We left the Trapp Family Lodge at a leisurely 8:30 this morning. Surprisingly we had to rely on the alarm to wake us at 6:30 whereas at home we fight to sleep past 6 AM. We are headed to New Hampshire for the next few days, but will make several stops along the way. The first stop was at the Stowe ski area for fall color photos.  Although the day began cloudy, while we were there the sun emerged for a short time giving rise to beautiful displays on the surrounding hills. Our tour director, Gary, kept saying we are lucky as the fall colors were really awesome. I figured he probably said that all the time so we would not feel we were missing something. However, as we were busy snapping photo after photo a local employee stopped by to chat and he said that indeed the colors were definitely at their peak; him I believe, so we are lucky to be here at this time.

The Stowe ski area was much larger than it looked. There are 112 ski runs across the valley. They have already seen snow flakes and usually are skiing by mid November so winter is right around the corner.

We next made a brief stop to a place you probably would not expect to be on a tour-the Hope cemetery in Barre, Vermont. Barre is noted for its stone carvers and granite.   All their work is on display in the local cemetery, where the memorials to the deceased are unlike any I have ever seen. You will find carved headstones based on many unique subjects, including an airplane, a stock car, a soccer ball, a cube and two (his and hers) small pyramids. It is truly unique.

We soon entered New Hampshire and the landscape remained the same as Vermont.   The lunch stop was at Littleton, New Hampshire, population 5,928. The Main Street looks just like the main streets of small Wisconsin towns. Littleton’s claim to fame is that it was the home of Elizabeth Porter, the author of the famous 1913 children’s book- Pollyanna. There is even a bronze statue at the local library. Others might say that Littleton is most famous for the candy store, Chutters, which claims to have the longest candy counter in the world (Guinness World Record) -112 feet long!

After leaving Littleton we drove through Franconia Notch, one of the highest passes in New Hampshire at 1,950 feet- woo hoo!  This was the site of a very iconic symbol of New Hampshire – the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain. It bore a strong resemblance to a man’s face profile. It was so iconic that it became the state emblem and appeared on license plates, road signs and even a US postage stamp. Unfortunately in 2003 it simply disappeared – the victim of deteriorating rock face. All that is left is a flat cliff! The politicians talked about making a substitute facsimile but nothing has been done to date.

The traffic in the region was worse than expected but it is both a holiday weekend and peak “leaf peeper” time and it threw our schedule off somewhat, but no one complained as we are on vacation. We stopped at the Loon Mountain ski area near Lincoln, NH where we were treated to a ride on their gondola to the top of Loon Mountain (elevation of 2,950 ft.) to experience a different view of the fall colors on the surrounding mountains. It was cloudy but that did not deter us taking in all the color around it. The trees skew toward yellow with a smattering of red sprinkled amidst the yellow and green. It was quite an artistic palette.

Our last leg of the day’s trip was traversing the Kancamagus (Kank-ah-mah-gus) Highway, a 34.5 mile highway that cuts through the White Mountain National Forest, connecting Lincoln to Conway, and is considered one of the best roads to experience the fall colors in Northern New Hampshire. We reach an elevation of almost 3,000 ft. as we travel the highway. We made two stops on the way. The first was at Rocky Gorge on the Swift River, where the river meanders through granite rock formations that form the riverbed and involves a ten foot drop with rapids. There is a lovely bridge that crosses the gorge and offers a good place to take photos. People commonly walk out onto the granite slabs to get up close and personal with the river.

The second stop was at the Albany covered bridge for a quick photo opportunity.

We are spending the next two nights at the White Mountain Resort. Dinner was included tonight and we had our choice off the menu. I am always skeptical of hotel food but I have to admit the dinners here were as good as we have had in big name restaurants.

I finished the evening by being able to watch the U of Washington football game against UCLA, which they won (barely) – the end of a very good day!