One of my favorite places for a family vacation is Vermont. None of us ski, but we usually stay in the Stowe area which has so much to offer in the way of accommodations, shopping, outdoor activities and restaurants that there is something for every family to enjoy.
This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving away from home and stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge. The lodge is still owned and operated by the Von Trapp Family of The Sound of Music fame, where they settled after leaving Europe, the scenic mountain views reminding them of Austria. In the summer of 1950, they began accepting guests who stayed in a 27-room lodge destroyed by a fire in 1980, and subsequently rebuilt a more modern 96-room lodge in use today.
The lodge is on a large property that contains a working farm, bakery, brewery, and trails for hiking, snow shoeing and cross-country skiing. On our most recent visit we were able to take a snowshoe tour to see how maple trees are tapped and the sap turned into syrup.
In Stowe and neighboring Waterbury there is plenty of shopping and we can often find some unique gifts to bring home for friends and family. Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea Company offers some of the smoothest coffee, best enjoyed with a fresh pastry, and we always take some whole bean to go. What goes better with coffee than chocolate, and Lake Champlain Chocolates is a short distance down the road…just remember to brush and floss after all those treats! Sharing a home with the chocolate shop is Danforth Pewter which offers some very nice items as well.
One of our favorite two restaurants in the area is the Bierhall at the Trapp Family Lodge. There is a brewery on-site which offers regular and seasonal Austrian-style beers and traditional foods to match. A short drive away is Prohibition Pig in Waterbury of which one of the highlights is their barbecue.
I hope you get to visit and enjoy the area as much as our family does. Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Dr. Richard Strakus
Adult dentist, Bedford & Needham offices