Beautiful Starlight Meadow

Aah...love at first sight!!! We couldn't help but to fall in love with this little gem as we motored up the long dirt driveway surrounded by glorious green fields. I know the cardinal rule is never let the real estate agent know how much you love the house...but it was hard to contain our excitement.

It all started back in 2003 when we purchased our first house, a small little place, off the grid, in a quaint little town in the Northeast Kingdom. Oddly enough the town was called Danville. We loved our little house despite the fact that it had no electricity. But after three years of candles and gas lamps, not to mention only one bathroom, we decided to start the search for a retreat a bit more.... guest friendly.

Having inherited the knack for perusing real estate magazines and Internet real estate sites from my mother, it was not long before I stumbled upon Starlight Meadows on the MSL listing on the Internet. Immediately, I put a call into my favorite Realtor, Barb Machell, and we booked our appointment to see it. We never imagined it would surpass all of our expectations.

Starlight Meadows, named surely for the unobstructed nightly show of the heavens above, is located on forty open acres of rolling hills and meadows. It is in a small town called Walden just west of St. Johnsbury. Although its location made it a longer drive to our ski mountain, Burke, it was closer to Craftsbury Nordic Center and two other ski areas we enjoy, Jay Peak and Stowe, both within an hours drive from the new house.










The house is beautifully constructed of timbers. The interior has all wood floors, one woodstove and pme gas stpve, three bedrooms, two baths, a dining area, kitchen and living room. Each bedroom is equipped with a double or full bed, one of the upstairs bedrooms also has one twin bed in it. The basement includes an unfinished area with a ping pong table and a laundry room. The outside of the house is spectacular. Surrounded by perennial gardens and rolling hills, the house boast three different decks to enjoy the view from. And our favorite part, the 100 gallon water trough is exquisite for late night baths(and hot showers) under the stars.

In addition to skiing in the winter, Starlight Meadows is ideally situated for summer recreation being within 40 minutes to the Kingdom Trails in Burke Vermont and several lakes including Caspian and Joe's Pond. The Kingdom Trails are renowned as some of the best mountain biking trails on the east coast. The town of Burke and Lyndon are overflowing with great restaurants and intriguing shops. Stowe Village and Mountain are also within an hours drive with a vast array of summer, fall and winter activities.

However, you might simply enjoy hanging out on the hammock under the Butternut tree or watching the sunset from the top of the hill with a glass of wine and cheese and crackers. You may just find it hard to drag yourself away from the peacefulness and beauty of Starlight Meadows.

Rates
Christmas and Holiday Weeks $225per night
Weekends and non holidays $175per night

House can accommodates up 6-8
special note: There is no TV or Dishwasher

















Enjoy
Medelise and Dan

About Us

In 1985, I graduated from Boston College University and headed off to Jamaica, West Indies. As a Volunteer ( Jesuit Volunteer Program) I was stationed in the capital, Kingston, not far from the ghetto township of Trenchtown, made famous by Bob Marley. Little did I know that I would meet my future husband(serving as a Peace corp volunteer at the time) and that we would share such an incredible life together traveling and searching for adventure, amongst other things.
So that is how we got to this point. Collectively between us we have lived in Jamaica, West Indies, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Washington State, Maine, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We have traveled out of country to New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Austria, Costa Rica, Grand Cayman,Canada, and British Columbia. The list of states that we have had the opportunity to vacation in is long but include such favorites as Colorado, North Carolina, Arizona, California, Washington, Georgia, Nevada and of course Vermont. We have kayaked and camped through the Arctic Circle, fished on commercial fishing boats in Alaska, sailed through the Caribbean on a 26 foot schooner, mountain biked in Arizona, surfed in Costa Rica and gone horse back riding in the Rockies. Traveling with our kids, Meddie and Nolan has added a whole new dimensions to our adventures, sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but always interesting!

In addition, every year, for the last 15 years, we have been lucky enough to get together with Dan's family in such beautiful locations as the Outer Banks, Vancouver, British Columbia, Nevada and Colorado, just to name a few.

We have been fortunate!!!

It will take time but eventually we would like to share these travels with our readers to inspire them and to assist them in making their own travel plans. We welcome any comments or participation in these ongoing posts. Exchanging of stories is part of the plan.

We hope to hear about your own adventures and travels.

Yearn to Travel
Medelise and Dan Reifsteck

Alternate Route(Vermont Edition)

Recently, while enjoying the sunset from the top of our property in Vermont, we had an idea. One of our favorite things to do while we are visiting Vermont is to venture out on what we have termed the Alternate Route. It works like this; First we decide where we are going, then we pull out our Vermont Atlas and Gazetteer, a must have if you are planning on traveling to Vermont, then instead of sticking to the Rt16s or the interstate highways (interstate 91, as those who've traveled it know, is beautiful in it's own right) means of travel, which would surely get us there faster, we choose to travel via an alternate route on roads such as the Rockin Rock Road, Stannard Mountain Road or the Mud City Loop Road. We call it the paved road alternative(Alternate Route), with our secondary goal simply to get off the tar and onto the dirt. As for our primary goal, one never knows what will be discovered on a road named Rockin!!!

A quick note on Vermont's Roadways. The state of Vermont reigns as the champion of maintaining roadways. Their third class roads (dirt) are better maintained than most of the major freeways in our little state of Rhode Island. You do not need an SUV to travel the back roads of Vermont, although I would steer clear from them during mud season. If you are still daunted by idea of traveling the "alternate route" on your own, there are businesses, such as Vermont Backroad Tours , that can arrange such a experience.

We don't actually choose our route based on the name, but occasionally you can't help but to notice such things. Of course with time we have developed our favorites, hence the idea. We decided to compile and share our favorite alternate routes with you in a series called Alternate Route. Of course we encourage you to discover your own alternate route but at least this is a place to start.


You can find stories in this series listed under the label Alternate Route in the sidebar of our homepage.

Happy travels...Medelise

One Amazing Journey

The Monarch butterfly is the most widely recognized butterfly in our country. So popular, in fact, some have petitioned to have it named our nation’s insect. And while Monarchs are distinguished for their annual fall migration, the details of this great flight are often overlooked or misunderstood.

Every fall, millions of Monarchs from as far north as Vermont and Canada, flitter and glide there way south. Clustered by the millions, Monarchs will wait the winter out in the giant oyamel and eucalyptus trees of Mexico and California. The migration alone is incredible, the fact that none of these Monarchs have previously been to the over wintering sites, make it extraordinary!

In the spring, as the air warms in Mexico and California, the over wintering monarchs begin their journey north. Along the way they mate, lay eggs and die. If lucky, the Monarchs from the Mexican sites might make it as far north as Texas. The next generation of monarchs continues the progression north. Months later the great, great, great, great grandchildren of those early spring monarchs will reach the southern border of Canada. It is these Monarchs, triggered by dropping temperatures, which venture back to the roosting sites in Mexico and California.

Scientists may never discover how Monarch butterflies navigate their way back to the roosting sites of their ancestors. It remains one of the great-unsolved mysteries of Natural Science. Individuals however, can enjoy the magic of Monarch butterflies by raising and releasing these winged creatures.

Over the years, I have enjoyed sharing my passion for butterflies by teaching classes on how to raise and release Monarchs. Finding eggs and caterpillars in the wild and raising them to adults is a very rewarding experience. I used to believe children benefited the greatest from this endeavor. But the emergence of the adult butterfly appears to inspire the adults in my class the most. Is it the Monarch caterpillar’s ability to completely transform itself that captivates us, or realizing life’s fragility as we observe the defenseless adult butterfly pumping up her wings? For myself, it is the lesson of letting go received as I lift the lid of the container and set my monarch free.

Medelise

Gratitude

Poems have never really been my thing, probably because most of the time I just don't get them. But recently a dear friend of mine introduced me to the poems of Mary Oliver in a book called Thirst. A particular poem so moved me that I felt a need to share it.




The Place I Want To Get Back To

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
when they saw me

they said to each other, okay
this one is okay,
let's see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground, like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but, anyway, harmless;

and so they came
on their slender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of the flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring to me that could exceed
that brief moment
For twenty years

I have gone every day to the same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering.
Such gifts, bestowed,
can't be repeated.

If you want to talk about this
come to visit, I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.


Mary Oliver


not so much a place as a feeling...but sometimes if you are lucky the place can create the feeling.

Yearn to Travel...Live the Dream...Practice Gratitude.

Medelise

Beautiful Northeast Kingdom of Vermont

Usually, when we tell someone we are going to Vermont for the weekend their response runs something like this, "Oh we love Vermont...where are you heading?" Our response, quite often in unison, is "The Northeast Kingdom". This is almost always followed by blank stares and confusion.... most of you have never heard of it.

The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont...truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you have been to Vermont but have not been to The Kingdom, then you have not experienced the real Vermont. Located in the remote northeast corner of the state, it has managed to allude the over development of it's more southernly sister. It has been called "the Vermonters' Vermont" and when you visit you will understand why.

One of the first things that struck us about the Northeast Kingdom was how spectacular the views and vistas were. With dizzying effects you will often find yourself on a third class dirt road gazing down into a lush green valley with distant mountain tops to cap it all off. Every bend in the road brings with it sighs of wonder and awe. The Kingdom is an outdoorsman's(or woman's) dream come true. With rivers to paddle, trials to hike and bike, mountains to ski, and streams and lakes to fish in, one is hard pressed not to find something to do.


But don't be fooled into thinking that the great outdoors is all that The Kingdom has to offer. It is also home to many an interesting gallery, a multitude of museums and fabulous restaurants. With such eclectic businesses as the Down to Earth Worm Farm in Greensboro Bend and The Red Sky Trading shop in Glover, even the shopper in you will be satisfied. And after a day of hiking, shopping, eating and gallery perusing, you can attend to your spiritual and emotional health with a stay at the Stepping Stone Spa and Wellness Center in Lyndonville.



My husband and I have been vacationing in the Northeast Kingdom for seven years now. So taken by this little piece of heaven , we purchased a home(vacation) there is 2001. We have a saying between us..."living the dream" and how true it is when your in The Northeast Kingdom.