10-7-2025 Stowe, VT

Looks like the drought is over and the locals are ecstatic!  So are the trees, grass, fields and crops!  It’s a light, steady rain that is predicted to last all night and into tomorrow.  It will, no doubt, wash all the remaining red leaves to the ground but, well, we’ll pay the price if it means the whole northeast won’t burn down.

 

Lucky for us, yesterday was warm and sunny and a gondola ride to the top of Mansfield Mountain at the Stowe Ski Resort was the experience-du-jour.  The mountain is not so high by western standards, 4363’ at the top of the ski runs but as skiers know, it’s not the elevation, it’s the drop!  (Stowe has 7 lifts and 36 black runs.  For perspective, Aspen has 9 lifts and 26 blacks.)  It was a 20-minute gondola ride up and this time, we got a view of all the trees’ red, gold and orange gowns from the top while lazing in Adirondack chairs and enjoying the breeze.

Atop Mansfield Mountain

Riding the gondola

 

We’ve found that in the south, they have, “traces.”  In the west, there are, “reaches.”  Here in the northeast, they have, “notches,” paths or canyons of a sort that cut through the mountains.  Notches can be formed by glaciers, earthquakes or plate shifts and have been occurring since the earth was a ball of fire.  After the gondola experience, we found the road to Smuggler’s Notch.  It’s not really so much a road as it is a one-and-a-half-lane path that meanders among colorful canopies of leaves.  The path or road was used by smugglers during the time of prohibition to traffic booze into the US from Canada.  Before entering this road, there is a kind of squiggly maze you drive through and if your vehicle can navigate this maze, you are good to go.  It’s important to be aware of the tight squiggles, to be sure, but it doubles in importance when you learn that there are boulders the size of Montana that go straight up on either side of the path.  Longer vehicles are not advised.  The road gets stopped up regularly with what the local rescue teams call, “stuckage,” which backs up the otherwise rule-abiding citizens for miles.  It was a really pretty drive but not for the timid.  If you know what it is to wait your turn on a one-lane bridge, this is Smuggler’s Notch (without the bridge).  Beauty all around us but situational awareness is paramount.  Fortunately, we did not encounter a stuckage.

Note the boulders on either side of the road.

Didn't pass the maze test or
the IQ test.  Stuckage.

Stuckage.  IQ of a meat thermometer.

Sign at the entrance to
Smuggler's Notch.

The maze test at the entrance.

Warning signs everywhere
that low IQs ignore.

 

Stowe is the place where the Von Trapp family settled when they immigrated to the USA in 1950.  Over the decades, Captain Georg Von Trapp, Maria and the children developed their land, raised crops and animals and created a lodge, restaurant and bierhall.  No trip to Stowe would be complete without a visit to the Von Trapp family establishments.  Next stop, the bierhall for a Von Trapp Lager and a fresh baked pretzel.  Wunderbar! 

The wine list featuring
a $1,400 bottle of liquid gold.

Von Trapp Family Lodge and Restaurant.

The Von Trapp Bierhall

In the restaurant, the view from
our table:  mums, apple trees
and edelweiss.

In the restaurant.

 

The Gentle Giants Carriage Rides were closing up shop when we arrived.  Jack had been relieved of his harness after a long, hard sweaty day.  That was a little disappointing but we felt sorry for Jack and were fine with not making him work another run.  We headed for our home to wait for dinner time and wienerschnitzel for my beloved at the Von Trapp Family Restaurant.  What a five-star class act this place is!  The grounds are perfectly manicured with flowers and trees just beyond the restaurant windows. Tables are covered with linens, candles and flowers and while dining, guests are serenaded with live, quiet piano music.  The staff is dressed in dirndls (women) and shirt, tie and vest (men).  The meals are served meticulously perfect.  I had my steak tartare fix and Rob was a happy man at last with his wienerschnitzel.  Ein prosit!  Some flavor shots for you below.

One of the oldest covered RR
bridges in the country, built in
1902.  It is the last covered bridge
in existence with a full-length
copula to vent train smoke.

View along the route to Bartlett, NH.

Pictures don't really do justice.

Old quarry rock church in a small town.

The grand Mt. Washington Hotel
built in 1908.  You can stay here in
rooms ranging from
$500-$1,400/night.
To the right, that small white
line going up the mountain is
the cog train that takes folks to
the top of Mt. Washington,
engulfed in clouds.

Jack the whooped carriage horse.

Just a huge pretty house along the route.
(Who cleans it?!)