I finally went to Stowe in autumn! I find October to be especially busy with the kids and activities and traveling usually doesn’t happen this month. A few mom friends and I started planning back in June so that we could make sure it happened and I’m so happy we did because the weekend was magical. Here is how I spent two nights in Stowe!

Make it a long weekend.

Four friends and I got all our own kids on the bus Friday morning and hit the road. The drive up to Stowe is five hours from my house and in my opinion, too long of a drive for a two day weekend. I recommend making it a long weekend, or even longer if you can swing it. I’m lucky to have a friend with a house in Stowe and we arrived early afternoon Friday and got ourselves all settled into the house before dinner.

I always recommend before a trip to a touristy destination, make dinner reservations ahead of time! Don’t scramble when you get there because it will just add unnecessary stress. We had dinner Friday night at Cork (reservations done a week prior), right in downtown Stowe, and it was amazing. Highly recommend! Afterwards we walked around the downtown area, grabbing some local cider and goodies before heading back to the house.

First Full Day

We started out with yoga at Trapp Family Lodge, booked ahead of time on their website. It had been on my bucket list to visit there and all I can say is, wow. The views, the architecture, the animals all around, it was all just breathtaking. After the class and wandering around a bit we decided to stop on the side of the road (Trapp Hill Rd) and see the cows in one of the fields. They were gorgeous and came right up to us and I was in heaven.

I could cry thinking about those 20 minutes we spent on the side of the dirt road talking to the cows because it was as though God just knew we needed that time of peace connecting with these amazing creatures with the autumn leaves dotting the mountains in the background. We started a trend and by the time we pulled away there were many cars pulled over doing the same thing. Trapp Family Lodge is magic!

One of the beauties of a girls weekend away is not caring about what you look like. We all spent most of the rest of the day in leggings and no makeup and going with the flow of whatever else we wanted to do that day. For lunch we headed to American Flatbread (amazing!) and walking next door to Stowe Cider for a flight of their ciders. We laughed til I cried, soul refreshing!

We then drove to the downtown area of Stowe and parked behind the church and walked around the shops and had a snack and coffee at Black Cap Coffee. I spent the rest of that evening curdled up on the couch in complete relaxation.

Day Two

Both mornings we made breakfast at the house; my stomach can’t handle eating out too much and was already bothering me. We decided to get some fresh air and do a hike. After driving a bit north, we parked at one of the trail heads for Smuggler’s Notch State Park. We hiked to Bingham Falls. The hike isn’t too difficult until you get to the steep hill to get down to the main waterfall. Wear the hiking boots!

After eating leftovers for lunch and packing up the minivan, we headed back down south. I felt rejuvenated and in awe of nature’s beauty! Trips to Vermont have a way of doing that :)