Adventures in Travel: Vermont

Living in Florida we have one season, Summer. I’m a Floridan through and through and couldn’t handle the cold weather, I admit this, however, I don’t mind getting to dip my toes in the seasons and seeing what the world has to offer. I swear that everything looked like a postcard, Vermont was beautiful. I wasn’t sure if my photos were going to truly capture what I was seeing, but I soaked in every moment and it truly was a perfect weekend.

Getting There

Kevin and I decided to fly into Hartford, CT and drive up to Vermont (about a 3-hour drive). It was way cheaper and we were going to have to rent a car no matter where we flew into. Getting around Vermont with Lyft and Uber wouldn’t be easy, I honestly didn’t even open the apps to check out of curiosity when we were there.

When researching flight options the best deal we found was with Spirit. I’ve flown them once before and it was awful. I was a little nervous but understood if I had an uncomfortable flight, it was only going to be for 2.5 hours. The deal was too good to pass up. We got lucky. Our flight going up was half full, it was fantastic. The seats don’t recline, but we had an entire row to ourselves so it wasn’t an issue. I downloaded plenty of episodes from various shows on Netflix for my entertainment and I always travel with a book. I know how to entertain myself.

Our return flight wasn’t bad either. It was almost full, but again we lucked out and had the entire row to ourselves. Everyone from Spirit was friendly and based on this trip I would fly them again. If you fly Spirit make sure you pay attention to the carry-on measurements. They are strict about the size and if your bag is too big they will make you check it. The night before we left we used our tape measurer and made sure we weren’t going to have issues.

Our first night we stayed at the Sheraton Bradley Airport Hotel. We arrived at 10:00 p.m. and didn’t want to drive into Vermont late at night. We figured staying at an airport hotel was the better choice and we could get an early start after a good night’s sleep. We didn’t realize the Sheraton Bradley Airport Hotel was actually in the airport. We walked off our flight, grabbed our bag, and walked right into the hotel. Our room even had a view of the plane we just got off (It’s the third plane pictured below). We thought this was the funniest thing, yeah, we are easily impressed.

Road Trip

We picked up our car from Budget, got an upgrade to an SUV, which was pretty cool. I turned on Siri (I drained my data) to guide us to our destination and we hit the road. I’m not used to driving through three different states in one day. It takes at least 8 hours to drive out of Florida. Leaving Connecticut and driving through Massachusetts on the interstate wasn’t anything special, but once we were in Vermont everything changed. Also, getting off the interstate and going through the mountains on the windy roads do change the scenery a bit.

Seeing the fall foliage and all the cute towns were just incredible. I brought a book with me to read in the car, but I didn’t open it once. I was just staring out the window taking in all the sights.

What We Ate

Sugar and Spice: Kevin used to come to this place with his family over 15 years ago. He said it was exactly the same, a lot of this was a big nostalgia trip for him. This was our first stop in Vermont and I think we were both relieved to get out of the car. There were pumpkins out front (every house/building had pumpkins out front).

I had the waffles and ice cream with a side of bacon, because why not?! Kevin had the Sugar and Spice pancakes, which were DELICIOUS. My prednisone fueled hunger cravings were in full force the entire trip and I was eating everything in my path, including some of Kevin’s food.

The Garlic: I spotted this restaurant on the way to our hotel. I love garlic so immediately I was sold. After asking for recommendations at the hotel, The Garlic was high on the list. They had freshly baked bread that they serve with a clove of roasted garlic that they drown in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Dipping the bread in this beautiful concoction was delightful. I asked Kevin if he could figure out how to roast a clove of garlic for me because I’m going to want this again and again.

I had the Chicken Picatta and Kevin had the Chicken Marsala. The entrees were huge and we could have easily split one between us, but hey, we were on vacation. My chicken was so tender and delicious, I stuffed my face. A serious food coma shortly followed, which was perfect. We winded down the evening in our room in front of the fireplace. Oh Vermont, you’re adorable.

The Hatchery: One of our best finds, this place was fantastic. If you ever go to Vermont, you HAVE to go to the Hatchery in Ludlow, Vermont. Freaking fantastic. I found it while looking up breakfast places that would be on our way to Chester. It looked cute, the menu looked perfect and it had good reviews on Yelp.

It was just another adorable Vermont place that had been there forever. We started our breakfast with a tasty Hot Apple Cider with cinnamon. I’m pretty sure it’s a Vermont law that everything must contain cinnamon. I’m all for it. We wanted a big breakfast that would get us through the day and we went to the right place. I got the sausage gravy and biscuits with two eggs over easy and Kevin got the cinnamon bun french toast. We shared both of these amazing entrees, because umm, how could I not have some of that french toast??!

I was taking Prednisone during this trip and I’m pretty sure I ate everything in the entire state of Vermont. I was constantly looking for the next meal. Everywhere we ate was fantastic.

Things to Do

Hathaway Farm & Corn Maze: I’ve never in my life been in an actual corn maze. It wasn’t easy and I’m not sure how long it took us to navigate the maze. It didn’t help that I was starving and desperately wanted dinner. It was challenging but worth it. Not sure how we got out of there, we may have cheated.

After we got out of the maze we explored the actual farm which had a bunch of animals. Adorable goats, sheep, bunnies, donkeys, cows, etc. I’m just not used to seeing farms in Miami.

Green Mountain Railroad: We took the Chester to Okemo Fall Foliage Train Ride. The views were amazing, again, everything looked like it was out of a postcard. Once we arrived at Okemo, we explored the Okemo Mountain Resort and rode the Timber Ripper Moutain Coaster, which was a lot of fun. There was also a Fall to Winter Festival going on, we grabbed a hot cider and a hot dog and headed back to the train.

Killington Peak: I’m not in shape and couldn’t handle hiking up a mountain, luckily there was a chair lift and Gondola ride that took us to the top of Killington Peak. It was overcast, but the views were pretty great. I got a little-winded walking uphill at times, thanks, anemia. I just paced myself and took breaks when I needed it. If the hill was challenging, I’m glad we didn’t take on the actual mountain.

Pleasant Street Books: This isn’t an attraction, it’s a bookstore. This may have been one of my favorite things in Vermont. We stumbled onto this bookstore as we were driving through Woodstock, which is the cutest little town. I probably spent an hour in there looking at all the old books, I could have spent the entire weekend there. As a book lover, I was just in awe.

Vermont was amazing and I know there are so many places I’ve yet to see, but I would definitely come back. It was such a perfect weekend and I’m sure I’m leaving a few things out.