Stowe Pinnacle

Mountain towns are so wonderful. Stowe, VT is just that, a wonderful little mountain town filled with outdoor activities and amazing scenery. I love being in a place where I can walk out the front door and be on my way to an adventure.

Marissa and I went to Stowe during the early summer of 2009. The hiking trails were still a bit soggy from the melting snow, but not unmanageable- plus the trail we were on (to Stowe Pinnacle Peak) was really well maintained and even had little wooden footpaths over the extremely muddy areas.

I definitely recommend this trail, it was under 6miles, pretty strenuous at times, and brings you to a clearing up in the green mountains where you can see for miles. I imagine that it would get a lot busier later in the summer and during the fall, but Marissa and I saw about 3 other people on the trail. Lovely solitude.

Eat..

Generally, trips like this (for me) don't involve much fine dining. I'm talking bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwiches for breakfast, a bagged lunch to bring on the hike, and whatever is closest for dinner since we're exhausted by that point. That said, we had dinner at the restaurant that was attached to the Inn that we stayed at- the Green Mountain Inn (which was adorable.) The restaurant was called The Whip Bar and Grill and it served some pretty great steak.

Buy:

• Stowe Mercantile- Everything from clothing to Vermont Maple Syrup (which I obviously had to buy simply because it was Vermont Maple Syrup.)
• Shaw's General Store- Any store that that calls itself a "general store" automatically gets a visit from me. You can find the craziest things in general stores.
• There are a few great galleries to check out in the center of town.

Do:

• Go hiking- Pick up  your trail map a the General Store and look for Stowe Pinnacle. Make sure you get directions to the trail head from a local- Marissa and I drove around for a bit searching for it.
• Ski, Snowboard, Sled- Stowe is home to Smuggler's Notch (possibly the best skiing on the East coast)
• Wander through the town, shopping and eating. 
• Ben & Jerry's is not too far from town.. go on a tour of the factory and have some ice cream!

I love Vermont, its so different from New York (at least the part of NY that I'm from.. 17 miles from Manhattan.) It's so green and the air is so fresh.

----------------------------------------

I cant wait to work on current travel posts. I never figured I'd be blogging about past travels, so I didn't bother photographing certain things and never wrote down extra information- like where we went shopping and found a great meal. It is really nice to look back and dig up these memories though!