Bostonista Stowes Away

It’s not quite fall, not quite winter (and, unbelievably, almost 2009). Foliage is over, skiing has yet to begin. So, faithful readers, I’m sure you’re wondering what Bostonista was doing in Vermont this weekend. The answer: A whole lotta nothing… in the best possible way.

Overstressed and overtired, we drove up to the Stowe area late Friday night, in good company. After a quick fish & chips fix at apres-ski mainstay the Shed, it was up the road to the newborn Stowe Mountain Lodge. Though we’d taken a hard-hat tour of the property last year, we never imagined it’d look like this.

What had banal mega-resort potential is now a full-service, four-season, luxury “lodge.” And by lodge, we mean a 139-room mini-village that somehow manages to look small while being huge, and feel comfortable without being kitschy.

The resort’s standouts are many: A heated outdoor pool, a Newbury Street-rate spa, and a hunky, fresh produce-loving chef. The staff was also almost eerily accommodating. We pretty much padded from our room to the spa to our room to the salon to the restaurant (repeat) all weekend. In fact, come Sunday morning, we were shocked to realize we hadn’t been outside for two days.

Now, the virtues of such living are obvious; sadly, they’re also quite pricey. So while we loved our heavenly Pure Renewal treatment (an exfoliation-massage-mask melange), we probably won’t be making a repeat visit just yet. That is, unless someone gets us one as a holiday present (you hear that, potential suitors?).

And we’re not the only ones who love Stowe and love the lodge. In brilliant timing, we happened upon our favorite Bostonian working in his new eponymous salon. Now, if two arbiters of great taste—that’s us and Mario, of course—think a winter weekend in Vermont is a fantastic gift idea, shouldn’t you?

Stowe Mountain Lodge, 802-253-3560, stowemountainlodge.com.