Vermont Travel Notes

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

Photo courtesy Billings Farm and Museum

The Billings Farm and Museum is a beautiful working farm in Woodstock VT.. Its annual Thanksgiving Weekend starts tomorrow and continues through Sunday from 10:00 to 4:00 each day. There will be traditional cooking demonstrations, history of Thanksgiving and how it was celebrated long ago, draft horse wagon rides, tours, and other activities for the whole family.

Thanksgiving At Hildene, located near Manchester VT, will be this Friday through Sunday. There will be self-guided tours through the mansion decorated for the season. Hildene was originally the home of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham,$12.50/Adult,
$5/Children, Members and children under 6/Free.

In nearby Manchester VT, there will be a Christmas tree lighting at 5:00 on Friday November 28 at the Town Green. It will be followed by a reception with Santa at Hand Motors. With all the upscale outlet stores in town, including the Orvis headquarters store, there will be opportunities to get some holiday shopping done.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor

The Christmas Bird Count is a 109 year old event held each year all around the country. It is sometimes held on Christmas day but often takes place on other days in December and early January depending upon each local group's preferred timing. In Vermont, there are about 20 bird counting groups with the earliest counts starting December 14 and going through January 5.

This is a great way to get out and see some Vermont scenery and enjoy a day with local and out-of-state birders. You don't have to be an expert. There will be at least one experienced birder leading each group.

Detailed information about this year's count is available on the Vermont eBird.org website page. This website is a good source of information not only about the Christmas bird count but also year around information about birding in Vermont.

Two other birding websites I like are Virtual Birder (it has weekly reports of rare bird sightings around the state) and the Vermont Audubon (including links to the group's state office and local chapters).

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

Stowe - November, 18 2008 (photo copyright Stowe)

Five ski areas are now open here in Vermont. In alphabetical order (with number of trails open in parens) they are: Jay Peak (3); Killington (27); Okemo (17); Stowe (9); Sugarbush (7). Most of these ski areas have base depths in the one to two foot range. In addition to some natural snow, Stowe must have had the fan guns on the highest setting 24 hours a day last week- they have depths of two feet to four and a half feet.

I'm surprised that a couple of cross country ski areas are open already. Catamount Family Center, located in Williston VT (near Burlington) has 35 km open (perhaps benefiting from lake effect snow - Lake Champlain is a few miles west of Williston).

And Three Stallion Inn , a very nice facility in Randolph VT, has 25 km open.

To keep track of who is open, check the VT Ski Areas Association web site conditions page.

(c) 2008 (except the Stowe photo) Jeff Connor

Somehow, long ago, the tradition of having super sales during deer season got started in VT. If you live here, you know what I mean. You see newspaper advertisements addressed to "deer season widows" whose husbands are off in the woods in pursuit of deer. The deer hunting season in this state is huge, and so is this kick off to the shopping season.

There are two super sales that you might be interested in as destinations or stop offs while traveling in Vermont this weekend.

One of the biggest sales is the Cabot Hosiery Company ("Darn Tough") annual sale in Northfield VT, just a few minutes drive from the state capital of Montpelier. The company has been holding this sale for 29 years and it is a big one. Cabot Hosiery makes socks for both indoor and outdoor wear. I plan to go tomorrow and load up on Merino wool socks.

I went to the Black Diamond sale a few years ago and was impressed with the great prices on outdoor wear, mostly winter jackets, pants, and hats. Black Diamond, located just outside Montpelier, has excellent good quality products.

Remember the famous line: "The more your buy, the more you save!" Our economy needs you. Well, actually, it needs your money.



(c) 2008 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

Today's Megapickles photograph of a Lake Champlain scene reminds me of a Salvador Dali painting - it just needs a drooping clock hanging over the tree . . .

One thing I do most every evening is go to Megapickles Photoblog (see link in this blog's right hand column), one of my all-time favorite web sites. John H is the website owner. He publishes a photo every day, usually of outdoor subjects but he switched to indoor subjects and even a self-portrait earlier this year after slipping on ice and ending up in a leg cast. Some of his recent photos around Burlington and Lake Champlain meant he had to get up well before dawn and drive around looking for opportunities before heading off to his day job. That job is as a Political Science Professor at St. Michel's College.

Not only does John post a photograph each day but also he includes a note about what music he is listening to at the moment. He has an deep affinity for classic and jazz music - his collection of albums and CD's must be staggering.

I suggest you take a few minutes to poke around his website - I'm confident you will enjoy it and appreciate the amount of work that goes into it. There are many brilliantly composed and rendered photographs there.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor