{travel} A Perfect Autumn Weekend in Woodstock Vermont

Christian and I have been spending a weekend around my birthday in/near Woodstock, Vermont for the past handful of years. This year we took my parents along as last year's Christmas gift because my Dad loves to take photos and we thought he would enjoy their small downtown area and the changing leaves. My Mom has been a baker since I was little so we also thought adding an in-person baking classes at King Arthur Baking would be fun! We looked through all the classes happening at the end of September and early October and the Sensational Sweet Breads class was the winner! I'll touch more on that later, for now let's get in to the rest of the trip.

Normally we camp in our electric car at a nearby campground (last year we had to have a hotel because it was in the shop) but since we were going with my parents we stayed in town. I found a place right in town above Woodstock Scoops ice cream! It even came with a dedicated parking space so we didn't have to worry about finding a spot if we left and came back during the day. We drove up Friday night after work so we could already be there Saturday morning to explore.

Day One in Woodstock

On our first morning Dad and I left the apartment just before 7am to get in some photo taking time with no other tourists. It was a little chilly but we managed to get some really nice pictures! Christian met us at the Woodstock Inn just before 7:30 and we walked back to our apartment to grab Mom and then walk to breakfast.

Farmer and the Bell

This food spot opened just after our trip last year so we missed out on trying it out. I was super excited to finally go! It was about a 14 minute walk from where we stayed, and that's with us stopping for a few photos along the way. We got there just before they opened at 8 and there was already a small line. We were the 4th group.

We wanted to try a bunch of things so we got the apple pie foccacia, black forest cruller, maple cruller and apple cider crumb cruller! They were all really tasty, Christian's favorite was the focaccia. I really enjoyed the apple cider cruller. It was nice and crispy on the outside but the inside was pillowy and soft. I wanted to go back on Sunday morning for breakfast but we ended up sleeping in and didn't want to stand in a huge line.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

After breakfast we decided to walk to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and past Billings Farm. It's not too far of a walk and of course it's full of pretty views and lots of trees! We did not do any major hikes through the park but we walked the Junior Ranger Loop before heading back to town. We got back to our apartment around 8:45 and after a quick break headed out to our next destination!

Bourdon Maple Farm

Before our trip I was googling events happening the weekend we would be there and happened to see Bourdon Maple would be having an open house! Normally you have to pay for a tour of their farm because it's a working farm. It ended up being kind of busy so we tried some syrup (and bought some) and did a quick walk through the sugarbush to see how they harvest the syrup. Of course we also had to pick up an apple cider donut for the walk! YUM! We didn't stay to do one of the tours because it probably would have been a while. Their syrup was really tasty and you can order on their website! I always find it fascinating tasting syrup from different places.

Calvin Coolidge Historical Site

After that we headed to Plymouth Cheese and the Calvin Coolidge Historical Site becuase they were also having a fall festival. My parents bought some cheese and then we did a quick walk around, checked out the gift shop and took photos of the gorgeous trees! You can buy a pass to walk through the various buildings, but we weren't in the mood for that on this particular day. They were having a chicken bbq that we would have loved to partake in, but we were going out to dinner and didn't want to fill ourselves up with chicken.

Old River Road and Taftsville Bridge

Once we left the historical site we took the long way back to our place by driving along Old River Road and through the Taftsville Covered Bridge. This also took us along the Ottaqueechee River which was surrounded by colorful trees.

Woodstock Scoops

Since we were right next to Woodstock Scoops we walked down from our apartment, grabbed some creemees (maple for us, swirl for my mom and vanilla for dad) and hung out in our apartment for a break. We had had quite a busy morning! We also stopped here again after dinner on our way back to the apartment. Might as well since we were passing by anyway.

Shopping in Downtown Woodstock

After a rest we walked around Woodstock and went in to (basically) all the shops. I always like to walk through Gillingham's General Store, The Yankee Bookshop, the Clover Gift Shop and Encore Designer Consignment. You can also go to the library because they generally have a book sale going on! We also saw a bake sale for a youth group on the Green and got some treats. Once we finished shopping it was time for another rest!

Dinner at The Red Rooster, Woodstock Inn & Resort

When we booked our accommodations I immediately made a dinner reservation at The Red Rooster for Saturday night. Many years, Christian and I decide on our dates kind of last minute so they're usually all booked up. Since we knew so far in advance I was able to plan ahead! I was excited to finally see inside the Inn; I'd love to stay there one day. The food was pretty good overall, although I didn't love my chicken schnitzel, it's supposed to be crispy but because it was put on top of a puree and sauce the bottom was a little soggy. HOWEVER, the brussels sprouts appetizer we got was amazing, I could have eaten the whole plate myself. Christian had a burger that he said was very tasty and my Mom had a caesar salad and flatbread which were also tasty!

As a side note, here is a photo of the morning versus afternoon in the Woodstock Green. It's actually less cars than usual, but you can still see the difference, ha ha.

I will be doing a full outfit post but here are some links to what I wore:

Day Two in Woodstock and Norwich

We slept in this morning but still made it out in time for one more walk through town before all the crowds. We were out about 8:30am this morning and did a little lap around one of the back neighborhoods to Faulkner Park. I was hoping the large tree there would be full of color, but unfortunately it was still mostly green.

Queechee Gorge

After our walk we drove to Queechee Gorge to take in the crazy view. It's scary how far down it goes! This was a quick stop because we did not want to do a hike and there are only so many photos and angles you can look at from the bridge, ha ha.

The Vermont Antique Mall

After the Gorge we drove down the road a bit to the Vermont Antique Mall to kill some time. It was a LOT bigger than expected and we could have spent hours walking around. However we only stayed an hour and I walked out with some vintage 1971 Mickey ears from Walt Disney World!

Two Bistro & Cafe

For lunch we headed just a little bit further down the road to this little Brazilian restaurant. My dad and I both had the Chicken Milanese (he also had the schnitzel the night before) and it was WAY more crispy than our chicken the night before. My Mom & Christian had the Milanese sandwich and they both really enjoyed that as well.

King Arthur Baking

After lunch it was time for the main event, our baking class! It was scheduled for 1pm to 5pm so we got there a little after 12 so we could do a quick walk around the store before getting our seats at 12:45. Christian and I took the front row and my parents right behind us. As expected the class was super fun and went by far too quickly! We actually ended up going a little bit over time so we had to rush back to the store to do our shopping before they closed at 5:30.

We learned to make Chocolate Babka and Cinnamon Star Bread! I had actually made both before on my own but thought this would be a fun class for everyone else, plus I always love learning new tips and ways to make things better! I did learn a new tip for kneading especially sticky dough. It's funny the things you don't really think about but are quite simple, and no one thinks to write this in recipes.

It is, admittedly, hard to explain via text but basically: keep your sticky side up as much as possible. Roll the bottom of the dough over a little bit of flour, do your fold toward yourself and then roll the dough away from you so that the seam - aka the sticky part - is on TOP. Do not push too hard until your dough becomes a little stronger. Then rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat, making sure the sticky seam is always on top. Otherwise your dough will just keep sticking to your surface. And if you do notice it sticking a bit, just use your dough scraper to clean the surface and add a bit more flour before continuing. Maybe I'll make a reel of this next time I knead dough!