We arrived in Waitsfield, Vermont this afternoon to a warm day and sunny skies. The area is beautiful, lots of pine and maple covered hills and rolling mountains, with the Mad River running through town. The Mad River Inn is our accommodation for 3 nights, and our French Canadian / American host Luc met us and we went to our room - the "Hayden Breeze" room has views out the front and a mountain view from the side across corn fields. Here's a photo of the B&B.

Mad River Inn

After checking in, the first thing we did was make the short drive out to the Sweet Pea natural food store to scope out their fares and get some suggestions for some close hikes.

We tried to hike up Scrag Mountain, but somehow either the map was wrong or our sense of direction was off, because we started up a trail that seemed to disappear. Surrounded by "Warning, trespassers will be prosecuted" signs, we decided to cut short and find another hike. We ended up talking an 8-kilometer hike right along the Mad River, called unsurprisingly the "Mad River Greenway". It was flat but pretty, meandering along the river and next to massive cornfields with the tree-covered mountains in the background. Here's a photo towards the start of the hike.

Mad River Greenway

By the time we were done, it was dinner time and we chose one of the recommended restaurants for vegetarians, the Hyde Away Inn. Although we missed Vegetarian Wednesdays, there were still several vegetarian and vegan dishes on the menu. Elizabeth had the spinach and ricotta ravioli, while I had the vegetarian wrap and couldn't refuse the french fries either. Most interesting was the Seitan Jerkey salad appetizer, which was incredibly tasty. After dinner we came back to the hotel and watched some Olympics before falling asleep. Over the next few days, I hope to be able to post some accompanying photos and videos as well...

08/18/08 by visitEarth
Tags: Vermont, Waitsfield, VT, Mad River, Mad River Inn, hike, Hyde Away Inn