Vermont Weekend Getaway | Hiking, S'mores, Maple Syrup & Ice Cream

This weekend, we headed for the hills... well, actually the mountains.  We drove up to Vermont for some fresh air, hiking, swimming, s'mores, homemade ice cream and maple syrup.  The entire state was covered in rolling green covered mountains and scented with an overwhelming (in a good way...) aroma of pine.  It was a great escape.

Our first stop was the Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee for brunch.  It was located right on this river near a waterfall.

Mr. Darcy had to check to see if there were any ducks on the water he needed to bark at.  MORE PHOTOS & DETAILS of our VERMONT TRIP , click here >>






The tables were, of course, set with Simon Pearce glasses and a glass sculpture.  Mike was checking out the view from our table...

Pretty spectacular. 

Mike directing the Mr. to look at the camera while on one of the several covered bridges we saw.  He was a natural mountain man- had the time of his life. 

He's is attracted to water like nothing I've ever seen.  Any chance he gets - puddle, creek, pond, mud hole, my mom's pool... he has to get in.

On our hikes we kept calling him "Darcy Goat Gruff."  He was so agile on the rocks - just like a goat.  He was the lead hiker - showing me the easiest way to the top.  Or to the water...  

This was an awesome gorge that we looked at from a bridge above.

I took a picture of the swirling waters from above... do you see what I see? 

We headed on a hike up a mountain - it was a steep 1.2 mile trek up a trail with natural rock 'stairs'.

Amazing roots that also make great 'stairs.'

Almost to the top...

I thought these moss covered trees were so pretty - a really vibrant green.  The misty fog added a really mysterious element to the hike - almost magical... or like a scene from a scary movie...

Some of the views on the way up.

At the top of the climb was this vast freshwater pond. 

We were planning to take a dip - but I could only get in up to my ankles.

Darcy thought the water felt just fine.

We stayed at the Stowe Mountain Lodge - a pet-friendly hotel.

The view from our room - I think I would really enjoy skiing these runs.  They look more like my style than the steep Rocky Mountains we've skied in the past.



The guys relaxing after the hike.

What mountain trip isn't complete without a gourmet dinner?  We went to Norma's at The Topnotch Resort in Stowe.  The steamer clams in white wine were great with some crusty bread.

Mike had a steak with a verde sauce and some unusual pork belly 'tots'.

For dessert, we ordered the Make-Your-Own S'mores around the firepit outside.

This was my favorite part of the trip.

Mr. was tempted to try to get the marshmallows...

On the drive home, we took the scenic route and stopped at some great mountain views.  This was at The Trapp Family Lodge - yes, the same von Trapp family from the Sound of Music.  They opened this lodge in the 70's (I think).  The views were really something. This is the field where the von Trapp family still preforms for hotel guests.

A berry crop.

Vermont cows grazing.

The entire state of Vermont is dotted with little towns you can see from the distance thanks from the Church steeples peeking out of the trees - all so quaint.

We stopped at this sugar house to pick up some Vermont Maple Syrup.  I was disappointed to learn that they no longer harvest the sap in buckets that hang off of trees, instead the have sophisticated tube and piping systems.

The retail area of the sugar house - many different grades and sizes.

We stopped in Woodstock on the way home for some ice cream in fresh made waffle cones.

The bakery featured this mile high apple pie - I was almost tempted, but stuck with my waffle cone.

The town of Woodstock is lovely - almost all of the houses on the main town green are white painted Victorian houses with lovely front and side gardens.

A very idyllic town.

This house was particularly attractive to me - the porch ceiling was painted a bright turquoise instead of the classic pale sky blue.

Dining room wainscoting = Done!

I have to say, this is definitely in the top 3 favorite projects I've done to a house. Relatively small cost and effort for a huge impact.
I had been wanting to do wainscoting forever, and our dining room was the perfect area to try it on. I was worried about how the boards would meet up with our baseboards, since it was only 1/4 " thick, and I didn't want to replace those and have them not match the rest of the house.

Then I came across this tutorial and knew it was the perfect and easiest way to achieve the look. Since the boards were only 1/4" thick they would line up perfectly with my existing baseboard. Problem solved!

So I made my measurements and took a trip down to HD. I had around 254" of wall length to cover, so here's how the materials broke down for me:

(10) 1/4" x 4" x 3' poplar boards
(8) 1/4 x 3" x 3' poplar boards
254" of chair rail trim

It worked out best for me to space the vertical boards 16.5" across (it was originally 16 but then I found out the boards labeled 4" are actually 3.5" wide! Why do they do this?)

Then I would use the narrower poplar boards and run them horizontally across the wall on top of the vertical boards, then top that off with the trim.

I ended up finding my poplar boards in cubby's below the larger wood pieces. For those of you who always get lost in the HD aisles looking for the right wood, I snapped a pic:

They came in quarter inch and half inch thick pieces, all 3 feet long, in various widths. In the tutorial I followed, she used the same 4" thick (err 3.5") pieces to run across the top, but I was worried it would look too thick with the chair rail so I opted for the 3" (which is also actually 2.5").


FYI, they only had 7 of the narrower poplar boards left so we had to buy one oak in the same size. Ugh. Stay away from oak, it has horrible rough grain that you can see when you paint over it and it's really hard to cover without turning yellow. Stick with poplar!


Anyway, here are all my pieces at home, ready to cut:

I wanted the height to be 3' (plus the existing baseboard), so I carefully measured the cutting point for each vertical board by mocking it up against a yardstick:

After making all the straight cuts and miters (with only one small miter disaster that we later fixed with caulk) the boards were ready to go up!

Here I'm leveling the board for the nail gun:

And board #1 is up!

Here's two more...

I'll fast forward through all the rest—here is the end of phase one:

In phase two, we attached the narrower poplar boards across the top:

Then in phase three, we added the trim:

All that was left to do was caulk and spackle and paint! Which ended up taking 80% of our time.

Our plan and our measurements were just about perfect... but we forgot that this house was not built perfect. The walls are not completely straight and level, so we ended up with some gaps here and there where the boards didn't quite meet:

Luckily we were able to fill it and sand over it and you can't really tell unless you're looking for it.


On to the results!

Here is the before before, as in when we bought the house....

Here is the before we started, as in yesterday morning:

And...... after!

Ahhh... worth every second of sanding and painting!


Here is the project cost breakdown:

10 vertical boards: $24.70
8 horizontal boards: $18.45
Chair railing: $29.91
1 gal Behr paint + primer (we were out): $33.98 (minus $5 mail in rebate)

Total = $115 ($110 after rebate)

Timewise, it took a couple hours to get the wood all cut and mounted, another few hours to caulk and sand at least, which carried over to the next day where it took a good half day to paint and put the final touches on. In hours I'd say we spent a good ten hours on the project (again, most of it spackling and sanding out the problem areas).

All in all, I'm so happy it's finally done, and I want to do our bedroom next! It will take some time to convince Brad to do this all over again though :)

Be back in a few days with another kitchen update!

Just linked up with the DIY Showoff!