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