Vermont Travel Notes

The Benoits, a family of famous Vermont deer hunters who lead guided hunts and have published books and video on how to hunt deer, will be at the Sportsman's Classic. The father, Larry, (pictured above holding the rifle) lives about a half mile down the road from our inn.

One of Vermont's largest events, the Sportsman's Classic, takes place this coming weekend at the Champlain Expo facility in Essex Junction near Burlington.

About 15,000 people will fill the halls to view displays about hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits. The event starts at noon on Friday and ends Sunday afternoon.

For the children, there will be a reptile show, trout pond, casting competition, archery shoot, pellet gun shoot, and shooting simulator .

For adults, there is a fly casting pond, 45 free seminars, free ATV demo rides on a one mile course, prizes, raffles, and giveaways.

A portion of the proceeds benefits Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a special Vermont camp for children with cancer. Last year the show raised an amazing $10,000 for the camp.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

Stowe Winter Carnival Snowshoe Trek

Stowe VT celebrates its 35th Winter Carnival with the theme this year of "Stowe Away Your Blues."

Visitors and locals can spend a few days setting aside the economic travails of these times and enjoy some inexpensive fun.

There are ten major activities planned for both adults and kids including an ice carving competition, snow volleyball tournament, snow golf tournament at the local country club, youth hockey tournament, super G race, movies, kids carnival, the popular main street block party, theater, dance, fireworks.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

If you can't make it to Vermont this weekend to see the amazing Winter Dew Tour (see my blog entry from yesterday) at Mount Snow, you can watch it on television Saturday afternoon, January 10.

Here comes the confusing part. I thought it was on USA Network Saturday afternoon. (That's the network with Monk and House marathon weekends if you can't remember which one it is).

The Burlington VT Free Press newspaper television section lists it on USA at 4:30 pm. However, when I searched around online, the schedules say it is on NBC Sports. Both networks are owned by NBC so you can check your local listings to see where it actually is. Look for it at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Also, there are some great videos of today's winning runs online at the Alliance of Action Sports website. Amazing displays of skill.

The event runs tomorrow and Sunday so you still have plenty of time to get there. See my blog entry from yesterday for more information.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

Photo from the Mount Snow Dew Tour

Man, that was a LOT of snow. It has snowed (with a little sleet mixed in at the middle) for two days almost non stop. Weather forecasters call for a little more this weekend, mostly in the form of flurries so the white stuff is going to stay fresh for a while.

If you have been thinking of heading to Vermont for any kind of snow activity, I can say with complete confidence that now is the time.

Mount Snow Resort in southern VT got 10 inches of snow and Jay Peak in far northern VT got 20 inches.

Speaking of Mount Snow, the Winter Dew Tour, sponsored by Mountain Dew soft drink, is there this weekend. The resort is near West Dover VT, about mid-way between Brattleboro and Bennington.

There are some great freeski slopestyle videos here (in the right hand column) so you can get an idea of what you will see this weekend plus snowboards on the pipe. Spectator admission is free all weekend.

Olympic gold medalist and Vermont native Hannah Teter will be there along with other stars.

It will be cold this weekend - bring your warmest stuff.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

See the Winter Trails website for information about this rare opportunity to test cross country and snowshoes free.

There are ten ski areas around the state participating in Winter Trails 2009. Most of the Vermont ski areas are holding the event this coming Saturday, January 10 except Bolton Valley which is holding the event January 11. It would be a good idea to contact your selected ski area to confirm the event is still planned. Links to each area are on the Winter Trails website.

Also, note that you have to fill out a Registration & Release Form - there is a link to it on the website.

This is a great way to see some of Vermont's prettiest woods and countryside. It's easy to do and you generally stay warm from exercising. If you have not tried it, now is the time!

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

Sample VT Ski Areas Association web page with listings of free ski lesson availabilities.

You can't beat the price: Learn to ski or ride free at
some resorts that are offering a day of free equipment and lessons this week.

You should act right away because openings are limited. The Vermont Ski Areas Association has a special free lessons page on their website that lists. Use the drop down menu to choose a day of the week and the website will return a table of resorts and number of openings at each. I don't know how well they are keeping this information current (it's up to the resorts no doubt) so get in touch soon with the ones that look most likely.

As I was searching through the dates and resorts list yesterday, it looked like Wednesday and beyond are the best bets.

If you sign up for one of these lessons and need a place to stay, give us a call and we will give you a 15% discount when you mention this blog post.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn