Our Wild Weekend started on a chilly Friday afternoon as we joined the northbound Boston traffic en route to our favorite New England town, Vermont's Killington, ensconced in a cush VW Touareg. For our prize, we'd chosen the ski capital in our part of the country for two night's relaxation at a local B&B plus a day of horseback riding.

We arrived just after dark at the Casa Bella Inn, where we were greeted by owner Susan at the door. After settling in, we went down for a very special authentic Italian supper prepared by Susan's husband, Franco. After an amazing dessert of panna cotta and tiramisu, we chatted with Susan and Franco for about an hour and discussed everything from European history to what it's like living in Vermont. With no telephones, TV, or radio to disrupt the peaceful ambience, we enjoyed some reading before retiring for the night.

The next morning, we headed out to the Mountain Top Inn & Resort, with the rain forecasted from the west holding off. The resort is set in the midst of New England's beautiful Green Mountains, where the foliage was virtually exploding with brilliant yellows, reds, and oranges. What's more, the rain from the night before had wet down the bark on the trees, making for a beautiful contrast.

It wasn't long before we were atop our steeds for the day, me on Decaf, my boyfriend on a horse called Montana. Decaf lived up to his non-jittery moniker, but as the lead horse behind our guide, this wasn't necessarily a good thing. Either way, we had a wonderful three-hour ride through the woods, where the colors were vivid and the horses enjoyed trotting along. The rain joined us for the last 20 minutes of the ride, but that didn't dampen our sprits.

After the ride, we grabbed a Chinese meal before heading back to the B&B for a shower and to get pumped up for game three of the Red Sox-Yankees championship series. We found a pub in Killington to watch the action, where about half of the clientele were Yankees fans—and of course this was the game where the Sox were trounced, so it was a little difficult to cheer for our team. (Little did we know that eight games later we would be celebrating a long-awaited World Series win!)

On Sunday, we woke with sore hip flexors but in fine feckle. Our breakfast was yet another wonderful Franco feast, and we enjoyed a leisurely talk with Susan and him before hitting the road early to beat the weekend's leaf-peeping traffic (sadly, impending school exams and a busy work week called us home early). After an enjoyable drive in the late-morning sunshine, we dropped the deluxe Touareg back at the dealership, relaxed and happy after a wonderful, stress-free weekend up in the Vermont hills.