The Vermont Inn to Inn Walking Tour

Day #1 

The first day of our Vermont Inn to Inn Walking Tour, we started at the Colonial Inn in Weston, Vermont. We loaded our luggage into the Inn's van and were dropped off at our starting point for the walk. It was a rainy morning, but we were prepared with rain ponchos, raincoats, and umbrellas. And even though the 11 miles of walking was a bit wet, the fall colors were gorgeous! We arrived at the second inn, the Inn Victoria in Chester, Vermont by early afternoon. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and were even treated to flambe' made at our table - yummy!

The first Inn that we stayed in

The Colonial Inn

A little bit wet today

Our lodging for the night - The Inn Victoria

Day #2

Today started off chilly, but with no rain! We walked a total of 13 miles today from the Inn Victoria, through the village of Chester, along rolling country roads and eventually arrived in Proctorsville. The Golden Stage Inn was our destination in Proctorsville. We enjoyed cheese/crackers & drinks in the afternoon, followed by another yummy dinner. After receiving our walking instructions for the next day, we played a rowdy game of Taboo in the Inn's living room.

Ready to start walking!

A cemetery in the town of Chester

The Chester Train Depot

One of several stone buildings in Chester built in the early 1800s

We stopped at a roadside farmer's market where Tracy and I played pumpkin tic-tac-toe

A break for lunch

The Golden Stage Inn where we stayed in Proctorsville, VT

Day #3

We started our 11 mile walk today with clear, but chilly weather. Once again, the fall foliage and scenery were beautiful! We had been instructed by the innkeeper to take a slight detour from the rural road we'd been walking on to get a view from the summit overlooking the valley and the town of Ludlow. We were glad we did - it was breathtaking! Once we got into Ludlow, we checked into The Governor's Inn where we had the third floor to ourselves. We had a few hours before dinner was served, so we headed into town for a few drinks at the Killarney Bar. 

Ready to tackle Day #3

On the top of the summit

We made it to Ludlow, VT

Our Inn for the night - The Governor's Inn

Enjoying Killarney's Bar after a full day of walking

Day #4

Our last day of the walk was a 7-mile jaunt that began with the innkeeper dropping us off at a monastery (the starting point of today's walk). We would eventually make our way to the village of Weston where The Vermont Country Store is located. When we got to Weston we decided to keep going to the Colonial Inn (the Inn where we had stayed the 1st night and where our van was parked), load up the van, and then drive back into Weston for lunch and shopping. When we had had our fill of Weston, we started the 3-hour drive toward Boston. Jim met us outside of Boston to pick me up so that he and I could start the Maine portion of the trip. 

Beginning of Day #4

The grounds of the monastery - beautiful!

A stream and bridge as we entered Weston

Weston's town square

We finished the Inn to Inn Walk back where we started it!

Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nantucket - Day #1

It was over a year ago that several girlfriends and I decided that we would like to do the Vermont Inn to Inn walking tour during fall foliage time. But since the walking tour is only 4 days long, we thought it would be fun to tack on a few days at the beginning of the trip by exploring Nantucket. 

We all flew into Boston, spent the night near the airport, and were ready to start our adventure the next morning. On our way to the ferry that would take us to Nantucket, we stopped in Plymouth. We saw the Plymouth Rock, the replica of the Mayflower, walked through the First Parish Church building, and spent some time on Burial Hill (a historic cemetery from the 17th century that contains the remains of several of the original Pilgrims that came on the Mayflower).

Loaded into the van and ready for adventure!

The Plymouth Rock

The First Church of Plymouth - an early meeting place for the Pilgrims.

On many street corners in Plymouth, there were neat scallop shell shaped murals.

After lunch in Falmouth, we boarded the ferry in Hyannisport for the one-hour boat ride to Nantucket. Once on Nantucket, we got settled into our Air-BNB before heading into town to check out some of the shops and then had a yummy dinner at The Brotherhood of Thieves.

The "fast ferry" which took us to Nantucket

Views from the ferry

Making our way from the ferry to our Nantucket Airbnb

Exploring around Town

The end of our 1st day on Nantucket

Nantucket - Day #2

For our first full day on Nantucket, we rented bikes so that we could explore the island. We started in Town at the scenic Brant Point Lighthouse before heading to Madaket on the west side of the island. It was a beautiful, sunny day - perfect for a bike ride! Madaket is a much quieter side of the island where we enjoyed the views from the beach and the Madaket Harbor. Lunch was at the popular Millie's restaurant. After lunch, on the ride back toward Town, we came across a short hike through an area with very different terrain than most of the island. It was quite dry and looked like a savannah. Back on our bikes, we rode to Bartlett's Farm and then stopped at Cisco Brewery before heading back to Town.

The Brant Point Lighthouse

At Madaket Beach

A short 1.5 mile hike

Nantucket - Day #3

Knowing that rain was predicted for the morning, we spent the first part of the day trying to stay dry by shopping in the cute shops in Town. After a delicious lunch at The Rose and Crown, the sun was shining - perfect for our afternoon plans of biking to Sconset on the east side of the island. Most of Sconset was already closed up for the season, but that didn't stop us from walking the Sconset Bluff Walk and then continuing on to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse.

The view of Sankaty Lighthouse as we rode out to Sconset

Walking the Sconset Bluff Walk

At the Sankaty Lighthouse

Nantucket - Day #4

We had an early morning ferry ride back to Hyannisport, so we were up early, dragging our suitcases down the cobblestone streets to catch the ferry. Back on the mainland, we did a corn maze enroute to our first inn of the Vermont Inn to Inn Walking Tour. We also made a quick stop to get photos of the "most photographed farm in the U.S." which was beautiful surrounded by the fall colors. We arrived at our first inn, The Colonial Inn, just in time to get settled into our rooms. At dinner, we met Kevin and Karen from Wellesley, MA who would also be doing the walking tour. After a delicious dinner, the innkeeper gave us the walking directions/instructions for the next day's walk.

Waiting to board the ferry back to mainland Massachusetts

On board the ferry

The view of Nantucket as we sailed away

Getting into the fall spirit with a corn maze!

The most photographed farm in America.

A closer view