New York By Rail 14th ed. | Page 63

R ide straight from New York’s Penn Station to Vermont’s Killington Resort all year. With 200 trails spanning seven mountains, Vermont’s Killington Grand Resort Hotel is a world-famous ski destination. But there’s plenty to do there in the summer months too—and Amtrak can get you there year-round. Killington’s Adventure Center, which opened in 2016, offers a wide—and some- times wild—array of activities: an 18-hole golf course; scenic lift and zipline rides; the Beastcoaster, a 4,800-ft.-long roller coaster that streaks through woodlands, making 360-degree turns; gemstone mining and panning for gold at Roaring Brook Mines; Skye Bump trampoline and bungee jump system; Terra tubing (year-round snowboarding); mountain biking; ropes courses; and fishing, kayaking and paddle boarding on Snowshed Pond. And all year long, after a day of stimulating sports and views, you can relax in a 75-ft. heated pool, sauna, hot tub or around the fire pit, gazing upon the majestic Green Mountains before retiring to your hotel room, studio, condominium or private home rental at the sustainably built, green-hotel-certified resort. To travel straight from New York-Penn Station to Killington Grand Hotel Resort, make your Amtrak reser- vation through Rutland, Vermont, to Killington. If a reservation is made to Killington, Gramps Shuttle is notified and will be at the station to pick up passen- gers—year round, every day of the week. For more information on arrivals and departures, visit Amtrak.com, go to Destinations, choose Northeast Stations and type in KLT. Amtrak.com All Aboard for KILLINGTON! Ask a Local Originally from Maine, Kate McCarthy lived all over the United States before settling in Montpelier in 2011 as the sustainable communities director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council, a statewide nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. ” My job is about living and building sustainably and taking care of the places we live in and love. Living here allows me to do what’s important to me personally and professionally: live more sustainably by driving less, patron- izing local businesses and being connected to community members. I walk to work, enjoy local restaurants and run into people I know on the street. There’s energy being put into downtown, including farmers’ markets and festivals. There’s bicycling infrastructure, and good restaurants opening up too. It’s a compact downtown with surrounding nature to enjoy. There are lots of beautiful, quiet, water-paddle places. When snow’s on the ground, there’s cross-country skiing everywhere. We’re the smallest capital city in the country, but the only one without a McDonald’s. If I look uphill from my house, I see a mountain range. If I look downhill, I see downtown. I love having access to both. I like to get out and about on Saturday mornings and walk to the Birch Grove Bakery or the Bohemian Bakery. I take visitors to Three Penny Taproom, which serves local food and brews that have won international regard. It’s fun to show off Vermont’s beers to people who have read about them before but haven’t ever tried them before. They’l