely booked for dinner. We were lucky we got this one!
Day 3 • We picked up coffee and biscuits at
PK Coffee (best maple lattes we had the entire time) and ventured on what was the most scenic and slightly daunting drive of our whole trip. This drive was through
Smugglers' Notch, which took us up a mountain with gorgeous trees on either side of the winding roads. I admittedly felt a little nervous with my little Honda Fit but we drove slowly and carefully, and picked good spots to stop and take photos. It was absolutely worth it! I never knew fall foliage could be so beautiful or that I would love seeing it so much but I did. We also drove through
Jefferson, Johnson and Hyde Park before going back to Stowe and doing a shorter scenic drive through
Brush Hill, which was a back road trip with more beautiful views. I like to think we took good photos but honestly, they don't do the scenery justice.
After all that driving, we took the afternoon to explore the Main Street in town. We grabbed lunch at Cafe on Main, plus shopped at Stowe Mercantile, Bear Pond Books, Shaw's General, and Laughing Moon Chocolates. We took photos of the iconic Steeplecase and walked for a bit on the Recreational Path (if my feet didn't hurt, I would've loved to explore it more!).
Then we picked up dinner again from Piecasso (everywhere else was super busy but we didn't mind; we really liked their food!) and stayed in to watch Love Marriage Repeat, which was entertaining to say the least.
Day 4 • Did we wear matching Stowe t-shirts on our drive back home? Why yes, we did. (Don't judge us.) We were both sad to be leaving but we had one more stop to make that day and that was to get maple lattes and coffee grounds from Vermont Artisan Coffee (it's in a striking red building). And from there, it was back on the road and back to NJ/NY!
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Clearly, we loved our trip to Vermont! It's such a great fall trip to take if you want something relaxing, outdoorsy, and picturesque. I would definitely go back again and stay at least one day longer.
Have you ever been?
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