Hike to the Heublein Tower

This weekend we took a hike up to the Heublein Tower in Simsbury. The walk up to the tower only takes half an hour or so, but it's straight up the mountain! Then, once you get to the tower, you have to walk up 7 or 8 flights of stairs to get to the top. It was quite a workout.

We didn't get a picture of the actual tower, but you can check it out at the Friends of Heublein Tower website.

This was the view from the walk.


It's tough to tell from the picture but John is standing about 2 feet away from a cliff that just drops straight down. I get nervous just looking at this picture.


At the top of the tower, we could see Hartford on one side and Springfield, MA on the other.

Weekend in Vermont

We always talk about taking little weekend trips and how much fun it would be, but we never go so far as to actually plan them. So we finally got our act together and planned a weekend in Vermont.

We stayed at the Inn at Mount Snow. The first night we had a standard room, but the second night we were upgraded to a lovely suite with a fireplace and a whirlpool tub!

On Saturday we went up Rt 100 to the Vermont Country Store and some of the other little stores in Weston. Then we continued on to to the Simon Pearce shop in Quechee. On Sunday we took the chairlift up Mount Snow to check out the views before heading on home (with a stop at Yankee Candle on the way).

Getting away for the weekend was so refreshing. I don't know why we didn't do this sooner...


At the Vermont Country Store


Watching the glassblowers at Simon Pearce (they were amazing!) and looking at the river behind the store.


Venturing through a very creaky covered bridge

Mount Snow


The views from the top of Mount Snow were gorgeous. The chairlift ride back down was great too because we got to look out over the mountains. I haven't been skiing in a few years, but seeing the trails definitely got me thinking about breaking out the skis again.

Gillette Castle

On Sunday we took a ride over to Gillette Castle. We toured the castle, stopped for some ice cream, and then took a walk around the grounds and down to the river. It was a beautiful day and the views from up on the hill were absolutely gorgeous.


I was mesmerized by this sailboat. It looked so pretty gliding along the river.