Vermont & New Hampshire, the reason for it all...

If you are familiar with quintesential New England, you most likely have an image of a rolling farm with a big red barn, white picket fence, white church steeples in the distance of rolling hills and the most amazing fall splash of colours, vibrant reds and deep oranges, yes this is the picture of fall in Vermont...and the drawing card for this trip of mine.

Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, Apparently the vibrant colours of these magnificent trees attract people from all over the world such as myself.  The locals call people like me 'leaf peepers'. Before I arrived here I often wondered, am I hoping for something so wonderful I may be let down?  Could the colours possibly be better than some of the hues I have witnessed in our own beautiful land?

Unfortunately, it was not what I was expecting, in fact we were a week too early for the hues I was looking for. The locals say its because of all the rain they have had, the foliage was not great this year and actually we only saw the beginning of this wonderful change.  By the third day of driving across from Vermont to New Hampshire to Maine we did manage to see some brilliant colours, particularly up north of Jackson in New Hampshire, so I became a bit more content as the days went on.  All in all, we got to realise just how beautiful the whole area must look when it is at its peak and felt lucky that we were there witnessing the beginning of this amazing beauty. Of course there is plenty of other sights to see besides the leaves which I loved such as the quaint towns, the familiarity of the red barns you see in most American shows and pictures and  the covered bridges, also unique to this side of the world.

The one thing I learned pretty quickly while researching which New England state to stay in for my fall trip was how competative the Vermonters and New Hampshireans are about the 'best' fall foilage scenery.  It was quite amusing particularly when I thought my Vermont experience was all but over once Hurricane Irene swept through, I began making further enquiries regarding where to stay in Vermont or New Hampshire and innkeepers in both states never failed to let me know that in their opinion their state was so much nicer.  My opinion now that I have seen all three states is that New Hampshire offered the best in terms of beautiful scenery not only in the mountains but also the lakes around Lake Winnepesauke which was absolutely stunning and a favourite summer haunt among the people here.

I am sure when I look back on my photos and see all the colours we did manage to capture, the white steeples, red barns and covered bridges I think we took in the most of what these states offer.

My accomodation for this week was at The Fan House in Vermont and The Riverbend Inn in New Hampshire (so far my favourite)

http://www.thefanhouse.com/

http://www.riverbendinn.com/

I must add here a huge thankyou to Rima who drove approx 430 miles (she worked it out to be over 700 km!) through 3 states in 5 days so we covered a lot of ground.  Rima did splendidly driving on the other side of the road, getting used to the GPS and the traffic signals and signs aside from keeping me reassured that we were not lost only changing routes a little lol!!

So to my family - I am bringing home real Vermont Maple syrup for us to make hot steamy pancakes, just the way the Vermonters do it...

3 things I loved:


The quietness and simpleness of this end of the world
New Hampshire did not add tax to everything you buy (its a political thing)
The covered bridges and red barns we found along the way

Not so much :

We were a week early for peak colour
The driving gave my nerves a good work over for the week

Hello Boston, have we met before?

OK, I know its been a long time between posts, well actually only a week and 1 day but boy what we have done in that time is a heck of a lot.  From Melbourne it was a long 14 hours to LA.  I did not sleep one iota,  so suffice to say I was a little shaky and a bit overwhelmed by the time I arrived. My first image of America at LA airport was a little less than I was expecting.  I have heard the stories about this airport however in your mind you still conjure up an image of stars and ribbons.  Not to be I am afraid, I can only describe it as dismal.  We waited in a queue for 2 hours moving very slowly just to get our finger prints of both hands as well as an iris photo.  I was asked why I had come and replied 'to see the leaves' - 'is that it' the unsmiling attendant replied and I said, 'oh and a few other things' lol - he looked at me very strangely then waved me on to another long line where we had to check out of customs and find our connecting flight to Boston with American Airlines.  Thank God I had Rima with me as she had done this before and was far more confident than I of what we were doing, plus she had managed some sleep on the plane.  American Airlines were very good and punctual unlike V Australia who left a bit to be desired unfortunately so all in all I arrived safely and excited to begin my journey after being in the air a total of 20 hours!  I made a mental note that when Bill and I do this in 2016 we will take a week to get here with 2 stops on the way.

My first images of Boston made me feel as if I have been here before.  It must be that in my mind I have visited plenty of times, with the re-runs of 'Cheers' playing in my head as I laughed through each episode with my Dad. Also more recently another American sitcom favourite of mine 'Frasier' with a few 'Lilith' episodes from Boston and those stately mansions I envied she lived in.

Our first night was spent at the The Buckminster Hotel which was built in 1897 and was one of the first hotels built in the Boston area.  It is right opposite Fenway Park the official home of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since 1912 and is one of only 3 classic baseball parks in the States still used today, the other two being Chicago's Wrigley Field and LA's Doger stadium. (how's that for stats Matt? lol). I had fun checking this place at closer however since the games are over at this time of year I only got to get into the gift store but that in itself was fun. There may just be a Boston Sox cap coming someone's way...

http://www.bostonhotelbuckminster.com/aboutus.html


We had an amazing introduction to American food on that night at a place near Fenway Park which had lots of old memorablilia and pictures mounting the wall s of baseball. We ordered a chicken grilled burger with fries which was really delicious and decided that from then on we will share our meals as they really are massive!

Now after a week of travelling upstate we are back in Boston again, this time at a more chic area of Boston Newbury Street called the Newbury Guest House, a 19th century brownstone:


http://newburyguesthouse.com/

 This is certainly a pretty part of Boston I will be exploring more of  tomorrow.  I hope to visit Quincy Market, the Boston Public Library and all of the beautiful designer shops around this street. Mel, I popped into Zara today and bought a t shirt as it has become warm and I dont have enough summer gear with me.  The prices seem pretty cheap to me only $25.

Today I met Rebecca as well, she kindly came to my guest house all the way from the Cape and we went to the outlets we had heard so much about. After poking our noses in 2 shops which had sale prices of still well over hundreds of dollars we decided I'd be better off shopping at a local mall so that is how we spent the day driving quite a distance but chatting happily away and laughing at the different way that I apparently say things lol!

Speaking of which, you don't realise you actually have an accent until you step out of Australia, I have had plenty of people look at me very strangely and I too have struggled with what someone is trying to ask me - but its all good fun and I am getting better at it lol...


3 things I love:


The beautiful brownstones of which I am currently residing in
The fact that everything around here is open until late
The architecture on many buildings is exquisite