Hey, what do you know... we ditched the kids w/ my folks and made a run for it! Well, we actually cruised down to Stowe for an evening of revelry to celebrate the big 40 for our pal LB. So where to start? First off, it was about 35 degrees and snow/sleeting as we drove south. WTF?! It is mid October? I need to move south. Then I remember we may soon be in the clutches of our new president Bernie/Trump and I remember that my next move may be north... like to Canada. Anywho, we stopped in Richmond for a bite to eat. Wanting to go light we stopped at Sweet Simone's in Richmond. That place is pretty solid. We grabbed a slice of cold flatbread and a huge bowl of autumn soup followed by a lemon meringue cupcake. The soup was hot and had a nice squash flavor w/ toasted pumpkin seeds which added nice texture. The flatbread had goat cheese and sundried tomatoes if I correctly recalled and was pretty good. The piece de resistance was the cupcake. The cake was almost like a corn muffin but moist and sweet w/ a lemon custard inside and covered by a meringue that was slightly caramelized and while not bracingly sweet it was delicious. We have tended to find the sweets are the way to go (coffee is nice too), they are all fantastic. The savory stuff is ok but you can go elsewhere for that. It was now solidly snowing.
Further south we checked into the Mountain Road Resort. Driving up it looks like a motor lodge (but the location is decent right next to the Harvest Market. The main lobby was a welcome surprise... bright, modern with clean lines and well thought out, modern furniture and fixtures. They offered a friendly greeting along w/ cookies and coffee or tea. Our room was spacious and also redone in a contemporary style. It was really more than adequate. As for unexpected amenities, they have a large indoor pool w/ sauna, lounge, and not working hot tub. It was a great area to chill out. 2 fellow guests were doing just that... and shot us terribly go the f*** away glares when we stopped in to also chill. Well, screw them. We hit the outdoor hot tub and relaxed. 1 3/8 thumbs up mostly quality for the price.
After we were appropriately loosened up we headed for dinner at Doc Ponds. This place is the casual stepchild of the Hen of the Wood mini empire and I think they nailed it. We ate everything so I won't take too much time here but the food is unpretentious, well priced, and delicious. $7 burger that is well sized, well cooked, and has a spot on bun? Yes please. The blue balls dish? Yeah, I think I will have fried blue cheese and rice balls thank you very much. The carrot side is also a got to have item if you are wondering. The very lightly breaded, super tender, and perfectly seasoned calamari also tore it up. As I said we sampled just about everything and there was nothing I would not happily eat again. The beer and booze menu was fantastic (although cocktails need to be turned over for colder climate) and the service was very friendly, even w/ a raucous crowd. We were also treated to a Masshole serenade of a new song "LB you are a horse's ass!". Over and over and over. It was loud, it was relaxed, it was a great pubbby scene, 1 7/8th thumbs up. It felt like the old Alchemist w/ a little more room to have a drink.
We finished up w/ a drink at The Bench. Nice space but they were already wrapping up when we rolled in at 10:30 (it was Saturday?). There were 2 angry bartenders who both looked like movie villains. After several IPAs I was prepared for my Die Hard moment but it was not needed, probably for the best. Nice beer menu in any event, even if the bartender did not know the beers on it. 1 thumb up pending further revue.
We did a little totally unnecessary post game work and then hit the hay. Next morning there was a coating of snow on the car. Shit. We stopped for more treats at Sweet Simone's. The peanut butter cookie was great, so was the coconut cream tart.
2 thumbs up on the weekend as a whole, it was fun.
