Four Days of Adventures at von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort and Around Stowe
A family vacation in Stowe presents one very good problem: there's a lot to do.
You could spend your morning riding bikes, your afternoon at a waterfall and your evening wondering how everyone still has enough energy to ask what's happening tomorrow.
If you have a few days with us, give yourselves time to experience Stowe—and make sure you save plenty of time for what's waiting right here at von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort.
Because some of the best family stories may involve a mountain. Others may involve a goat named Indigo.
With 2,600 acres surrounding the Lodge, there's plenty to discover before you've technically gone anywhere at all.
Check the current activity schedule, because one of our farm experiences is a pretty memorable way to begin.
Meet the Cows takes you out with our farmers to meet the resort's Scottish Highland cattle and learn about the herd. Or there's Meet the Sheep, where guests can meet and hand-feed our Katahdin sheep.
Then there are Indigo and Sunshine.
They're Nigerian Dwarf goats, and if your children are at least five years old, Hike with the Goats turns a walk through the property into something considerably more entertaining.
The 90-minute hike winds through pasture and woodland toward the historic chapel while Indigo and Sunshine browse, bounce along the trail and occasionally accept a treat from your hand.
It's difficult to imagine a more von Trapp introduction than that.
The Stowe Recreation Path stretches 5.3 miles from Stowe Village along the Little River to a covered bridge.
It's paved, mostly level and accessible from several points along the route, so you don't have to tackle all 5.3 miles.
Walk part of it. Rent bikes and ride farther. Stop when someone sees a swimming hole. Have a picnic.
Or use the path as a way to get from one part of Stowe to another without spending the whole morning in the car.
If the weather cooperates, another classic summer experience is the Gondola SkyRide at Stowe Mountain Resort.
The gondola carries you up Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, without requiring the family to hike to the top first.
That's a particularly useful combination when you've got different ages and different definitions of the phrase "fun hike."
If the family still has some adventure left, Moss Glen Falls makes a nice addition.
You don't need to devote an entire day to reaching it. The waterfall is accessible via a relatively short walk, which makes it a good way to give younger travelers the satisfaction of going somewhere without turning the afternoon into an expedition.
Then we'd head home. Tomorrow we're staying there.
There are enough possibilities that your Day Three may look completely different from someone else's.
If your children have ever wondered where maple syrup actually comes from, take the Maple Sugar Tour.
You'll walk about a mile through the property to our sugarhouse, learn how maple syrup is made and finish with a maple treat.
That's considerably more fun than explaining photosynthesis over pancakes.
Families comfortable on bikes can also start at our Outdoor Center.
The resort has more than 20 miles of doubletrack mountain-biking terrain along with eight miles of intermediate and expert singletrack and two skills parks.
And one trail has a particularly Vermont ending. Lager Lane leads to the von Trapp Brewery Bierhall.
The kids may not appreciate the significance of that quite as much as you do.
The resort's 18-hole disc golf course winds through the property and gives families another way to spend time outside without needing to turn everything into a serious hike.
There is also a nine-hole beginner course if 18 holes sounds ambitious.
Learning the Forest, Bird Watching Walk and Hike to the Chapel all turn an ordinary walk into something more connected to the place around you.
You aren't simply taking another Vermont hike. You're exploring the place where this family's Vermont story unfolded.
Maybe ride another section of the Recreation Path. Spend time in Stowe Village. Go paddling. Find another easy hike.
Or take the family to Cold Hollow Cider Mill and introduce them to one of Vermont's great contributions to civilization: the cider donut.
Check the activity schedule. Take another walk. Go swimming. Play another round of disc golf. Return to the farm.
Or try something you noticed three days ago and haven't gotten around to yet.
We could give you an hour-by-hour schedule. We won't. Anyone who has traveled with children knows how long that plan would last.
Instead, think of your stay as a collection of choices.
There are mountains, waterfalls, bike rides and villages waiting throughout Stowe. And back at von Trapp, there are Highland cattle, sheep, goats, maple trees, forests, trails, history and 2,600 acres to explore.
Do some of both.
And if your children come home talking more about Indigo and Sunshine than Mount Mansfield? We won't be offended.
