New York, Vermont, New Hamphire and Maine ~ fall in New England!

 

The best day in fall...one we can go kayaking! Checking off another box on Dave's bucket list was to kayak in the St. Lawrence River. Bummer that we didn't see any cargo ships while we were out but we had an awesome day complete with a little rock hounding.

On to Vermont and we were able to spend some time with Sandy & Brian who we know from Royal Coachmen Resort in Florida. They had a fantastic itinerary all lined up for us including dinner at a restaurant Sandy used to work at when she was a teen the night we arrived. The next day we went thru Smuggler's Notch and up to Stowe Mountain. As we went up the colors really started popping.

It was a great day blessed with sunshine and friendship. It was also so nice to be chauffeured around to see all the sites.  We were even able to go through their church which Sandy's family has been attending for generations. My dad would have loved it as well as looking at the cemetery across the street. We ended the day going to their "Happy Camp" which is their gorgeous property right on Lake Champlain.

Love seeing the fall colors but also the last of the summer flowers hanging in there...

Have no idea what this flower was but it was huge. The picture doesn't show it but the tops were probably as tall as me! We had such a great time in Vermont and it bid us ado with a lovely sunset.

On to New Hampshire and the colors just kept getting better and better! We stayed at Dolly Copp Campground and this was the view greeting us as we crossed the bridge going into the campground area. Only to be beat by the view right from our campsite! Love fall camping when the campgrounds aren't jam packed.

The view was so nice with all that fall color and sunshine coming in, I had to clean the windshield! Noodle likes it too! 😸

We took a tour up to the summit of Mt. Washington. There are only a few ways you can get there, hike, train or this tour up Mt. Washington Auto Road. Privately owned, it has been taking guests up since the 50's. The van ride was crazy along the road with no guard rails and steep drop offs, I can't imagine what the train ride would be like.

The 360 degree view from the summit was amazing! It was a bit cooler up there but skies were mostly clear and gave us some spectacular shots.

The road coming down continued to offer terrific views and even better looking back up from the parking lot.

We went up to Pinkham Notch and hiked Lost Pond Trail. What a peaceful setting all along the pond!

We sat for a little while looking for a Moose (or as the locals call them, Swamp donkeys!😄) to come and get a drink but no such luck. Good thing I took a picture of one at the Visitor's center so you all can see one.

We also hiked to Crystal Cascade which was right behind the Pinkham Notch Visitors center. It was only about 20 minutes from the parking lot so a must do. Most of the hikes in the area are quite strenuous as the elevation gain is about 1000 feet per mile or more as you climb up the mountain.

 

This little one was so adorable posing pretty for me!

 

We also went to the Wildcat Mountain Ski area and hiked to Thompson Falls. Small world, we met a couple from Holland, MI who had just come from Acadia National Park, which is our next stop.

One of my favorite things about traveling in seeing people along the way. While in Bar Harbor we met up with Lora, who was a Realtor in West Michigan I used to work with. This is her second summer coming to Maine to work at the Lobster Pounds. It was so good to see her and pass on a hug from "home". And yes, we did eat the lobster!

Another trip up a mountain, this time to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. Tip for future park visitors, book more than one day to go up the mountain (a permit is required). We learned that from our last time here and was able to pick the better weather day. We still had some clouds but mostly clear skies and gorgeous views.

 

Another 360 degree view looking over to the Atlantic Ocean, down to Bar Harbor and Eagle Pond. While the color wasn't as plentiful as New Hampshire, it still was just breathtaking.

Downtown Bar Harbor was decked out for fall, with almost as many people as mums. Apparently, we hit a day when a cruise ship was in port. Seems so odd to take a cruise to Maine but I suppose I'd be up to taking a cruise anywhere! 

We thought this 4 mast sailboat looked huge when we saw it in town, only later then to see it dwarfed by the cruise ship.

Probably one of my favorite hikes in the country (yes, the whole country!) is around Jordan Pond. Not only is the 3 mile hike a great path with wooded planks, rocks to scramble over and bridges, you have a view of the pond the whole way.

We had a beautiful day "on the pond". It was much busier than my pictures show, thanks to object eraser on my phone where I can make  people disappear. 😎 We did happen to get our picture taken by a passerby and this one will probably make the Christmas card.

Another tip is to make your reservations early for the restaurant at Jordon Pond. There's no better way to treat yourself after your hike than with tea and a popover with butter and jam. Yummy, and the view out the window wasn't bad either. Luckily we were seated inside as the skies opened up and poured just a few minutes later.

The views along the park loop were just magnificent with the fall colors but also the sunsets...wow!

Such a gorgeous place and now I can say the first place that I ever saw the northern lights. We thought the sunsets were spectacular only to be blown away by God's handiwork in the sky at night! We are so blessed to be on this journey. Thanks for following along on our blog. Until next time...