Some Fall Color

It's that time of year, so I thought I would dig out a few shots from a trip that Heather and I took to New England in the Fall of 2008. We arrived in Boston late in the evening and got a room at the Airport Hilton. In the morning we picked up a rental car and took off for 2 weeks of driving the smallest backroads we could find in southern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. Other than the airport hotel, we stayed in small inns in small towns the whole time.


We spent the first 2 nights in Grafton, Vermont. The weather was nice (in between bits of rain), and we mostly just walked around enjoying a climate and terrain very different from San Diego.

From Grafton we turned back east across the Connecticut River (crossing it into New Hampshire via the longest covered wooden bridge in the U.S.) then worked our way north along the river valley. We spent a night in Lyme, NH, then it was on to Littleton, NH, in the White Mountains.


One of the things we saw along the way was The Flume, at Franconia Notch State Park. I think that wooden walkway is about 100 years old. It's worn pretty smooth, and gets pretty slippery when it's wet. This is a fairly wide spot in the route.

We spent about 2 days wandering around the White Mountains area, including some short hikes and a trip to the top of Mount Washington on the Cog Railway. This was the first time I had really seen fall colors first hand. It was impressive.

With the late afternoon sun setting behind me, you can see my shadow on the right side of the frame.

From Littleton we headed east into central Maine, and spent a night in a small town called Wilton, and then continued out to the coast at Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. We took a walk around Jordan Pond (after stopping for tea and popovers on the lawn at the Jordan Pond Restaurant - they've been serving them here for probably over 70-80 years), and drove around most of the island, including a stop for lobster at Thurston's.

From Bar Harbor we took the coast highway south back towards Boston, spending 2 nights in Freeport, Maine and our last 2 nights in Rockport, MA. Along the way we checked out several lighthouses and other scenic spots. The trip was Heather's idea, and all the time that I was making the arrangements I was wondering (often out loud) why we were going in peak season, and just how bad it was going to be. I was wrong, it was great. Even though it can be crowded, and the hotel rates are at their peak, I can strongly recommend a trip to New England during "leaf season". Just do what you can to avoid the large tour busses that can clog up the roads and sights.


Click here to see more images from our Fall of 2008 fly/drive road trip around New England.