The Juniper Hill Inn, appropriately enough, sits atop Juniper Hill, in the town of Windsor.  There isn't that much to do there, but actually that is pretty much what we were going for.  Windsor is near the Ascutney ski area, and close to the Quechee shopping areas.  The Inn itself is a beautiful mansion with a hospitable atmosphere, the ground floor has a library, game room, plus a small dining area (reservations required).

The rooms in the inn are very romantic, but  if you're going to stay there, make reservations well in advance.  There are a number of rooms with wood burning stoves.  This is a picture of the room that we stayed in.  We were only able to get one night in this room, the other rooms in the inn are much smaller.  Our last night at the inn we had a romantic 'picnic' in our room, by the fire.

So back to our story.  The plan to take a weekend in Vermont actually had nothing to do with planning the proposal.  Things just came together.  I had been making visits to the jeweler to inquire about engagement rings.  Once we made plans to go, I decided this was the perfect time and went ahead and bought the ring (with some help from the folks at DePrisco Jewelers). I was able to get the ring in time for our weekend and away we went. 

Our first night (friday), we arrived late at the inn and found that there was not much in the area in the way of food, and we wound up at a cozy little place called the Skunk Hollow Tavern.  It was way better than it sounds in print.  The next day we did some shopping, some sightseeing, and a little hiking around the hill.  We had reservations for dinner that night at the Inn.  At dinner, our conversation took a turn toward talking about our relationship, which was just perfect for setting the mood.  It was actually Nicole that started that line of conversation, so apparently the stars were aligned properly.  After dinner, we decided to take a walk outside.  It was quite chilly, but the night was clear and we could see the alignment of the stars pretty well. 

Out back of the inn, there is a little bench with a beautiful overlook of the valley below (picture right).  We went out to sit on the bench and relax.  I didn't really have a speech planned or anything so I just took out the ring, asked her to marry me, and she said yes.  All in all it was a very romantic setting for such a special moment.