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LIZ HEATHER

August 28, 2020

Another End of Summer Trip in Vermont

by Liz Heather in Travel


Sometimes even I forget that we’re Vermont people now. Nathan and I just came back from another trip to Manchester, Vermont and god, I love that state. I haven’t been away anywhere since January, which is abnormal for me, so I was really happy that we were able to go somewhere. The hotel was pretty isolated (it’s in the mountains), which was perfect and Baby Dog had the time of her life. She ran out of the room (leashless) on the first day and just bolted. Nathan ran across two fields to finally grab her and they both ran out of view, so I stood, alone, in a field, silently having a heart attack and envisioning her alone in the woods at night trying to make friends with a bear or something and then promptly getting eaten. It was a hellish ten minutes.

The view from the back porch

Our room, the Norman Rockwell suite

This candle smells like HEAVEN, bought it at the bookstore

Here she is, slumming it in a king sized bed

Other than that, the week was wildly uneventful (in a good way) and relaxing. How are there a hundred thousand million stars in the sky and we’re all so RELAXED about it? Just beautiful. Our room was upgraded to a suite (the Norman Rockwell suite, to be precise) that had a jacuzzi, fireplace, two TVs, and a back patio with seating: it was incredible. I love that hotel so much (The Manchester View). The weather was incredibly autumn-inspired, so I wasn’t even mad that I only made it to the outdoor pool once. We ate many Baja tacos, some vegan burgers, and a few salads. We’d never gone to the restaurant Seasons on any of our past trips here, and it was great! Have to remember that if we go again. Of course we went to the bookstore in town since they always have the best postcards.

Growing up, I remember being in hotels like this with my parents and brothers and constantly dreaming of the day I’d be in a hotel with a man I loved, casually getting ice from the ice machine and pretending to be on vacation with someone who chose to love me, putting the key in the door and thinking “There’s some great person on the other side waiting for me to get back to the room” and just being so excited at the thought of that being my reality some day. It all came true.

So glad we were still able to travel this summer, even if it was only a short trip. It gave me a chance to actually miss New York, which is always a good feeling.

This was our third time staying in this town in Vermont (are we nuts?) and I have no regrets, it’s a solid little town. You can read about the other two times we’ve visited if that pleases you. I also made an Instagram highlight reel for the trip on my Instagram.

TAGS: Vermont, Manchester Vermont, The Manchester View, Liz Heather, vacation, summer


September 10, 2019

Another Year in Manchester, Vermont

by Liz Heather in Personal, Travel


For our ten year anniversary, Nathan and I (yet again) returned to Vermont. It was a last minute decision and I’m so glad we did. We didn’t stay at the same place as last time, we chose The Manchester View instead and… whoa. Such a lovely place to stay. It had the feel of a hotel from the ‘90s, if that makes any sense. It just sort of felt untouched. It was more rustic than modern, but still well maintained and in the middle of seemingly nowhere in the middle of the mountains. The front desk so graciously upgraded us to stay in the Robert Frost suite when I mentioned (not casually) that we were celebrating our anniversary (SIDENOTE: always tell people when you’re celebrating something, everyone always wants to help you celebrate in any way and it’s always sweet) (and if you feel weird telling someone that you’re celebrating: grow up! Everything should be celebrated, we’ll be dead one day). Robert Frost lived and wrote in Vermont for some of his life and he’s a pretty celebrated figure in Vermont, thus the room name choice.

Robert Frost greets you

Bip, clearly a Frost fan

They were very pet friendly and the grounds had tons and tons of grass for Baby Dog to run around in. The pool was great, although I’d find greatness in any pool, let’s be real.

Make my coffin a clawfoot tub, please/thanks

Literally looking for a frog to bite

The staff was so friendly and accommodating, I’m so, so glad we chose to stay here.

The house behind the hotel

There were so many frogs and chipmunks, it was unreal. As if someone requested only the cutest creatures surround this beautiful property.

The view from our front porch

So what I’m saying is… I guess we’re Vermont people now? Even Nathan said, “Maybe next year we should just book Vermont a little earlier to get a price break” and my jaw sort of dropped at the notion of obviously we’re Vermont people now. And honestly, maybe we are? Is this my life? Living a cool, Vermont-in-the-summer, better-than-you kind of life? In any case, great vacation, great place. Other highlights of the town:

  • There’s a little meat & cheese shop in town (Fortuna’s Sausage & Italian Market) where they put out SAMPLES FOR PRETTY MUCH EVERY CHEESE & MEAT THEY SELL. Tianna would’ve been in heaven. Why on earth don’t all cheese places do this? So fucking smart. The cheese that I loved and left was this one.

Find this cheese. Eat this cheese. Available at Fortuna’s, Manchester, VT

  • Always love an independent bookstore.

  • The burgers at Zoey’s Double Hex are still great.

  • Great service and food at Gringo Jack’s (Baja fish tacos, especially).

  • For our anniversary dinner, we were treated laughably bad at The Chantecleer (scathing Yelp review coming soon) so we got our asses out of there and went to Copper Grouse at the Kimpton Taconic Hotel (where we stayed last year) and had a great meal/time. It’s wild to me what a trained chef can do to an ordinary chicken. Medals should be given out.

Such a great trip, love a Vermont.

TAGS: Vermont, Manchester Vermont, The Manchester View, trip, anniversary, Nathan Macintosh, Liz Heather, vacation


September 4, 2018

Manchester, Vermont

by Liz Heather in Personal, Travel


Nathan and I went to Vermont last week for our anniversary and for Baby Dog's birthday (they're a day apart) and it was the best. We haven't taken a real vacation together (I equate a real vacation to mean a trip that's taken purely for the purposes of doing nothing) since Jamaica in 2011, so this was long overdue and worth the wait.

Shockingly, it didn't take us that long to get there - only four hours by car. And the route itself was gorgeous pretty much the whole way there.

We stayed at the Kimpton Taconic for a few reasons:

  • I'd stayed at a Kimpton before in Palm Beach (although they appear to have cut ties with that hotel in Florida at the moment) and it was a great experience
  • It's located in the middle of a very small town
  • They have a wrap-around front porch with rocking chairs
  • They have free bikes you can sign out from the lobby
  • They're extremely dog-friendly (ie. no extra charge & they got Baby Dog a GIFT for christsake)
  • They have a (small, but still great) pool
  • We were able to secure one of the more private cottages that sit right next to the hotel itself

Hahahah, that expression on her face

And honestly, it was a really great hotel. They had a free wine & small snacks reception every night from 5-6pm, which was lovely. Their restaurant The Copper Grouse had really good food (especially the chicken). It rained one night while we were sitting on the front porch and maybe that doesn't sound romantic, but oh man... listening to rainfall on a wrap-around Victorian porch in late summer should be on every person's checklist at some point in life.

On the first night, we had dinner at Ye Olde Tavern, which was dimly lit and really nice. They had a policy of no cell phones and oh man, why doesn't every restaurant have this already.

We also took the bikes one day into town to the Northshire Bookstore, which was great. We then, foolishly, rode the bikes three more miles to get burgers at Zoey's Double Hex Restaurant because we thought it was much closer than it was in reality. I mean, I'm glad we did it because it turned out to just be funny, and the burgers were actually incredible, but good god was that a hot day. 

We drove up to see Mount Equinox on the Skyline Drive, which was more beautiful than I can express. 

Yes, those are faces of Baby Dog on his socks, it was his anniversary gift

The drive up the mountain only takes about twenty minutes, so it's such a nice thing to do in the afternoon on a clear day. It was so crazy quiet up there too, if you're anywhere near this town this is something you should definitely do.

Such a beautiful town, such a lovely trip.

TAGS: Vermont, Manchester Vermont, Taconic Kimpton