Weekend Trip From NYC To Vermont

Time for another adventure! The planning for a lot of our trips/outings as of late has started with one of us saying “It will be so much harder to do this after we move back to Texas…” and this weekend trip to Southern Vermont was no exception! In true “weekend warrior” (travel couple style) fashion, you’ll see that the itinerary below technically includes 3 days, but the first is actually just a travel day that started after work hours. Here’s our itinerary of what we did with a weekend’s worth of time in the towns of Manchester, Londonderry, and Bennington, Vermont!

Day 0: Hudson Valley Cider and Troy, NY

Michael worked until late afternoon today so we didn’t set out from home in Jersey City until early evening.

Bad Seed Cider

43 Baileys Gap Rd, Highland, NY 12528

845-236-0956

Our home the first evening of our trip was in Troy, NY— chosen for its location on the way between the NYC area and our final destination of southern Vermont. The drive north to Troy is around a 1.5-2 hour drive from the Manhattan area. Our drive through the Hudson River Valley took us through New Paltz where we visited the Brooklyn Cider House previously on our Hudson Valley trip. This time we decided to visit a different cidery: Bad Seed Cider in Highland, NY. Their taproom is open daily from 12pm-7pm and they even have a cute pizza food truck outside! Bad Seed Cider takes pride in their flagship dry cider which is fermented with sauvignon blanc yeast— it really tasted like white wine! We ordered a flight of cider (original dry cider with no sugar, maple bourbon pecan, plum, and pumpkin flavors) and a full pour of their hopped cider. If your visit falls on a Sunday, try out their Sunday deal of a pizza and any draft cider for $20.

Troy, NY

After a short drive further, we settled in to our Airbnb home for the evening: a lovingly but creepily decorated old house in Troy, NY.

Day 1: Nordic Cross Country Skiing in Southern Vermont

Up For Breakfast

4935 Main St, Manchester Center, VT 05255

802-362-4204

Awakening bright and early allowed us to start on the 1 hour drive east from Troy, NY to Manchester, VT in time for breakfast. We were literally up for breakfast to go to our breakfast spot of choice: Up For Breakfast. This adorable little restaurant is only open from 7:30am to 12:30pm, so make sure you don’t sleep on it! Up For Breakfast so was…SO…GOOD. We already knew we loved “real maple syrup” from our previous experience with maple syrup in New Hampshire, but it still strikes so lovingly when you taste that roasty richness again. We ordered and absolutely devoured a perfectly prepared (and huge) plate of huevos rancheros with a side of Vermont Maple sausage, as well as a full stack of five blueberry sourdough pancakes (served, of course, with real Vermont maple syrup).

Cross Country Skiing in Londonderry, VT – The Viking Nordic Center

615 Little Pond Rd, Londonderry, VT 05148

802-824-3933

Properly fueled up, we then drove 30 minutes further into Vermont to arrive in the town of Londonderry, Vermont- a town that dates back to 1780. We drove directly to Viking Nordic Center in Londonderry where we hoped to have our first experience of classic cross country skiing (they also offer skate skiing and snowshoeing). Make sure you check their daily trail condition updates, as certain trails or even the entire ski center may be closed depending on the snow coverage situation. We got lucky as 6 inches of fresh snow had recently fallen, but in the relatively warm winter of February/March 2022 the coverage was still pretty thin with hard packed granular snow in some areas versus fluffy pillow-ey snow in others. We fell a few (read: “many”) times but had a blast! We ended up skiing over 7mi, and were out there until the trails closed at 4:30p. We were EXHAUSTED by the end of it and ready for some food and hot tubbing.

Bromley Market

3776 VT-11, Peru, VT 05152

802-824-4444

Southern Vermont is sprinkled with little general stores in each small town where residents and visitors can get snacks, hot food, craft beers, and souvenirs. We stopped by Bromley Market for some delicious sandwiches which really hit the spot after 6 hours of skiing.

A Cabin In The Snow, Vermont Style

You know I love my tiny home Airbnb stays. The inspiration for this entire trip to Southern Vermont actually started with a certain tiny cabin Airbnb in South Londonderry that has been on my travel bucket list for years now and I was stoked to finally visit. This cabin is nestled in the woods, surrounded by the snow-capped farmland of South Londonderry, and boasts its own sauna and outdoor hot tub perfect for a post-ski-day soak.

Hot Tub In The Snow

The event of the evening was upon us: an outdoor soak in the hot tub under the stars. Getting to and from the hot tub was a little more than a little painful: the hot tub was a short walk in the snow away from the cabin, so we had to strip off our hiking shoes, pants, and big coats and freeze in the frigid air before (and after) submerging in the 104F degree water. But it was so worth it. Once in the water, everything relaxed. Sore muscles weren’t sore anymore, minds let go, and all was good in the world. It was absolutely wild to think we were soaking in a steaming vat of bubbles in wintertime in Vermont, secluded and surrounded by the forest and a horse pasture covered with 2 feet of virgin snow. I loved it. We brought along a bottle of wine, Cheez-Its, and prosciutto and cheese to munch on.

Back at our home for the night in the tiny house cabin, we snuggled in bed while falling asleep to a movie.

Day 2: “Real Vermont Maple Syrup”

Taylor Farm

825 VT-11, Londonderry, VT 05148

802-824-5690

Our final day in Vermont started off with a visit to nearby Taylor Farm in Londonderry, VT. Taylor Farm is a small working farm with cows, chickens, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, and horses. They also offer horse-drawn sleigh rides in the wintertime! You can purchase snacks, produce, and maple syrup goodies at their farm store. We were sad to hear that Taylor Farm has stopped making their own cheese, but they still sell local cheese from other nearby dairy farms.

The Blue Benn Diner

Our second breakfast in Vermont was sure to include more “real Vermont maple syrup.” We chose The Blue Benn Diner in Bennington, VT and ordered blueberry pancakes and chicken fried steak. Both of us agreed that the both the food and maple syrup the previous day at Up For Breakfast was better than that at Blue Benn Diner, but it was still by no means subpar.

Glastenview Maple Farm

571 Glastenview Dr, Shaftsbury, VT 05262

802-442-4687

Visiting an actual working maple farm was the highlight of our last day in Vermont. Glastenview Maple Farm in Shaftsbury, VT (a short drive away from the larger town of Bennington) is operated out of the family’s backyard. It’s a wonderfully quaint operation. We were treated to an intimate tour starting with the tapped maple trees out back, proceeding through the syrup boiling shed, and finishing with the final maple syrup products.

Maple tree sap is accessed through a tap into the tree. Most of the trees at Glastenview were big enough for only one tap per tree, but some older and larger trees accommodated 2 or 3 taps. Maple syrup season lasts from around the end of February through the end of March, pending the climate. Sub-freezing temperatures overnight create a negative pressure within the tree, followed by warmer temperatures in the daytime causing positive pressure that forces sap out through the tap. The sap can then flow out into a collecting bucket or a hollow line that leads to a further collecting drum. We were allowed a taste of the raw sap from one of the collecting buckets— it was surprisingly watery, thin and colorless, tasting sweet but not caramelly at all. The collected sap is then boiled, gradually darkening and gaining viscosity, until the desired 66% sugar percentage is reached.

We learned that different maple species produce sap of different sugar concentrations. The trees at Glastenview produce sap containing 2% sugar. 52 gallons of sap are required to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Over the course of an entire maple boiling season, each tap generates enough sap to produce only around 1 quart of maple syrup. Earlier in the maple syrup season, the maple syrup is “golden delicate” to “amber rich,” progressing to “dark robust” later in the season. All grades of maple syrup are processed the same way; the difference is simply the difference in sap flavor and concentration based on the tree and time of year.

We sampled Glastenview Maple Farm’s amber rich, dark robust, coffee bean infused, cinnamon infused, and bourbon barrel aged maple syrups, as well as their whipped maple cream.

Pro tip: find a sugar house like Glastenview Maple Farm from which to buy your maple syrup directly! This supports local establishments and the prices are much cheaper than in the country stores.

Ted’s Fish Fry

Albany, NY

This iconic fast food staple was a must-try on our drive back through the Albany and Troy area. Ted’s Fish Fry is a family-run restaurant that dates back to the 1940’s. We ordered the $5.95 fish fry (a foot-long rod of fried fish nestled inside a cheap hot dog bun and topped with a “chili” of what tasted like ketchup mixed with relish. The fish was well cooked, but the surrounding bun and chili tasted of relatively lower quality. The onion rings ($3.00) were actually quite good, lightly crispy with a batter historically inspired by fried chicken batter. We also ordered fried scallops (cue memories of eating endless shellfish in Maine’s Acadia National Park and in Providence, RI) for $13.95 and despite my initial apprehension at ordering shellfish at a fast food restaurant, I would definitely order this again! If you’re looking for more variety, Ted’s Fish Fry also serves burgers, fried shrimp/calamari, and milkshakes.

After our fish fry dinner, we continued our drive back home to prepare for the next day’s adventure: Orlando, Florida!