Water, water, everywhere!

So, the first thing I didn't expect to see in NH was all the water. Between the rain, some of it encouraged by hurricane Kyle, the waterfalls, and the rivers, there was water everywhere. Of course, this made for some awesome scenery, despite the gray skies.

This is the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area along the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of NH. The highway is a 34 mile stretch of scenic overlooks and windy roads. Right up my alley. the amount of water traveling through this gorge was amazing. I'm sure the rain helped.
Lower falls along the "Kanc".

Small waterfall along the trail to Arethusa Falls.

Arethusa Falls, NH. This waterfall is well over 100 feet tall. Hard to tell from the photo.

Home Sweet Home

Of course when you travel to the northeast, there is an immense amount of history. The architecture and condition of old buildings and homes is incredible. There are too many to take photos of, let alone post on here. So I just picked a few of my favorites.

This one was in Conway, NH. It was built in 1815 and shows one feature that I really liked on some of the old homes. The barn is actually attached to the house. I can only assume the reason is so that the owners didn't have to go outside during the winter. They could just walk from the house right into the barn. Convenient!
Russell-Colbath house, Albany, NH. Great story here. Built in 1831 by Thomas Russell, the home was occupied by only one family and their descendants until 1930. The last resident was Ruth Priscilla Colbath. In 1891, Ruth's husband told her he "would be back in a little while" and left. Although he had told her the same thing on several occasions, for some reason Ruth was concerned about the darkness and cold, so she left a lantern in the far right window for her husband to use to guide himself back home. But he didn't come back. Ruth had faith in her husband and every night following she would place a lantern in the window. She did this for almost 40 years until she died in 1930. He never came back until three years after her death.

The house is still decorated and stocked with furniture, supplies, clothing, appliances, etc. from the time period of it's residents. I am always impressed at how people lived back then, especially in the middle of the mountains with very little contact with others.
Castle in the Clouds, Moultonborough, NH (www.castleintheclouds.org). Built in 1914 by a shoe factory owner, the house is a great example of the arts and crafts style of home. It is set high in the Ossipee mountains above Lake Winnipesaukee with an incredible view (more photos of that later). The house was very modern for the time period. It had a central vacuum system, "needle" showers, and a refrigerator cooled with brine. The woodwork inside is amazing and it is full of fantastic details like marble, stained glass windows, claw foot tubs and dumbwaiters. This is the back of the house.
I don't know the history or story of this house, but I had to include it here because it is the oldest house I saw on the trip. Located near Sugar Hill, NH, it's another great example of the barn being attached to the house. One thing I liked about some of the old homes is that the current owners would put the date it was built above the front door instead of the house number. If you look closely in the lower photo, you can see that this house was built in 1779! It is still in great shape!

Just give me that countryside

Some more farm photos. Notice how GREEN the grass is! This one is in NW New Hampshire.
Another in NW New Hampshire. Nice front yard, huh?
Nothing but trees, grass, cows, and crops.
" There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age." - Bill Bryson.

Farm livin' is the life for me

Another iconic picture of New England is the farms. From Vermont dairy farms, to apple orchards, and maple trees for their famous syrup, the farms I saw were more picturesque than you could imagine. It is very easy to drive 15-20 minutes from anywhere in New England and be near a beautiful pasture or barn.

This is actually land belonging to the bed and breakfast I stayed at in Vermont.

Southern Vermont farm on a hillside. This is one of my favorites of the whole trip. Notice the classic white house, the smaller, older out buildings and barns, the silo, the rock walls, and the American flag on the side of a building.
Not a farm, but the typical dirt road in rural New Hampshire.
Near Sugar Hill, NH.
Harpswell, ME. This is an old cattle pound built in 1793. It is right next to the town hall and a big church. I was glad to see that the town has left it as is and not dismantled.

"Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Stiff as a board...

In Bennington, VT, there are several bronze statues around downtown of typical scenes in a small town. I didn't take photos of all of them, but you get the idea from these. The stories I heard of people encountering these were hilarious. They are so life like that many people mistake them for real people! I even caught myself doing a double take on occasion just to make sure I knew what I was looking at. Besides the two below, I also saw statues of two kids playing, a college student drinking coffee, an elderly lady with a grocery sack, and more. It was pretty impressive just how life like they made them.

I saw a few people taking photos with the two gentlemen below, reading the paper over his shoulder of course. The bottom photo is the back of a statue. I took that angle so you could see the window washer over his right shoulder - also a statue!

First day in Vermont

So after a fantastic meal at the bed and breakfast, I headed off to explore Vermont. I didn't even get out to the highway before I came across this small lake and had to stop. I wasn't sure if I had timed my vacation close enough to the peak foliage season, but after seeing this, I knew I was in for a great trip.


I drove west again to Bennington, VT to see the Park McCullough house. (www.parkmccullough.org/) It was built in 1865 and the family lived there until 1965 at which time the family turned over the home to the Park McCullough House Association. The group has been taking care of the house ever since and they have preserved it in the exact condition that the family left it in. So essentially, the home has one hundred years of history, furniture, clothes, art, books, etc. Plus, the house has 35 rooms on three floors, all with 14 foot ceilings. Unfortunately, you can't take photos inside, but the outside is impressive enough.

The carriage house is bigger than any house I ever hope to own. It had several rooms and even some old carriages the family used to use. The lower photo is in the back of the carriage house where they kept the horses. Even the stalls are bigger than my old apartment!!!

New England in the Fall

What is the most iconic view of the Autumn season? New England of course. The trees changing colors, the pumpkins, the harvest festivals, the cool weather, the historic farms and churches. Well, I had to see for myself what all the fuss is about. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

I traveled to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine last week and spent my time traveling the countryside, hiking the mountains, and braving the chilly coast. It was everything you'd expect it to be. All the postcards and calendars are pretty good depictions of the area, but none of them, including my photos, do it justice. I highly recommend that anyone who has the chance take this trip as well.

So, I'll do my best to give the highlights of my adventure. Unfortunately, over the eight days I was there, it rained about 80% of the time. This made for interesting photos - fog, rain, and white/gray skies don't always contribute to good photography, but I still pulled out some good ones.

I flew in on Friday, September 26 to Manchester, NH and drove a couple hours west to Wilmington, VT to stay the night at Shearer Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast. (http://www.shearerhillfarm.com/) It is a quaint, 200 year old home that has been updated and added onto to create a great place to stay. The owners were incredibly polite and accommodating. I could go on and on, but just know that when you think of a Vermont Bed and Breakfast, this place fits the bill.


The building on the left is the original house, the addition is on the right. I'm standing on the steps of the carriage house where I stayed. No, I didn't sleep with the horses or anything. The owners had fixed up the carriage house with three more rooms for guests.

Shearer Hill is best known for their baked apple breakfast. The combination of flour, sugar, cinnamon, nuts, raisins, and of course maple syrup made for a pretty tasty first meal. When the server asked if I wanted ice cream on my apple, what was I supposed to say, no? I mean ice cream for breakfast? This vacation was off to a great start.

Before breakfast I took a walk down the dirt road to see what I missed when I drove in the night before. I was pleasantly surprised to find the typical, but not disappointing, Vermont farm life. Cows, horses, sheep, turkeys, and barns like the one above. There were plenty of bigger barns around the area, but this one caught my eye.

This is the scene in front of the carriage house with the aforementioned steps in the background. This was a pretty typical scene in Vermont - plenty of color, pumpkins and gourds, barns, and grass. Green, green grass. You don't learn to appreciate green grass until you live in the desert.