Funny that you mention vacation places and that there's not as much to do in the Northeast Kingdom. I'm getting married in East Burke (outside of St. Johnsbury) in July, and my family is coming in from all over for the wedding. We love the mountain biking up there and the road riding is great too. We've done some investigating to find things for family to do and there are some fun day trips that are accessible from this area. As Liza suggested, you could stay in a more populated area, but it's definitely worth a day trip into the NEK!