Fall Foliage

This 'fall foliage' thing is a well-documented event in the New England area. Scientists study the weather patterns that produce the peak fall foliage timing. We NAILED IT (of course - everyone things they visited during peak colors!!

The entire 60 miles was on roads like this: one lane each way, very well maintained, and few cars. That is, until we got to North Conway, central. Flocks of leaf-peepers, just like us, touring the north-east.

Jackson, New Hampshire (Day 3)

On the above map, Jackson, New Hampshire is a little off the blue route line, just a little north of North Conway. You have to 'view on the larger map' to see it.

We stayed at the historic Wentworth hotel.

Rating: Old but nice.

We were greeting by this unique scene on the porch of the Wentworth. Then we saw another strange scene, and learned that these were all part of the 25 yr. anniversary of "Return of the Pumpkin People". See our personal webpage with pictures.

I spent some time talking with the Innkeeper, a Bostonian, about a quick walk that we could take, ideally from the hotel. He suggested going up 'Catanach',

"Where?" I asked.

"Catanach, right outside the front door."

"Can you spell that please?" I asked.

"Carter Notch" he replied.

So we headed up Catanach to view these beautiful waterfalls.

Our first viewing of a New England covered bridge.

I had to find out, "Why bother to cover the bridge?"

Answer: To protect the investment. A non-covered bridge is good for maybe 10 yrs. Cover it and it can last 30-40 yrs. or more.

Another covered bridge on the Jackson Golf Course, for carts and foot traffic only.

Jackson Golf Course

From the other side of the bridge.

After a perfectly elegant (and free) breakfast at the Wentworth, we headed through Crawford Notch, toward Mt. Washington, then to Stowe.

This is the second 'Notch' that we saw, which we figured meant a very narrow pass through the mountain range. The Appalachian mountain range, which extends from Georgia to Maine, is an ancient range compared to the Rockies and Sierra Nevada. It is therefore more eroded, mostly with gently sloping hills, except for these 'notches' which still show very rocky cliffs.

Mt Washington

Mt. Washington from Crawford Notch. You can see that there are no clouds at the summit.

Earlier this year, Brett, Bruce, and myself read a book, A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, about walking the Appalachian Trail. Part of the trail included Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the North East (just over 6000 ft.) and the location of the highest wind speed ever recorded (231 mph).

We debated walking up the mountain, but rain and bad weather is always an issue. There is a private driving road to the summit, but that would have taken us a bit out of the way. We ultimately decided to take the Cog Train to the summit.

Here is a picture of a large group of us boarding TWO trains on the same track. The small #9 car to the left is an old steam engine which just came down. The rear (red) engine is diesel, pushing the blue car. Exactly the same configuration is in front of these two.

This picture is roughly two hours after the previous pic and the mountain is already shrouded in clouds.

Here is a view from inside the car. The benches tilt to accommodate the steep incline up. Then they flip over and face the other direction for the ride down.

And here is where the little train that (we thought) could, stopped! Yep, we stopped about 3/4 of the way up the mountain, on a 35° grade, for about 30 minutes while the engineer (a 30 yr old guy) tried to figure out what the problem was. I was checking out exactly how I would get June and myself out the door in case we started rolling backwards rapidly. Finally they got the engine fixed, and they offered to take us up, but we all unanimously voted to get to down the hill and call it quits. It was about 30° F at the top of the mountain.

Continuing on the drive, this spot is near Morristown, Vermont

Stowe, Vermont (Day 4)

We spent the night at the Town and Country Inn, Stowe Vermont.

Rating: Adequate

They did have an indoor pool which was pretty good, but the hot tub was funky.

So we continued on to Stowe, Vermont, the farthest north we would travel. This location, however, is roughly the west-coast latitude equivalent of Corvallis, Oregon at 44.5°

We took a nice walk along a creek and took the following couple of pics.

Here is another covered bridge just north of Stowe.

Besides the delicious pasta that evening, the highlight for me was a drive up Smuggler's Notch.

Here is a view looking north. Check out the video (Blair witch style) coming back down.

View of the Stowe area on our way out of town. No small New England town is really bona fide unless it has a white-steepled church. Heading to Woodstock.

This map shows the route from Stowe Vermont, through Woodstock, and onto Cape Cod.

Woodstock is just West of where the highway crosses from Vermont into New Hampshire, on the road to Rutland.

The morning we left Stowe, we stopped for breakfast at a delightful little cafe (researched by June and her iPhone) in Montpelier which has the distinction of being the smallest state capital in the United States, with a population of just over 8,000 people.

At breakfast I was taught the best use of maple syrup: to sweeten coffee.

Afterwards, we wandered through a farmer's market where I scored this beauty, an even better use of maple syrup. And it was every bit as good as it looks!

Woodstock, Vermont (Day 5)

Our planned stop in this area was mainly because of a bike ride that we found online. As it turns out, we didn't ride because it was wet and the roads are treacherously narrow and heavily populated.

But June managed to find a very respectable "Sugar Farm" in the area, which made the stop most enjoyable.

A "Sugar Farm' is where they harvest maple syrup from trees. And this one, Sugar Bush Farm, being of the modern variety, have most of their trees on a tube system that is installed every year which is connected to a vacuum which sucks the sap into a collection vat. If you are interested in the process, be sure to watch their video.

While June spent the afternoon buying Christmas gifts, I chewed the fat with the Grand-Daddy of the operation. He was a very knowledgeable baseball fan for living in Vermont.

We spent the night in Killington, a high-end ski area. We were surprised to find this place (The Killington Pico Motor Inn) for so cheap. Besides the obvious cheap look, especially in the room, I called to see if there was an updated TV directory. The 'innkeeper' very nicely explained that they had downgraded the service in the rooms to the basic package, and the directory was not yet available in the rooms, so she would be happy to tell me what is on TV.

Note: June's new law: NEVER stay at a place with 'Motor Inn' in the title.

Just a few miles from where we stayed , the Appalachian Trail crossed the highway. Having read the book, A Walk in the Woods, we had to have a short walk.

You can kinda see a trail here; it is pretty rustic. We walked for about an hour up, then turned around.

This place is located right where the trail crosses the road, so after our walk we went in for an old fashioned bowl of Guinness Beef Stew.

At the end of our meal, our waiter walked passed us and looked out the window and said "Wow, is THAT the sun". June grabbed the camera and took off outside to score this picture of the sunset (and left me to pay the bill..very clever!)