Playing Tourist in Vermont

If you can’t visit Vermont in the fall to see the trees turn from green to hues of orange, red, and yellow, I guess the next best time to visit is before it gets too cold and turns to a blanket of white.  Since we prefer the fairer weather, our path took us north in the spring and summer which meant missing the fall colors in Vermont this go around.

We stayed at the Quechee / Pine Valley KOA in Vermont just across the border from New Hampshire.  Once we backed into our site and started to unhook, I realized that I never attached the emergency brake cable for the trailer to the truck bumper. Super newbie mistake! With all the bumps and turns I couldn’t believe it never fell off the trailer frame during the 146-mile trek from Massachusetts to Vermont. Very lucky and fortunate that we got out of that oversight without incident.  This KOA is nestled among tall pine trees with about 30 campsites on the lower tier and another 40 or so on the upper tier. It also has a general store, laundry room, swimming pool, and fishing pond.  We found out that this spot is so popular that many of the campers will book their stay for the following year when they leave.

The group camping across from us has been coming to this location for their family reunion for the past decade with about 30 family members attending each year.  They even rent an RV spot and keep it vacant for the Saturday of their trip so they can have an all-day cornhole tournament which we watched from our campsite. I sat in my camp chair, cracked open a beer and hoped they would notice their new spectator and invite me to join in on the fun.  Eventually a couple of the family members walked over to say hello. As they approached, I felt like I was the new kid at the playground who was about to get invited to join the cool kids, but they were just coming over to tell me about their family reunion tradition and ask if I would take a family photo of them when they were done.  Although I wasn’t invited to play in their tournament, I did get in a few games with them afterward and put on a bit of mini clinic for them ;-).  I brought over my own bags that I have been carrying with me this entire trip just waiting for an opportunity like this. (I thought cornhole would have been more of a thing at the campgrounds across the country, but these situations ended up being few and far between).  Since they had been playing all afternoon, they invited me to toss a few warmup throws.  My first toss was an air mail slam dunk right in the middle of the hole. The 4 guys who were in the finals match of the family tournament looked on in amazement.  I then went on to slide the next three bags in the hole for a four bagger and one of the guys stood up and said, “ok he’s on my team”.  Now, I’m certainly not the best cornhole player, but I can hold my own and let’s just say this family had several takeaways including using a new scoring system and bag recommendations for their tournament next year. I’d almost consider booking again next year just to watch their tournament or perhaps be invited to play 😉

Another phenomenon that happens at camp from time to time is meeting other Airstreamers who stop by to ask, “What year is your Airstream?”.  At this KOA we met another super cool Airstream couple from Annapolis Maryland.  They have a newer Airstream and like most Airstream owners, they made a point to stop by and say hello because that’s just what happens when you are in the unofficial Airstream “club”.  After chatting for a while and sharing stories, we showed them our route south and they immediately offered to have us stay on their property when we passed through Maryland. How cool is that?!  (We did end up parking Olive on their property and had dinner with them after exploring Annapolis for the day which I will elaborate on more when I finally get to that post).  One of the things we have really enjoyed about the RV lifestyle and the “Airstream Club” is that most everyone is incredibly nice and there is some sort of extra special bond that can often form between like-minded people and Airstream owners.  We certainly found that bond with our new friends from Annapolis just like we did with the Airstream couple we met in Twin Falls Idaho, and we are thankful for both of those new friendships.

So, what is there to do and explore around Quechee?  Well, we can’t always do everything we hope to do, but we did see/do quite a few things over the course of the week:

Maple Syrup Tasting:

• Sugarbush Farms:(14-minute drive)
• There are several farms to choose from, but we felt one experience was plenty and chose Sugarbush Farms as our maple syrup tasting experience. There is a small “sugar house” on the property where they boil the tree sap to make the syrup. There is a ton of information for visitors in the sugar house that explains everything you need to know about the maple syrup making process. Here are some of the stats we found most interesting:
  • One hole is drilled each year in a tree that is at least 40 years old.
  • During late winter / early spring the tree pushes sap up the trunk as a food source for the tree.
  • One hole in the trunk only extracts 7% of the sap so it does not hurt the tree.
  • It takes about 45 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup! (which is why it is so expensive).
  • Other cheaper syrups mostly contain corn syrup and artificial flavors.

Whiskey Tasting:

WhistlePig Whiskey Parlour: (4-minute drive)

• I’m more of a bourbon fan than whiskey but this was a fun tasting experience.
• We had forgotten the difference between whiskey and bourbon so instead of asking Google, we asked our server, and she reminded us that whiskey is 51% or more rye and bourbon is 51% or more corn. And now that it has been written down here, we won’t forget 😉
• We didn’t buy any whiskey, but we did get a bottle of bitters from them for a “Kocktails with Kandace”. Her “Maple Blueberry”, which is a spin on a Manhattan, has these ingredients all from Vermont
  • Bourbon whiskey with maple syrup from Vermont Spirits
  • Maple syrup from Old City Syrup Company (which we got at the Woodstock farmers market)
  • Maple Bitters from the WhistlePig
  • Fresh blueberries from Vermont
  • You can watch Kandace make the drink HERE

Hiking the Quechee Gorge: (3-minute drive)

• This is a relatively easy hike accessible right off Woodstock Road with plenty of parking at the gift shop and snack bar. The trail to the north takes you along the rim of the gorge and ends at the Ottauquechee River dam. The trail to the south takes you down a straight path with a moderate grade down to the river where you can swim, hike, fish, kayak, or just lounge around on the rocks and relax in the sun.

Woodstock Downtown & Farmers Market: (15-minute drive)

• Awesome small town with a historic covered bridge – in fact there are several covered bridges all around this area and could make for a fun day trip just going to visit them all.
• Tons of great shopping and restaurants on Pleasant Street and Elm Street. The day we visited there was a farmers market with live music, art vendors, maple syrup vendors, various alcohol tastings and a booth with the best grilled cheese we have had since our favorite jalapeno bread grilled cheese and bacon sandwich in Pismo Beach!

Burlington: (1 hour 20 min drive)

• Burlington is the home to the University of Vermont. It’s a lively college town with Church Street being the main attraction for dining, breweries, bookstores, and shopping along the 4-block stretch between Main Street to Pearl Street.
• Lake Champlain is also a beautiful sight with New York visible across the water to the west.

Montpelier: (46-minute drive)

• Easy detour stop either on the way to Burlington / Champlain Lake or on the way back. We stopped on our way back, made a pit stop at the state building to snap a few pics then enjoyed a stroll down Main Street before popping in to Three Penny Taproom for a beer and a bite.

Vermont Antique Mall: (3-minute drive)

• In addition to the antique mall there is a lot to explore here including a distillery, toy museum and an alpaca farm. We enjoyed feeding the alpacas while Sato was curiously trying to figure out what they were.

Final note on Vermont – the state has the prettiest highways in the US and I bet they are even more picturesque when they are bursting with colors in the fall!

Cheers,

-TinyTrailerTrips Crew