I Could Move to Vermont

I could move to Vermont.

I am just finishing up five days in Vermont, doing advance research for our three upcoming Vermont tours:

Vermont Biking from Sept 25 – 29

Vermont Hiking from October 11 – 15 during fall foliage

Vermont Hiking, Biking, and Beer from Oct 14 – 19.

While the Vermont Biking tour is sold out, we still have space left on the other two. Anyway, back to Vermont and why I could move there. Breaking News: We just received a cancellation and now have one room open on the Vermont Biking tour.

I love the scenery. There are vast swathes of farming lands in the Champlain Valley that are gorgeous, especially on a bike. The Green Mountains produce wave after wave of forested hillside, dotted with lakes and sliced up by streams. Mount Mansfield towers above Stowe, giving a true alpine experience.

I love the towns. We visit five on these three tours. The beer tour starts in Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, which has tons of breweries and great restaurants. Both the beer and hiking tours spend nights in Stowe, Vermont’s cutest mountain town. There are SO many restaurants, shops, and activities in Stowe that we are considering running a hiking or family tour just based in that village. All three of our tours stay in Middlebury, a fun college town with a bit more funk than some of the other places we visit. And on our biking tour, we stay in the quaint town of Brandon and the tiny farming village of Shoreham, both of which have historic inns that are the center of town.

I love the agricultural products. A few days ago I was driving down a farming road checking it out for our biking when I saw “Fresh Honey for Sale”, stopped at a little kiosk, deposited money, and drove away with a large jar of fresh honey. There are farmstands and maple syrup vendors everywhere. Every second restaurant boasts farm-to-table and the taco place in Middlebury where I ate lunch actually owns its own farm.

I also love the people. On my morning hike today I saw three older women who made the trek to Silver Lake and then jumped in the lake; a middle-aged woman hiking in sandals; and a 65-ish grandmotherly-type who passed me on the uphill, going for a run up the trail! Vermonters take their outdoors seriously. I also watched a free music concert last night on the Brandon village green and was greeted before I even stepped in the door of the Shoreham Inn with “Hi Allan”, simply because they knew I was coming.

Vermont is new for us in 2021, a product of needing to create locations that will work during the pandemic. (In case you have not heard, Vermont is number one in vaccination rate.) But the state is so perfect for vacation, I am certainly glad we added three to our schedule. I might even move there!