Oh, Vermont. What a beautiful state. My mom would love to have a second home here, and if only we had that sort of wealth! Alas, we’ll have to settle for visits, and I definitely want to return because I enjoyed our time in Vermont so much. (I’m dreaming of spending an entire October in Vermont, bringing the cats, working from a cute Airbnb, and living fall to the fullest. Maybe one day!)
Our Airbnb was a mile from downtown Stowe, so it was in a perfect location. It was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a loft that had two extra beds, so it would fit a family comfortably! It had a large kitchen, a large living area with plenty of seating, and views to die for.
Okay, enough about the Airbnb. What did we actually do with our three full days in Stowe? We lived our best fall lives!
Stowe Village
Our first day, we meandered around Stowe Village, which had tons of cute shops and restaurants. There was a bookstore but I once again came up empty, unable to find any books that I really wanted to buy. (Side note: I kept coming across American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee, and wondering if I should buy it. I didn’t because it’s a chunker of a book… completely forgetting that I had selected it from Book of the Month, and it was waiting for me at home. Ha!) There was a great chocolatier where we bought some truffles. And there was an eclectic gift shop where Mom found a gorgeous print from a local artist. We came back to downtown Stowe on our last day so we could pick up some souvenirs. It was raining and busy, and I not only found street parking but parallel parked like a boss in front of traffic. (*bows*)
Gold Brook Covered Bridge
This is one of Vermont’s more famous covered bridges, and it comes with a spooky ghost story (pretty much debunked, but it adds a bit of lore to the site!). There was a rocky, steep path you could walk down, but I took one look and noped out. There would be no injuries on this trip! Instead, we just took lots of pictures and enjoyed the views.
Gondola Skyride at Mount Mansfield
This was our most expensive excursion of the trip, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to see gorgeous fall views from a gondola. Everything I read said it was 100% worth it, and I agree. The trip up to Mount Mansfield was incredible. So many fall colors on display, and I really loved that we got the gondola all to ourselves. Always nice when we don’t have to share an experience like this with strangers!
Once we got to the top, we were very disappointed that the fog obscured the view completely. That’s the chance you take for something like this, so we tried to make the best of it by walking around, taking pictures, enjoying the views around us, and poking around in the gift shop (where I found a Christmas ornament). It was very cold at the top, though, so we didn’t linger too long. We eventually made our way back down, which was also an incredible experience! Such a beautiful place, and I imagine even more so during the winter, as people often come to this mountain resort for skiing.
Bingham Falls
There were two different hiking paths to waterfalls on our agenda, and we decided to try Bingham Falls first. I did not expect this hike to be as strenuous as it was! Maybe for other people, it would have been more of a “fun” hike, but I am terrified of breaking an ankle and I do not like clambering over rocks and up and down steep paths. We took our time, working our way very slowly and carefully over the rocky sections, and I’m proud to report that we emerged unscathed! Well, we were slightly traumatized, which is why we opted out of the second hike.
The path to the falls was downhill, which meant we were really in for it on our way back. I feel much more confident on the uphills than the downhills, so the way back felt a little less treacherous. (On our way back, a family of four was behind us for a section, and at one point, my mom almost lost her balance on some rocks, and I said, “There are people behind you.” What I was trying to say was that she had me in front and some people behind her, so she had lots of support to get over the rocks. But the family was like, “No, no, no. It’s fine. Take your time!” I wasn’t trying to be a bitch to my mom, I promise!)
von Trapp Brewery Tour
This brewery wasn’t on my radar until I was watching a Vermont travel vlog and they talked about it! Of course, Mom and I had to do the tour. The brewery was started by one of the actual von Trapp children, the youngest one, Johannes. And it’s one of the most successful in the country! The brewery tour was super informative—I’m always astonished by everything that goes into the brewery process! It’s so much more intricate than I expected. While I did not partake in the beer samples afterward (I hate beer), my mom gave them two thumbs up!
Smuggler’s Notch
Smuggler’s Notch was the go-to recommendation for Stowe, and we drove it on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. It’s an 8-mile stretch of road that has some of the most gorgeous fall views. The good news is, driving it on a rainy day meant there was very little traffic to deal with. The bad news is that I didn’t feel like getting out of the car too often because I didn’t want to get soaked! Ah well. I tried to just enjoy the drive without needing to stop and take tons and tons of pictures. The ones I got were just fine!
Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
I was really excited for the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour because… ice cream! It’s a 30-minute tour and went by pretty quickly. We learned the history of Ben & Jerry’s, took a look at their manufacturing facility, and then got a sample of ice cream (mint chocolate chunk). They also have a gift shop and an ice cream shop where you can enjoy any flavor of your choosing! (We stuck to just the sample because a) it was cold and b) my teeth don’t like it when I have too much ice cream.) Afterward, we walked over to the Flavor Graveyard!
Cold Hollow Cider Mill
Before we left Vermont to drive to Boston for our flight home, we stopped at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. We opted to just poke around in the gift shop, which was pretty robust, filled with foodstuffs that I desperately wanted to bring home. Alas, I settled for a few postcards, a warm apple cider, and two apple cider donuts. The perfect fuel for a road trip, right?!
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And that was Vermont and our New England road trip as a whole! It was such a great trip, and I’m grateful that I got to make more core memories with my mom. <3
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