Sunday, April 25, 2010

Weekend in VT

Vermont

Google Map: Ottawa to Burlington, VT

This weekend was our long planned and overdue trip to Vermont. The kids had a PD day on Friday so we made the most of it and pulled the trigger on another great hotwire.com hotel deal. Bang!

I wasn't too fond of the idea of driving through Montreal's Friday morning traffic so we crossed at Cornwall and headed straight for the Lake Champlain Ferry at Cumberland Head. A mere 15 minutes later and we were on Vermont soil. Sweet.

Crossing from NY to VT
Vermont Ferry Ferry from VT to NY

Minutes later we were browsing the aisles of Burlington's Costco and scoring a deal or two before heading down to our hotel on the waterfront.

View from the Hilton
View from the top floor of the Hilton hotel.

The weekend forecast brought blue skies and sunshine providing the perfect backdrop for this picturesque town.

Burlington Town Center

Saturday morning we took a drive out to the nearby mountains and on Kenmore's advice we made the climb up the switchbacks to the viewpoint at Appalachian Gap. To get a feel for the road, check out this guy's Appalachian Gap youtube clip taken on his motorbike.

Steep climb Snowshoe Trail - Mad River Glen

On the way back we passed through a small town where the kids spotted a rather colourful cow. Not able to resist the photo op I turned the van around the stopped to chat with the artist painting this unique masterpiece. Turns out there will be a few of these types of images strategically planted here and there across Vermont. This one will be heading to the Burlington area. Keep an eye out for it.

Marc Hughes and his cow
Marc Hughes website

It was a great weekend and in hindsight our timing was perfect as just days later Vermont was hit with a big dump of snow. Nearly 12 inches in some areas.

For our next visit we plan on soaking in VT with a little more hiking.

Hiking in VT

1 comment:

Kenmore said...

Vermonsters love their cows! Next trip you'll be ready for the less traveled but equally exciting Lincoln Gap.

Loved the "peg drag" on the You tube clip. Probably scared the..., well, scared something out of him.