Honeymoon - Day 5

I guess, at some point this week we were going to hit the wall and today was it. All the exhaustion from the past weekend and this week has made us very lethargic. So today seemed like a good day to stay low key and stay in town.

One thing that we wanted to do today was go all the way up Mount Mansfield by taking the 4.5 mile long Toll Road. To our disappointment a 'Closed For Season' sign welcomed us at the entrance. It's even worse considering the fact that even if we come back to Stowe next summer on motorcycles we won't be allowed to enter as only cars are allowed. Unless, of course we rent a car.

A sign at the entrance to the Toll Road.

We moved to Plan B which was to go back through Scenic 108 which was only 2-3 miles from the Toll Road. At its highest point, the road's elevation is about 2,500 feet. When got there at about 10am, on a very gloomy day, the condensation was very thick and it almost felt like driving through clouds. We stopped at the side of the road a couple of times to admire the scenery and to take a few photos.

In the heavy mist along Scenic 108.

We got back to the hotel at 11, parked the car and embarked on walk along Stowe's famous Recreation Path. The Recreation Path is a 5.5 mile paved walkway through Stowe that crosses the West Branch River about 10 times. We only made it as far as the 1.5 mile marker before turning back but it did take us just about 2 hours to complete that trip.

Taking a walk along the Stowe Recreation Path.

We made it back to our building, the Mansfield House, around 1pm to find that housekeeping was still in our room. So for the next 15 minutes we milled around the lobby and browsed through a couple of photo albums, one of which was dedicated to weddings at the Green Mountain Inn. Once housekeeping had moved on to another room, we went back to our room where we watched a few episodes of "How I Met Your Mother", napped and otherwise rested.

In the Mansfield House lobby.

At 5:30, I went to Subway to pick up a couple of footlongs for supper. I also picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry's creme brule ice cream. We got one after Tuesday's tour but after last night's power outage we found it melted this afternoon. Soon after supper we made our way to the local Visitors Centre, located across the Green Mountain Inn, where we had reserved our place in a Stowe Lantern Tour at 8pm. The tour included a visit to the local cemetery and a handful of stories about ghosts that haunt Emily's Bridge and even the Green Mountain Inn. Our guide was a local man, Shawn, who used to be a high school teacher. He also told us that his brother and sister-in-law both went to the University of Waterloo and now live in London. Small world. We retreated back to our room at 9:30 for the rest of the night.

Before the start of the lantern tour.