Over to Vermont — von Trapp Lager, Cider Donuts & a Certain Ice Cream Factory

We checked out of the Omni in no particular hurry and pointed the van west toward Vermont. I’d picked the long way on purpose — the Route 100 run through Stowe instead of the faster interstate — because the whole point of this leg was the food trail strung along it: cider, cheese, chocolate, and the ice cream factory the kids had been asking about since New Hampshire. We crossed the state line into Vermont mid-morning and the scenery did exactly what you hope it’ll do.

Stowe and the von Trapp lodge

First stop wasn’t even on the original plan — the family wanted to “just check out the property” at the von Trapp Family Lodge, and I’m glad we did. Yes, those von Trapps: the Sound of Music family settled here because the hills reminded them of Austria, and the lodge they built is still run by the family. You can roam the grounds for free, and there’s a little walk-through museum of family history and Sound of Music memorabilia inside the main lodge that the kids actually slowed down for.

We ended up parking ourselves at the von Trapp Bierhall down the hill for lunch, and it turned out to be my kind of stop. The von Trapps run an honest-to-goodness Austrian lager brewery here, and there was a mountain view out the window, pretzels and brats on the menu (Owen-safe — he doesn’t do seafood, so a place built around brats and burgers is an easy win), and a beer list worth reading. I went with the 75th Anniversary Natür Helles — an unfiltered cellar version of their flagship Helles, brewed specifically for the lodge’s 75th anniversary. Drinking the anniversary lager at the 75th-anniversary lodge, with the mountains right there — that’s the kind of small, perfect thing you don’t plan, you just stumble into.

Cider donuts on Route 100

Back on Route 100 we made a quick stop at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury Center. The draw here is simple and exactly right: warm cider donuts coming off the machine, and free cider samples at the counter. It’s a few minutes up the road from the ice cream factory, so we timed it as the appetizer before the main event. We also ducked into the Cabot Creamery store on the trail to knock out the “cheese” leg of the cider-cheese-chocolate run — you can’t roll through this part of Vermont and skip the cheddar.

Ben & Jerry’s Factory

The thing the kids actually circled on the map: the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. We had a 1:45 tour slot booked, which is the way to do it — you walk through how the ice cream gets made and the whole thing ends with a free sample of a flavor, sometimes something not on shelves yet. Then out back there’s the Flavor Graveyard, an actual little hilltop “cemetery” with headstones for discontinued flavors, each with a goofy epitaph. The kids thought that was the best part, and honestly so did I.

Into Burlington

From Waterbury it’s a short run on I-89 into Burlington, and we rolled in mid-afternoon and went straight for the water. We checked into the Hotel Vermont downtown, then walked the Church Street Marketplace — the brick pedestrian street that’s the heart of downtown, flat and easy and full of shops and street musicians — before drifting down to the Lake Champlain waterfront.

We grabbed a dockside spot down by King Street and had dinner on the water as the evening came on, the lake stretching out toward the Adirondacks on the New York side. Burlington sits right on the edge of that big lake, and the sunset over it is the reason you make sure you’re down there in the evening. After a long day of cider, lager, and ice cream, dinner with our feet practically over the water was the right way to land in town.

Up next → a full, easy day in Burlington — the Farmers Market, Lake Champlain Chocolates, and a beach afternoon.