A Brief Visit to Vermont

After arriving at the Cabot Cheese Factory and discovering they were not making cheese yesterday, we were a little bummed. Thankfully, there were many other Vermont activities to keep us busy. Vermont is such a family-friendly destination with a wealth of outdoor and indoor activities, plus things like maple syrup and bacon– how could you go wrong?

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

We started off the day at Cold Hollow Cider Mill (located in Waterbury, VT) for some apple cider samples and some of their famous cider donuts. As soon as we got out of the car in the parking lot, the smell was AMAZING. We enjoyed seeing them press the cider the old fashioned way, and then we headed over to grab a dozen cider donuts (we were nice and decided to save some for my husband!).

The Cold Hollow Cider Mill cider donuts have been named some of the best in the country by Gourmet magazine. In prime leaf peeper season, Cold Hollow will make over 800 dozen cider donuts a day! In retrospect, I really wish I would have stocked up on some more donuts…

Stowe Recreational Path

After gobbling up a donut, we headed over to the Stowe Recreational Path—a must if you ever stay in Stowe. It’s a beautiful walk, bike, run (and cross country ski in the winter) path. The path is 5.3 miles long and follows the West Branch River. It is frequented by bikers, runners, and in the winter, cross-country skiers. In the warmer months, it’s a great place to take a picnic and swim in a nearby swimming hole.

I have been on it a number of times in the winter, but it was really beautiful to see it in the spring. Getting some exercise helped make the boys more willing to hop in the car for a ride to the Cabot factory.

Cabot Factory

After about 50 minutes of travel through the Vermont countryside, we arrived at the Cabot Factory to discover that today was not a “cheese-making day.” Major bummer, but the mountain of free cheese samples helped cheer the boys up! They must have had about twenty different types of their cheeses to sample.

Back to Montpelier

After Cabot, we headed back to Montpelier to catch up with the hubs for lunch. We went to Bagitos for lunch (Main St., Montpelier) on a recommendation. It did not disappoint. One of the many great things about Vermont is the plethora of vegetarian/vegan/localvore restaurants.

The icing on the cake was spotting a beautiful dress at Athena’s Boutique on Main St. I convinced my husband to buy it for me for Mother’s Day. I will post a picture of it when we get back. Happy Friday everyone—enjoy the weekend runs!