admin Hi. We finally got all our days to line-up so we could sneak away for a few days of fun in Manchester, VT. Part of this was going to Manchester Hot Glass to create some pieces of history. … Ok, so just a bowl, carafe, and candy dish but it was a ton of fun and history of ours, Andrew is a riot, but helpful and all around nice guy, and his support staff is top notch.
We left Friday afternoon with friends, Norma and Leo and headed to Manchester, VT for 3 days of fun and relaxation. The weather was supposed to be wonderful – sunny and in the low 70’s and now I can report, it was wonderful. The drive was pleasant and a great chance to see things “Off the beaten path”, that you (others) might not see, if they didn’t go places with me, as it’s the only way I drive (when possible)
Even if you don’t do your own Blown Glass piece, stop by just to look over the many pieces done and for sale.
Manchester, VT is a wonderful little town with great shops, eateries, homes and places to see and tour. This includes the estate of Abe Lincoln’s son
Here is a short list of several other great places to go.
The Equinox Preservation – https://www.equinoxpreservationtrust.org
Southern Vermont Arts Center – http://www.svac.org
The American Fly Fishing Museum – http://www.amff.org
We stayed at the Lodge at Bromley – http://lodgeatbromley.com located in Peru, VT, which is about 10-15 miles outside of Center Manchester, VT and located at the base of Bromley Mountain Ski area. The gentleman who worked nights, was pleasant, helpful and a bit of a car buff, which turned out to be fun for Leo, as Leo owns a 1966 Chevelle and the 2 went back and forth about cars most of the night, while the rest of us were playing pool. The lodge has rooms with great views of the Green Mountain Range and likely parts of NY.
There are dozens of places to eat in the area so don’t worry about eating. The first night we ate at The Perfect Wife Restaurant. The service there was HORRIBLE. We stood at the main desk waiting to be seated or acknowledged and nether happened for several minutes. I went over to the area where it looked like the staff was, only to be ignored. I looked at them as they walk past, and asked if we could get seated or if we seat ourselves, no response. I then said if they couldn’t answer me, we would just sit at the table next to me, as it sat 4 people … We sat down there and watched them continue to ignore us, all while looking at us, pointing at us and saying “I don’t want them” and things like that. No, wrong, Leo did wash before we got there so he wasn’t him that stopped us from being help and the ladies looked wonderful, crap that leaves just me that might have been the issue.
We did finally get someone to come over to help us. She was friendly and helpful. The food was ok. I had a Prime Rib Roast Beef Sandwich, (good) my wife had buffalo chicken mac & cheese (ok), Leo had Nacho’s, (ok) and Norma had (I can’t remember, but I do remember she didn’t eat it all).
The bill for Leo / Norma was wrong, but she did fix it quickly.
For what it is worth, it get’s high grades from most (local) folks, so it might be good, but with dozens of places to eat in the area, we would try another place before going back.
The next day started out with breakfast at the hotel (go in town to eat a lot more options) After breakfast we headed down to Manchester Hot Glass for our class. All I can say is we had a Blast!
After this we dropped the girls off so they could shop and we went to play frisbee golf. We did this for about 2 hours then headed back to pick up the girls for lunch. We went to a pizza / pasta house right near where they were shopping – https://christospizzaandpasta.com. The menu is deep and very tasty (what we had was tasty)
A Ham Pizza a Tomato and chicken Pizza and a Mediterranean wrap. Everything was eaten with thumbs-up appeal. After lunch the girls went back shopping and we went to hit little white balls and play a few more rounds of frisbee golf. The course at Hunter Park is nice. the front 9 holes are an easier play then the back 9, but that is for a few reasons. The signage on the back 9 isn’t as good, and the fields weren’t mowed so finding our frisbees wasn’t also easy.
After about 2 hours we left to go pick up the girls and headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading into town for a nice meal. Andrew suggested Yea Olde Tavern, and glad we listen to him. https://www.yeoldetavern.net Let it be known, Leo didn’t enjoy his meal as much as he’d hope. This was because he was considering 2 different dishes, and thought he was getting dish #2,(Pot Roast) but ended up with dish #1, (Chicken Pot Pie) while good, he was looking forward to dish #2. He and the waitress got things a bit confused, but Leo has to take some of the blame as he ordered dish #1, but he thought he was getting #2, and she thought he ordered #1. Leo said he was fine with the chicken pot pie, but after eating it, said he should have said he wanted the Pot Roast … his wife and my wife both had Mac & Cheese with Applewood smoked bacon and lobster and one hell of a smile on there faces. I had Filet Mignon with Bearnaise sauce which was outstanding!
There are dozens of fine $$$$ restaurants in town, and many very nice $$$ restaurants in the area as well, and yes, plenty of $$ eateries too, so do some research, ask around, you’ll be glad you did. For what it is worth, last time here we eat at the http://reluctantpanther.com/dining, and that was a great meal!
The day was coming to a close and a long day it had been. We went back to our hotel and played a few games of pool then called it a night.
The next morning was set aside for breakfast in town, (at Up for Breakfast, which is up-stairs on Main Street, Downtown) picking up our glassware then heading over to Quechee Gorge https://vermonttourismnetwork.com/quechee-gorge-vermonts-little-grand-canyon and then King Arthur Flour. Our time at Quechee Gorge was longer then planned so the gorge, and ice cream was all we did, and we decided it was time to head home.