Woodstock VT with KIds

We'd had a big trip to Costa Rica during the kids' February school vacation this year (see blog posts here!), so we were not planning anything grand for April vacation.  But after being back from Costa Rica for only a few weeks, I was already itching to plan another getaway, so I booked a three-day weekend in Woodstock VT at the start of school vacation week, about a 2.5 hr drive from Boston.  The inspiration for our destination was a cute inn that looked family friendly that I had stumbled upon about a year ago and had filed in my "someday" notes, 506 On The River Inn.

The inn absolutely hit the family friendly mark! We booked one of the family size suites (2-bedroom, 2-bath, with a full kitchen, living room, and an enormous balcony) and it was so fun to discover vintage tractor toys, a working record player, and a stack of old records in our room.  There's a heated indoor pool, huge hot tub and sauna, kids' swim vests and puddle jumpers available to borrow, a scavenger hunt for prizes, a little kids' play room and a big kids' game room, outdoor toys to borrow (hula hoops, lawn games, binoculars, butterfly nets, etc.), a huge back lawn that slopes down to the Ottauquechee River, a jungle gym, kids' books to borrow, Netflix shows and movies in the room and evening bonfires with s'mores.

And that's just the kid friendly stuff!  Checking off high points on the adult list, the restaurant is adorably decorated with retro Vermont memorabilia, the dinner we ate there was wonderful, and the buffet breakfasts were generous and yummy.

 

The kids would have been happy to stay at the hotel all weekend practicing cannon balls into the pool and playing free pinball arcade games, but we managed to tear them away to enjoy the area offerings.  On the Saturday of our arrival, we enjoyed a great lunch at Worthy Kitchen, a hipster-ish craft brew gastropub sort of place.

Afterward, we let off some energy with a short (albeit muddy, given that it was April in Vermont) hike to check out the Quechee Gorge.  I must have driven past the Quechee Gorge Visitors Center a hundred times in my childhood on our way to visit ski resorts or relatives near Middlebury, VT, but this was my first stop to see the gorge.  The hike and scenery was underwhelming but pleasant with kids (our hike last fall at the Flume Gorge trail at Franconia Notch was much more scenic!).  We spent about an hour, maybe a bit more, on a leisurely walk under the bridge to the upriver dam, and then back under the bridge about a half mile downriver.  The kids enjoyed exploring fallen trees along the trail and collecting pine cones with craft projects in mind.

On our second day, the weather was cloudy but dry.  After a hearty breakfast we started with a visit to the Billings Farm Museum.  Disappointingly, a large part of the indoor museum exhibits were under renovation and closed to the public (admission was discounted as a result), but we spent about and hour and a half checking out the cow barn (where big kid enjoyed petting the baby calves and little sister was surprised to see the big cows poop!), visiting with curious goats, and exploring the 1890s farmhouse, where we learned how the farm used to make its famous butter (and where big boy had a hard time not TOUCHING everything!  We will keep practicing...sigh.)

We parked in the center of historic Woodstock village and thoroughly enjoyed lunch at Mon Vert Cafe. Sandwiches (made with the best homemade french bread ever!), a brownie to share, and barista drinks-yum! The kids were enjoying some games and coloring at our table in the upstairs dining room of the old house, so we stayed for a bit of down time.

Refreshed and ready for more exploring, our afternoon stop was VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science), which had not been on my radar during my planning, but was recommended by a friend who lives nearby when she saw from my social media posts that we were in town.  I'm so glad we followed her recommendation, it was such a neat place!  We got to see many raptors, including some bald eagles and snowy owls up close.  There's a fun forest discovery room with a tunnel slide that the kids cycled through at least 20 times.

 

We especially loved the afternoon show in the auditorium, where we got to see several birds up close (the highlight was having a hawk swoop through the room over our heads, close enough that we could feel the breeze!).

We topped off our VINS visit with some time at the great nature-themed playground, where there's a kid-sized spider web to navigate, a rock climbing wall, a fun tunnel through the hillside, and an octopus-looking structure of logs to balance on.  Little sister was getting cranky and tired so we headed back to the inn for some afternoon chill time at the pool (and I got to sneak away to visit the gorgeous- but pricey! wow!- showroom at Farmhouse Pottery.  I *may* have spent more than Mohit would like to know on a beautiful water pitcher that was on the seconds shelf...shhh!).

We had dinner at Melaza Bistro in the center of town, which offers tapas and mains inspired by the caribbean.  Empanadas, garlic shrimp, salads.  We were all jealous of big kid's unexpectedly flavorful order of pulled chicken chili nachos with homemade chips.

On our last day, we spent hours at the nearby Montshire Museum of Science, which totally lived up to the wonderful reviews we'd heard from our Vermont friends and family (see here for a post of our visit!)