Part Two: Peace Pups Dogsledding

It was time to scooter and Tom was going first...

A word about the dog’s need to run: Ken explained that Siberian Huskies are northern transport dogs originally bread to pull sleds and have adapted to extremely cold temperatures. Their recall in not good. If they take off, they may not come back, “This is probably not the dog you’d want to have for a pet and leave the door open.” said Ken. All well and good, but this made me think that maybe we’d loose Tom and the dog and they’d both be hunting for food in the wilderness of Vermont in their own rendition of “Into the Wild.”

During our test drive of the scooters, we could tell that they were very sturdy and easy to handle (comforting). Ken rigged a dog to Tom’s scooter and to his and they were absolutely raring to go! At the same time, the other dogs went crazy barking and caring on; clearly they wanted to go too! Eager to take off, the dogs obeyed Ken’s command and off they went! As they scooted through a big open field, Tom looked liked he was perfectly at ease, sort of like taking his scooter to the commuter train each morning, but with a dog pulling!

Next it was Isabella’s and then my turn. We agreed that the scariest or most challenging part of dog scootering is the moment before the dog takes off. Managing the dog’s need for speed, its direction and actual pulling was easy enough and if you could relax into it, it was great fun. It was the getting ready to go that psyched us out a bit.

The carting is really cool too. Mainly because you can sit back and let Ken handle the dogs, no performance pressure! I was amazed at how far in front of the cart the dogs extend. The kids had only five dogs pulling and yet they seemed to be on a line extending at least eight yards ahead. Imagine those big time mushers with 16 dogs pulling the sled! The whole affair would be about a city block long!

This was indeed a once in a lifetime experience. Being around that many Huskies, learning about their habits and nature, seeing Ken’s expertise in handling the dogs and the gear, and finally having the dogs actually “transport” you, was really something special. Another great thing to do in Stowe, “on the shoulder.”

Dogsledding by Scooter and Cart!

For us Ken Haggett fit the description of the typical Vermonter. Tom told the kids over dinner the first night of our Stowe vacation that Vermont, “Prides itself on local stuff. It’s the land of the granolas–Birkenstocks seen here.” Every place has its stereotype and I was curious to see if this one would ring true. Ken was the closest we’d come. Not because of granola or Birkenstocks, but because he obviously had a passion for nature–you might call him a (Stowe) mountain man… He is the owner and operator of Peace Pups Dogsledding. With over 20 Siberian Huskies (they live in custom “doggie condos” on his property) for sledding, scootering and skijoring (that’s Nordic skiing with dog pulling), Ken offers an out of the ordinary outdoor adventure. Certainly, one my family had never been on!

Explaining why he started Peace Pups, Ken said, “The whole reason I got into this is to spend time with the dogs. Friends ask, ‘Are you going to get out and have any fun?’ Most runs are fun because I spend time with people and I’m out enjoying the dogs.”

The dogs are transported on the flatbed of Ken’s truck in custom crafted wood cages, worthy of furniture. He brought 20 Huskies for our scooter outing. Their beautiful white faces curiously watched the goings on of Ken and my family preparing for “the ride.” Meanwhile they were barking LOUDLY at other dogs passing by. Their cacophony of barking, and howling increased our adrenalin as the impending scooter ride drew nearer. In fact I was getting so nervous I considered not doing it and my 10 year old was getting darn right scared. Ken’s rule is that you must be at lease 12 to dog scooter. But younger kids can ride in the, fitted for dog mushing, carts.

It was time to scooter and Tom was going first.

(Now there's a cliff hanger...Mush On to my next post for the rest!)

Stowe on the Shoulder

Jasmine Bigelow from the Stowe Vermont Area Association warned me that if we came to Stowe in early April we would, dare she say it, be visiting in Mud Season. Mud or not, we wanted to check out spring skiing on the East Coast and to see what this resort town had to offer a family of four. Jasmine assured us that with proper planning, Stowe was a year-round vacation location that could offer some cool stuff for my sometimes-hard-to-please tweeners and husband.

We stayed at Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa. The townhouse suite we checked into was perfect, luxurious in fact, with plenty of room for the kids and us. This two bedroom, two story “attached home” was decorated in gold, tan and brown hues, rich fabrics, granite counter tops, marble tiles–really nice design choices. Big fluffy beds, flip a dial fireplaces and flat screens TV’s, produced a krumping* dance from my daughter, a loud banshee scream from my son and meaningful sighs from Tom and me. We really liked our new ski home…

Could we just live here and forget about going back to New York?

Besides the great digs, Stoweflake, the resort, has a lot to do. And during “shoulder season” it works! Here’s some choices for a wet, rainy, icky day (We had two!).

• Spa–a great option for adults (worthy of it’s own blog post, which will come later).

• Indoor pool, outdoor Jacuzzi and gym–my son was in the pool every day. The indoor pool, itself, isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but my 10-year-old loved it! And there is a heated out door pool as well, which has more limited hours but would be a nice diversion with proper planning and weather permitting.

• Racquetball court–this turned out to be a terrific time for Husband and Son who have no idea what they are doing on the court, but were entirely amused anyhow.

• Yoga and fitness classes

• Interesting stores just across the street (again, another blog post).

• “Homemade” cookies and coffee in the afternoon, perfect for “a sit down and read” by the fire.

So this is the beginning of several blog post I plan to do on Stowe followed by a full-length article for GoNOMAD.com. Do check back to hear more about our adventure “on the shoulder” at Stowe. I have a feeling you’ll want to visit too–any time will do!

*Krumping (for daughter, Isabella) is a crazy, hip, arm, gyrating dance done in second position plea.

SmartWool; Happy and Warm

Practical fashion–sometimes it’s hard to come by. While staying with friends at Stratton Mt. over MLK weekend, I ran across an “outdoor” clothing brand called SmartWool. The company is over ten years old but it was new to me. Jan, my host, was wearing some SmartWool Cindy Lu Who type striped leggings and socks. They were turquoise and grey and I thought they were terrifically fun, funny and fashionable. Jan is an ubber workout maven. She does multiple triathlon races and strenuous outdoor vacations–she knows good gear. She also hails from the fashion industry and as a creative director she appreciates good design.

When I checked out their site, SmartWool says it was, “born on the simple belief: keeping feet comfortable on the slopes.” My feet are always cold. I need these socks! Apparently lots of thought, study and experimenting went in to developing “smart wool.” Wool, that is soft, cozy and warm. Anyone who has kids will know how whiny they can get wearing itchy wool. (That goes for adults too, of course.) I like the happy patterns and colors they have. The fit looked great and the testimonial, Jan’s and others said SmartWool gets the job done; You stay warm and look cool at the same time.

Stratton Mountain Just Got Cooler

It’s always fun to see a celebrity when you’re out and about. Suddenly your grocery store gets way cooler, the restaurant you’re at becomes “the place to be” or that boutique you popped into is now tres fab. This past weekend we were skiing at Stratton Mountain and we saw Nina Garcia. She’s the savvy judge on Project Runway, formerly on Bravo, now it’s on Lifetime. Credit for spotting her in the base lodge amongst the throngs, goes to Jan Liverance, a Project Runway devotee, my friend, and Creative Director of At Peace Media. Jan and I managed to rubber neck in Nina’s direction in an effort to fully check her out unobtrusively, well sort of… My daughter kept staring trying to figure out whom I was whispering/mouthing about almost ruining our cover.

Nina was sporting (and I know you care) a mat silver Bogner jacket with black stretch pants that, we think, tucked into her boots. It’s silly but of course Stratton Mountain and skiing Vermont became that much cooler after seeing Nina! Jan has been skiiing at Stratton since the early 80s when the Stratton Mountain Boys, aka, the Austrian ski instructors, provided live musical entertainment on weekends in the bar of the base lounge! Jan and her partner were great guides to this rather large size (by east coast standards) mountain. Having a guide to “introduce” you to the mountain alleviates the stress you feel in trying to navigate your way through what could potentially be very scary terrain, terrifying yourself and your family!

I’m told that Martin Luther King weekend is the busiest ski weekend of the winter. Stratton was packed but its high speed, multi seat lifts did the job of moving the crowd up the mountain fairly quickly. While there were a few bottlenecks as runs converged, several times during the weekend we found ourselves alone on a run. If they remake the song, “These are a few of my favorite things,” to “These are a few of my favorite things–skiing,” being alone (with your group) on a run should be in the chorus. The rest of the song should about the romance of winter recreating at its best; the great outdoors, plenty of snow, comfortable temperature, beautiful views, sounds of swishing and laughter and sipping hot cocoa.

Skiing With The Fam.

We spent the last several days in the Poconos skiing Shawnee Mountain. I’m sure most seasoned skier are not too impressed, thinking something like, “big woop, Cath,” but let me tell you it was a very doable mountain for beginning skiers, which my husband, daughter and son are. I’ve been wanting to write a story about skiing at a big, challenging, mega ski resort out west and how it caters to beginning skiers as well as intermediate/advanced, but that hasn’t materialized, so I did what most do when introducing their family to skiing–start small, low and slow–small mountain, low elevation (not steep), and go slow.

Shawnee is small, contained and easy to navigate. All ten lifts have beginner runs down. We didn’t try their ski school but it looked well organized, especially the Ski Wee program that is ranked nationally. The lessons I saw in progress while on the mountain looked skill building and uncrowned even though it was vacation week. The lodge is nothing fancy, central fireplace, Formica picnic bench tables, and typical fast food. We liked our onion

rings enough to fight over them, however. Always “watching” the ski funds, we brought our lunch the second and third day and I would recommend families do the same, perhaps augmenting their “basket” with some fried fair from the snack bar.

One very important tip: Get there early. The lifts open at 8am and at that time there are no lines to purchase tickets, rent equipment or get on lifts. You can get yourself situated with a locker (Although many people just left stuff on tables and shelves.) and there is plenty of room to put on those gosh darn Frankenstein boots! After 11am the lines looked insufferable.