Otter Expedition: Stowe In Winter
This Winter, Mike and I returned to one of our favorite Lark Hotels: The Field Guide in Stowe, Vermont, and this time we brought friends!! Will and Toby from Bright Bazaar joined us for a perfect, and super active, Winter vacation! We snowmobiled, we snowshoed, we went sledding, we took a gondola, we hiked, we droned... We basically did every snow activity there is to do aside from ski. Had we been there a little longer, we would have conquered the entire mountain!
Last time we visited The Field Guide, it was right at the end of Fall. They call it "shoulder season". It's one of our favorite times to travel because the small New England towns Lark has hotels in are usually super calm. We were thrilled though to be able to return and see Vermont covered in snow at the height of Winter! Little did we know it was also Gay Ski Week, which Stowe has dubbed 'Winter Rendezvous'. Talk about perfect timing!
The key to traveling in Winter is to hit the mountain in the middle of the week rather than book a peak weekend. The hotel itself is quiet, it's easier to get restaurant reservations in town, and you basically have the mountain to yourself! It's perfect!
We arranged most of our activities through Umiak Outdoor Outfitters. Their partner brands offer everything from dog sledding to tubing and brewery tours. Our first day, a private tour guide took the four of us snowmobiling around back country trails. The next day, we snowshoed up the mountain and sledded down! We're not talking your basic saucer sleds, these were some sleek sports sleds (say that 5x fast).
It was super cool. A bit of a workout... but really fun.
After sledding, we took the gondola up to the top of Stowe Mountain. We were a little late in the day, so the restaurant was closed, but the trees were covered in a perfect layer of fresh snow, so it was like walking through a Winter Wonderland! What you can't tell in the pictures is I'm basically standing on the edge of a steep cliff. It was the ultimate #DoItForTheGram.
Since we had our friends with us, we stayed in the hotel's Trail Suite. It has two large bedrooms, a loft with twin beds and a spacious living room. It's the perfect room for a family or a ski vacation with friends. We unwound by the fire every night with a bottle of wine and Cards Against Humanity. Who could ask for more?
I'm also obsessed with the tub and tree stump in the bathroom.
The Field Guide recently opened their own restaurant and bar on property, Picnic Social. The menu is filled with comfort food like pulled pork mac and cheese, ramen and buffalo wings. You have to try the cocktails though! They have one called "November 1307" I am definitely copying at home. It's made with bourbon, apple syrup, lemon, and apple cider. The kicker? They garnish it with a brûlée cider donut hole. :P
We went to several restaurants during the trip and our other favorite is called Plate. They have a counter in the back that overlooks the kitchen, so you can watch all the excitement go down. The food is fantastic and the ambiance is right up our alley. We highly recommend it!
Alright... I have gushed on Stowe and The Field Guide long enough. You can check out more from our trip in my Instastory highlights on my Insta profile, or look up the hashtag #onalark!
I guess we'll have to come back in the Spring and Summer so we can see all four seasons?? As always, thank you to our friends at Lark Hotels for hosting us! ;)
