Although living in the city is glamorous and convenient, once in a while you need to get away from it all. This past weekend my boyfriend planned a trip up to Burlington, Vermont for our anniversary. I didn't realize until today when I came back, how much I needed the time to refresh, and relax.
Day 1, Travel Day: Note to self, never leave Boston during rush hour on a holiday weekend, it will take you four hours to get out of the city.
After the nearly 8 hour journey up to Vermont, we arrived at our resort, The Essex: The Vermont Culinary Resort. It was quaint, peaceful, and the quintessential New England getaway. Our resort included two restaurants, and a spa. If you are ever traveling up to Vermont, I highly recommend this resort, not only was it completely amazing, but also reasonably priced.
Day 2, Tourist Day: We started off the day with breakfast at our resort. I chose the breakfast buffet where I could pick and choose what I wanted. I ended up getting a goat cheese and spinach egg white omelette, with a homemade cranberry scone on the side. Delish.
Next stop was Lake Champlain, home of the Lake Champlain sea monster, although he didn't come out to say hello, I swear I saw some whale sized movement in the water.
Located right on Lake Champlain is the Church Street Marketplace. Tons of shops, restaurants, cafes, it's a fun place to bop around.
Next we went to Magic Hat Brewery. We went on a free tour, and at the end you get four samples of any beers that you would like! The tour was great, and the beer was delicious. Great for a first date, or fun day time activity.
After leaving the brewery we stumbled upon Shelburne Farm. A beautiful New England farm where we got to go on a horse sleigh ride, and sample cheese, jelly's and mustards made right at the farm.
After the farm, my boyfriend said there was a surprise waiting for me back at the hotel. The surprise was an hour long massage at The Essex Spa. The spa has services from massages, to facials, to green tea seaweed wraps (and no you can't eat it.) The massage was incredible, and the perfect ending was sitting in the outdoor hot tub watching the sunset. When I came back from the massage another surprise was waiting in the room for me, a bouquet of flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, and my favorite wine. Gag-worthy I know, but completely adorable, I had to throw it in!
Eat Well
After my massage we got ready for dinner, we had reservations at Amuse, the restaurant at our resort. Since it's "the Vermont culinary resort" we knew the meal was going to be incredible. After a couple of free-bee appetizers, my entree consisted of a rib eye over a bronzed potato topped with whipped blue cheese. It was incredible, it was one of the juiciest most well prepared steaks I have ever had.
Day 3: Ice Cream, Ice Cream, Ice Cream
Started off the morning with breakfast in bed (yogurt topped with fresh fruit and granola, yum!) Checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Ben and Jerry's Factory. Although I am not a huge ice cream person, the tour and ice cream tasting was fun and informative! We tried a flavor that the Ben and Jerry's team is still working on so it is not a real flavor yet, it was called Hot Chocolate. It tasted just like a cup of hot chocolate, except cold and in the formation of ice cream. After the tour, I had to have a small scoop of one of the Greek Yogurt flavors. If you are a Greek Yogurt fan, and want to settle your sweet tooth without all of the calories of ice cream, the new Ben and Jerry's Greek Yogurt line is your answer. I had a flavor that will be on the market soon called Liz Lemon (named after Tina Fey's character on 30 rock) It was lemon greek yogurt swirled with lavender, and a couple other ingredients I can't seem to remember. I am counting down the days until I can get it at the grocery store.
The weekend away was incredible. It really shows how important it is to Travel Often.
xo Alexa
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