Family Road Trip to Vermont!

Zach was an amazing trooper on our 10+ hour road trip to Vermont. He did some good sleeping, and even when he wasn't, he was pretty amiable to be in the car!

Zach sleeping
(very briefly)
on the drive up

We stayed at a supposed 3 star hotel in Albany, but it was a 2 star at best and felt more like a 1.5 star. Yikes. Luckily, there were lots of other families, and everyone was quiet, so it worked out okay. Zach loved exploring, and he charmed people at breakfast.

Zach at breakfast
at the Best
Western in Albany

We stopped in Burlington on our final leg and had a fun lunch. Zach charmed more people. He got some crayons, which he mostly threw on the floor. We were at the bar, and he loved watching the bar tenders shake martinis!

Zach and Frank at
the Farmhouse Tap
& Grill in Burlington

Frank and I got out skiing on Monday & Tuesday at Craftsbury! Yay! They had great food: wholesome scones, muffins, granola bars, and a kale salad. The facilities were incredibly nice for $10pp. 

Frank and Susan at
Craftsbury

Smugglers' is super-family friendly, and we were just up the hill from the indoor pool, so we went three nights in a row. 

Frank and Zach at Smugglers' pool's slide

On Tuesday, coming back from Craftsbury, it was only 10 miles out of the way to Stowe, VT, so we went into town for lunch. Despite visiting two breweries, Brewster River Pub and Idletyme, we had not found any beers that we liked enough to fill our growler, so we stopped in at Black Cap Coffee and made a local sampler, 4 Vermont beers, 1 beer/cider from VT, and 1 from Maine. The highlights are captured!

A really good,
strong
brown ale

A Russian
Imperial Stout

It snowed on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and amazingly Smugglers' wasn't prepared! We were plowed in at 9am, and three cars and a shuttle had gone in a ditch! Apparently, they hadn't re-sanded. So, we couldn't get Zach to daycare. We spent the day together; in the snow in the morning, and then more time outside in the afternoon. 

Frank, Susan, Zach in the snow at Smugglers'

Frank & Zach

Frank and Zach played around the unit and outside, and I took a second ski lesson. Downhill is scary! Frank got out after I got back from my lesson. The powder of the day's snow had blown off leaving an ice slick for skiing. He fell and had to go to the local hospital for stitches!

The outlier from
Maine, but
pretty local too!

On our final day, we headed back to Craftsbury for a final cross country ski. Though the conditions weren't ideal for them, we enjoyed some new trails that hadn't been open and did Ruthie's Run in the opposite direction from the Monday and Tuesday skis. We ate a delicious lunch at their cafe: a wholesome chicken soup, chicken salad sandwich, homemade granola bar, and a chocolate chip cookie! We got back in time for showers, a hot tub soak, and a nap before picking up Zach.

We headed home on Saturday, and once again, Zach was a great road tripper. We pushed him harder this time with only one short stop near Albany, but he did play a lot in the morning before we left at 1:30pm! Temps were frigid at Smuggs and persisted throughout our drive. We even hit snow storms and a white out (briefly) on I-88 around 6pm. Yikes. Frank was incredible and drove us all the way home. I used Mountain Lion as a pillow and got some sleep with Zach.

Check out all our pics here.