A Stowe Aside
Although Stowe was undoubtably a nice place to stay for a while, we wanted to head south to see a bit more of the state before heading to Boston so we only had a morning or so there.
After a coffee and a bite to eat in the high street cafe, we decided to head on up to the Stowe ski area, not because we expected to be able to do any skiing in 30 degree heat but it might be interesting to see and perhaps scout out an area for a future ski holiday.
Our experience with ski resorts is pretty much limited to the Three Valleys in France, and Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border. American ski resorts don't really have the charm of Alpine places we know such as Meribel. Stowe town was nice, but quite a long drive from the lift base which kind of ruins the apres-ski atmosphere.
However, the people in Stowe seemed to have realised that skiers like the ski-out/ski-in world you get by having lodges, bars and restaurants on the mountain and are building a brand new village by their lift base. They're doing a good job of it, and there are some impressive wood-clad buildings beginning to appear. One of the buildings was a showroom to allow people to see what's going on and to act as a real estate office for those interested in buying some of the properties.
We tentatively entered the showroom and walked slowly around the models of the village trying to imagine what it might be like when finished, and trying not to attract the attention of the salesman. However, once he'd said goodbye to some wealthy-looking potential customers, he came over to ask us if we'd like any information. At first we asked a few polite questions, but then gradually got more into our role as potential property investors. It was all quite beyond us, with even the empty plots of land starting at $2million but once we'd got into the flow, we thought we'd go with it and got a tour of the site, a trip up a tower to get a good 360 degree view of the site and descriptions of the various ski runs (which looked rather green and grassy but with a little imagination you could picture a busy slope).
I think we played our role well, investigating the options for partial ownership of the five-star hotel, club membership, outright ownership of condominiums, legal implications of overseas ownership, which companies could be used to help us design and build a home to our specifications. If I win the lottery a few times, I could get into this. I'm sure the salesman rumbled us at some point, but if so he didn't make it obvious and seemed keen to swap contact details before we left.
As we drove out, we went on a tour of the village, gaping in awe at some of the fabulous buildings being errected and dreaming.
However, eventually reality regained control and we drove out of the village and headed south, back through Stowe and out into the countryside once again.
After a coffee and a bite to eat in the high street cafe, we decided to head on up to the Stowe ski area, not because we expected to be able to do any skiing in 30 degree heat but it might be interesting to see and perhaps scout out an area for a future ski holiday.
Our experience with ski resorts is pretty much limited to the Three Valleys in France, and Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border. American ski resorts don't really have the charm of Alpine places we know such as Meribel. Stowe town was nice, but quite a long drive from the lift base which kind of ruins the apres-ski atmosphere.
However, the people in Stowe seemed to have realised that skiers like the ski-out/ski-in world you get by having lodges, bars and restaurants on the mountain and are building a brand new village by their lift base. They're doing a good job of it, and there are some impressive wood-clad buildings beginning to appear. One of the buildings was a showroom to allow people to see what's going on and to act as a real estate office for those interested in buying some of the properties.
We tentatively entered the showroom and walked slowly around the models of the village trying to imagine what it might be like when finished, and trying not to attract the attention of the salesman. However, once he'd said goodbye to some wealthy-looking potential customers, he came over to ask us if we'd like any information. At first we asked a few polite questions, but then gradually got more into our role as potential property investors. It was all quite beyond us, with even the empty plots of land starting at $2million but once we'd got into the flow, we thought we'd go with it and got a tour of the site, a trip up a tower to get a good 360 degree view of the site and descriptions of the various ski runs (which looked rather green and grassy but with a little imagination you could picture a busy slope).
I think we played our role well, investigating the options for partial ownership of the five-star hotel, club membership, outright ownership of condominiums, legal implications of overseas ownership, which companies could be used to help us design and build a home to our specifications. If I win the lottery a few times, I could get into this. I'm sure the salesman rumbled us at some point, but if so he didn't make it obvious and seemed keen to swap contact details before we left.
As we drove out, we went on a tour of the village, gaping in awe at some of the fabulous buildings being errected and dreaming.
However, eventually reality regained control and we drove out of the village and headed south, back through Stowe and out into the countryside once again.
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