After a year of hard work we finally had a chance to relax and went on our wonderful winter vacation that hit all the sweet spots of Vermont. When we planned our trip we had wondered where to go skiing in early December to have a chance of snow. The Rockys are quite far from us in North Carolina and you have to deal with high altitude (think thin air huffing and puffing) and not the best chance of snow that early in the season. So it was settled, New England it was! Zee Man had been to Stowe once before and deemed it a cute place not too far from the airport in Burlington.

Thanks to the many reviewers at Tripadvisor we found the coziest little inn, The Gables Inn, and I’m not going to lie, the breakfast was out of this world! Every day we got to choose from a huge menu and we loved every single item we tried! Food in general up there was fantastic. Lots of fresh farm to table food options!
Lucky for us, that snow storm that had me stranded in Philadelphia on the way up also dumped a nice amount of snow on Vermont. Of course we went skiing (and considering that it was my second and third time on boards it went really well) but the other cool snow activity we did was dog sledding! While not cheap, it was totally worth it and an unforgettable experience! The dogs were so quirky and so eager to run. We started as the sun was setting and finished as the full moon came up. It was so special!

Naturally we explored the town of Stowe a bit (hello snow globe village) and hit some of the typical Vermont covered bridges. More Vermont-ness was had as we stopped at a cider mill, Cabbot’s Annex Store (hello free lactose-free cheese samples galore), and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream factory. Didn’t think we were going to stop there as it seemed like an ice-cream version of the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta (“Why do I have to pay if it’s a bombardment of advertisement?!”) but it was actually fun. Not to mention tasty! 😉

Stowe also has a tight connection to the movie The Sound of Music as the Von Trapp family settled there after they left Austria. They have a mountain lodge up there that brews their own beer so after I had finally memorized the DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo lines from the movie Michael treated me to a drink at their lodge. More cheese sampling and a great piano player made for a fun time.
Waterbury and Burlington were the other cities we hit on this trip. We had more great food in Waterbury: Prohibition Pig had as the name suggests all sorts of pig food and I couldn’t help but chuckle that Michael got the North Carolina style BBQ. Like, really?! On our anniversary we tried Hen of The Wood and that was another delicious Farm to Table choice. Mmmmmm!

Burlington itself was unforgettable as Michael popped the question at the shore of Lake Champlain. I said “Awww look, we walked down that hill as boyfriend and girlfriend and we’re walking up the hill as fiancé and fiancée!” “Well,” he says “I guess marriage will be an uphill battle!” Hahaha! Well we shall see about that!

So yes, if you have a chance to go to Vermont, do it! We had such a great time and it was the perfect mixture of relaxing, action, good food and good beer.