Stowe, VT

We rolled into Stowe Vermont sore and thirsty.

Sore from the lactic acid that just did not want to recede after an epic hike in the White Mountains in Franconia, NH.

Thirsty at the thought of Alchemist Brewing being just a few miles down the road from our overnighting spot at Gold Brook Campground.

Scott & Ellie continued their visit with us, working from the picnic table outside during the week.

We found Stowe to be pleasant. I was surprised at the ratio of those in the Boomer age group to any other age group hanging out in Stowe. Stowe seemed to be a very popular stop-over for tour buses toting hoards of our aged-to-possible-perfection, adventure-seeking brethren throughout the Northeast.

My favorite parts of Stowe included the Black Button Coffee Shop (specifically their almond croissants), the greenway meandering between downtown and a covered bridge near the base of Mt. Mansfield, and The Alchemist.

The Alchemist is known for some of the most highly sought IPA beers in the country. As such, we all took Thursday beer-drinking vacation days from work and spent a sunny day pre-gaming by perusing tchotchkes and sampling and hard ciders at Cold Hollow Cider, then an afternoon drinking excellent beers at Alchemist.

We concluded our Thursday beercation with a late-ish evening meal at Tres Amigos Mexican Restaurant, then slept in as much as Ellie allowed us to on Friday. Friday called Ellie and Scott away from Dyna. They headed back to NY where they came from, with a weekend pitstop to hike a few high peaks in the Adirondacks with Scott’s mom.

Jake and I then spent our party-of-two Saturday grabbing donuts at Cold Mill Hollow (okay, Jake got a hotdog because he’s a monster), then bopping around Montpelier.

Montpelier is the smallest town feeling Capitol I have yet to experience. If Bernie Sanders was a Capitol, it would be Montpelier. Which is appropriate. We poked through the various shops in town before snagging burgers and heading toward the Ben & Jerry’s factory. Disapointingly, the factory was not entertaining guests for tours, but we were able to visit the Flavor Graveyard and nosh on some ice cream cones.

We spent Sunday in the Stowe area exploring a very corny greenway trail then driving up and through Smugglers Notch in the Jeep.

Before pulling up our levelers on Monday, I headed into Stowe for one final jog along the greenway and a few almond croissants to go. We’ve got a short hop over to Burlington, VT where we plan to hang out for a week or so.

Oh Wow! Scott, RV Park