Vermont 2023 {Waterbury Library, Mount Mansfield Hike}

3 October 2023 - One of the things we really wanted to do before we left VT was to hike Mount Mansfield. When the air was so smoky in our last week we kind of thought we might have to save it for "next time", but things cleared up nicely just in time for us to hike it after Gregg's meetings in Stowe on Tuesday. While he was working, the kids and I drove down to Waterbury to visit the library and do some math and writing in the parking lot before it opened. (Our usual Stowe library wasn't open in the morning on Tuesdays, plus it was getting crazy in the village with all the tourists coming to peep at leaves, plus we had a recommendation from Gregg's coworker Kim to check out the Waterbury Library, plus it's always fun to visit a new one.) 

I thought this was a super clever idea to combine
books and plants. We didn't visit the garden, but
I sent the idea on to Heather so she can make one someday!

Some of the plants included in the garden with the books
they correspond to. You can check out these little guides
for your garden visit.

And then they had a shelf dedicated to the books
featured in the garden. I love it!

I love perusing the shelves of new libraries. This one looked
so cute and so perfect for the season, I snatched it up and read it
to the kids who were playing LEGO at the table. 
Not many words (or even complete sentences), but I loved
how there was actually a story progressing through the alphabet pages. Super cute!

A book in a nook.

This one was a great library to visit. So glad Kim
brought it to our attention!

We got back to Gregg's office parking lot where we made some very interesting chicken salad sandwiches (trying to use up stuff in the fridge, but I didn't have enough mayo so we stopped at the store and I ended up buying an apple cider salad dressing and just pouring that over my shredded chicken and cashews and apples and raisins - it worked, but it wasn't amazing) and ate them quickly and then headed to Stowe Mountain Resort to attempt our hike of the tallest mountain in the state. We knew it would be iffy to make it to the actual highest point from the trail we were taking (there is some "cliff trail" hiking involved from the top of the gondola to the ridge, but we also had the free-gondola-ride-down-when-you-hike-up carrot enticing the kids to the top and the gondola stops running at 4:30 so we also had a time constraint). But we set out hiking anyway. What a gorgeous HOT day! It was 80+ degrees when we started our uphill climb. In October! In Vermont! So crazy! But we hiked on. We savored the shade (even from the gondola towers) and gulped in any breeze that happened to come our way. Eventually (actually, pretty quickly given the circumstances) we made it to the top of the gondola. We decided there just wasn't enough time to finish the climb to the tippy top. So we sat in the shade and ate our snacks and drank our water and guessed which gondola number we would end up on for our ride down. (They weren't in order so it was kind of a tricky and fun game.)

Oh the leaves!

We'll take any speck of shade we can get!

So hot and so so so sweaty!

On the last stretch!

Almost there!

Stay on target!

So sweaty!

Ah! The best shade!

We did it!

What a view!

And now for the prize! The easy way down.

Back at the bottom. We actually have to go
uphill a bit from here to get back to our car.

Cute fall decor around an old gondola cabin.

Anniversary logo!

While we were looking around at the gondola base, we realized the little gondola that goes over the road to the main resort village was running and it was free, so we hopped on for one more little ride. We had tried to come to the Enchanted Forest playground here towards the beginning of our trip, but couldn't find a place to park so had to skip it back then, so it was fun to come play before we had to leave for home. It was extra nice to just sit in the Adirondack chairs in the shade after that hike! I don't know how the kids had energy to climb and race on the obstacle course. Sheesh!

And of course we love the covered bridge
that leads to the park.

Sam asked to pose with this reindeer outside
one of the shops.

Love the name of this little lift. Perfect.

Cal was super brave and rode back by
herself!!

Hi up there, Callie!

We loved that the stair railing was made
from lift line cable!

It was getting late and we were getting hungry (luckily we had split pea soup in the crockpot waiting for us back at the condo) but we took the "long way" back just so we could drive on our favorite road in golden hour (literally!). I always feel like I'm in Anne of Green Gables when we are on this tree-tunnel road. Glorious!