Wen and I did an “escape trip” to Vermont last week. Rented a house in Killington, a small ski town. Wen kept working throughout weekdays, while I did some hiking and excursions nearby. We did some kayaking on the first day and it was nice. Saw a loon up close on the water.
Summer is definitely not a popular season for Vermont. I imagine the town will see many more tourists during the foliage and snow seasons. There isn’t much to see in summer, and COVID doesn’t help. Half of the town was closed when we were there, so dining options were kind of limited. Several times I drove half to one hour to Woodstock and even Waterbury just for a nice dinner.
Hiking trails in Vermont all feel similar. The mountains are green, really green, covered by countless tree canopies with almost no openings. That means a hiking trail is often 99% walking in the woods until you reach some peak. Walking in the woods means windless and humid, sometimes buggy, not the best hiking atmosphere I’ve had. Appalachian Trail crosses through Vermont, so there are still some nice parts. But overall I’d recommend waiting until the foliage season to hike here. We rode a ski gondola to reach Killington Peak one day, which I think it’s a nicer option.
Vermont has a lot of farms. When driving around, the most often seen signs by the road are for all kinds of farms. I went to Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock, which is apparently managed by NPS and is a designated national historical park. I quite enjoyed this place because I haven’t had much chance to visit museums this year, and this place also has cute farm animals like cows, horses, and sheep. I also went to a maple syrup farm called Baird Farm. They offered a nice little tour to show how they produce maple syrup, and syrup tasting for 6 different kinds!
We actually don’t do overnight/multi-day trip near New York often, so I’m much more used to a lean travel pack with only essentials. This time we rented a big jeep, and Wen actually plan to work for the most time as a “workation”, so the stuff we brought was a bit over the board:
- A 27-inch monitor
- Two Nintendo Switches. We played Streets of Rage 4 and Moving Out at night.
- A big board game (Gaia Project), which we ended up not playing at all.
- A big massage pillow, which we actually used a lot
- My Celestron telescope. It was rainy and cloudy for the second half of our trip, so this huge telescope wasn’t used either…
A driving trip does give a different feeling than flying. I’d do more if there are nicer views to see around New York.