New Stowe Dining & Shopping Guide!

Thanksgiving means, obviously, giving thanks--for family, friends and for our own individual list of personal blessings.

Thanksgiving also means food , and on that note we'd like to draw your attention to Stowe's brand new Winter/Spring Dining & Shopping Guide. When you're in Stowe, stop in to our Visitor Information Center and pick one up. They're distributed all over town, too, so look for one at your hotel.




Thanksgiving also means spending time with the people that you truly care about, and this year StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit that has helped more than 40,000 Americans record their personal stories, is advocating the day after Thanksgiving as National Day of Listening. As one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, StoryCorps's mission is to help people honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening. The day after Thanksgiving is also National Day of Shopping, but you could put that off until Saturday or Sunday and avoid the considerable crush. (but don't forget our once-a-year, awesome Stowe shopping promotion,
Shop Savor Sip & Ski-great ski benefits!) Choose someone in your life to tell their story. StoryCorps suggests some questions to get you started:
What was the happiest moment of your life?
What are you most proud of?
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?
What is your earliest memory?
How would you like to be remembered?

It stands to reason that we can be transformed by choosing to be grateful for the people in our lives--whether it's the loves of our lives, our family and friends, or the people that pass through our lives every day by chance.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Conditions to be Grateful For

Guns are firing on Mt Mansfield! Snow guns, guys. Stowe Mountain Resort's enormously prolific snow-making is readying for opening day of skiing and riding, TOMORROW! Snow reports from the hill put the snow-making trails average base depth at 24-54 inches. The quad lift is on track to be open, with 8 trails accessible. Weather guru (no kidding, he really is!) Roger Hill predicts dribs and drabs of snow for the next couple of days, and pre-Thanksgiving the clouds will be giving it up with accumulations of "several inches possible". Rumor has it that we're in a cold cycle that will guarantee the guns will be working overtime, piling up the good stuff. Rumor also has it that Spruce Peak will be open by Thanksgiving, and the Gondi by December 6.

A colleague paid a visit to the new and soon-to-open, state-of-the-art luxury Spruce Camp base lodge last week and reported it was "jaw-dropping". Services include a bar, indoor & outdoor fireplaces, restaurants, shops, rental shop, tickets, ski school and public lounge areas. With the new Over Easy inter-mountain transfer gondola, new trails, a new beginner area, new high-speed detachable quads and that amazing and fully-automated snow-making, Stowe is in grand shape this ski season.

And, not to be outdone: This just in from the Sultan of Snow-making, Nordic Style, Sam von Trapp, VP of Special Projects for Trapp Family Lodge. Sam is making good use of their brand new (last year) snowmaking guns, and says, "We plan to open with limited (very limited at the moment) XC skiing for Thanksgiving Day. Trail will be very short, but better than not skiing. Day passes will be at reduced rate."

The chatter right now is "how will the economy affect skiing?". We're pretty optimistic. Stowe is not only the premier ski destination in the East, but easily drive able for tens of millions of travelers: 3.5 hours from Boston, 6 hours NYC, a deuce from Montreal. Then there's the train! Wouldn't it be great to bring back the old Ski Trains? If you've got an extra day or two (high-speed rail remains a fantasy...) it's a super way to decompress while you roll along passing time with a good book or a movie on your laptop. Bonus? Amtrak powers through when the airlines are still contemplating take-off, especially in snowy weather.

Another tick in the affordability column: Stowe Mountain Resort offers discounts on lift tickets all season long, including holidays. Buy multi-day (from 2 days to 7 days) tickets at least 7 days in advance and you'll get 15% off, holidays included. Stowe's Vacation Rewards Program combines lift tickets with other on-mountain services and many Stowe area lodges package it with rooms. One stop shopping. And another budget-friendly tip: Shop Savor Sip Ski promotion nets discounted lift tix. See last week's blog for info.

Thanksgiving Day looms near. Stowe restaurants have some nifty specials for those who choose not to cook (me, me, me!) Drive safely, whether inbound to Stowe or outbound to family/friends. Think Thankful Thoughts.

How to Shop, Savor, Sip and Ski in Stowe

The term Black Friday seems to have originated in Philadelphia in 1975. This term for the purported biggest shopping day of the year, which is the day after Thanksgiving, is the day that merchants can make up lost financial ground and put their ledgers "in the Black". If you happen to be a fan of standing in line at 5am for a $5 DVD player that will conk out around the time the Christmas goose emerges from the oven, then I'm probably not speaking to you. However, if you're looking for fun, stress-FREE congenial shopping that reaps some pretty great rewards--like lower-priced and even free skiing-- then here's the Stowe Shop Savor Sip Ski skinny.

Spend at least $75 at any combination of participating shops from November 28 (yep, BLACK FRIDAY!) through January 4, 2009, and receive a Stowe Points Card offering discounted lift tickets all season long at “The Ski Capital of the East”, Stowe Mountain Resort. Plus, any purchases made at Stowe Mountain Resort earn points, and when you reach 450 you'll get a free unrestricted ski voucher. Earn points on lessons, merch, eats, rentals and more, plus the card comes with 75 points to get you started! The card also delivers year-round, on-mountain rewards, like golf and summer attractions, so you can earn even more points. (Stowe Points Cards can make great stocking stuffers, too)

During Shop Savor Sip Ski, holiday shoppers will also get coupons for free chocolate or candy cane at Laughing Moon Chocolates (the SAVOR!) and a free coffee drink (the SIP, obviously) at the Green Mountain Coffee Visitors Center & Cafe.

Adding to the shopping fun is the Golden Candy Cane Quest: find the Golden Candy Cane hidden in a participating shop and win prizes, like a one-night's stay in Stowe or other goodies!
And it gets better: each $75 spent is an entry in the Shop, Savor, Sip & Ski Grand Prize Sweepstakes (more winning!). You could spend three nights in a two-bedroom Stowe condo, and get one-day lift tickets for two adults and two kids. Plus, a Keurig coffee maker (more sipping!) and a year’s supply of chocolates (more savoring!)

Pretty good deal...cheaper lift tix and even free skiing plus lots of other perks, and holiday shopping that pays you back!

And with Stowe's nearly 70 unique and locally owned shops you can be sure that you’ll find the perfect gift for everyone this holiday season. And in the process discover the Art of Shopping. 'Cause after all, art is an expression of who you are...

Stuck in Stick Season Doesn't Mean the End of the World

Okay, I'm stuck. Stick Season is nothing to crow about, although if there is such a thing as an "off" season, I'd rather be in Stowe than anywhere else. We're quiet right now (a friend calls this the "serene season"), and a bit gray, although warm. Many visitors during this time of year love the tranquility, and the possibility that it could snow at any time (check out my blog of 10/29)--or that you can still jump on your bike and ride for miles, setting your mind free.

Hotel rates are at their lowest, so a weekend getaway from the big city is a distinct possibility. To be seriously considered and very much in order would be a day at the spa. We've got some great ones! Gas prices have plunged, and an audiobook makes your trip fly by. If you're from the Boston area, that's only 200 miles or so; NYC only about 300, and Montreal even closer.

A few of our scores of restaurants are closed for vacation/deep cleaning/regrouping before the holiday onslaught, but many of those open have great specials going on, and always a warm, welcoming ambiance. We're still all the things you love about Stowe, no matter what the season.


Election Day 2008 dawned unseasonably warm and bright earlier this week, and the atmosphere was positively Rockwellian. From my office I look down on the Town Hall polling place in the village, and it was hard to tear myself away from the window. I voted early this year, and then kicked myself for forgoing the warmth of community that pervades when voting in a small town. Even so, I moseyed over to visit with the pollsters and the voters, using the excuse that because I voted early I didn't get my "I Voted" sticker. Cliff Johnson, our recently retired Public Works Director was volunteering his time for sticker-duty and was happy to lay one on me: I VOTED!