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Early morning(7AM) flight to Seattle, but it was a non-stop and we are in the front cabin so it was a pleasant trip. Very good breakfast and a blanket to keep us warm while we napped.

I forgot to mention earlier that Alaska airlines are now using hand-held devices as entertainment centers; you “rent” them in economy and they are free in first class. The devices are loaded with movies, music, etc and my guess is that these devices will be replacing the seat-back entertainment centers on airplanes, as the devices are certainly cheaper, probably reduce airplane weight (and capital cost) and gives the airlines another revenue source.

We arrived in Seattle in a bit over 5 hours and managed to be home in two hours after landing, even though we had to get our luggage, retrieve our car, catch a ferry across Puget Sound and drive the short distance to Miller Bay, where it was sunny and clear. We even managed to stay up until 10PM.

Overall the trip was a good one; the weather was decent, we finally got to experience the fall colors of New England and everyone agreed we were there for peak color. Note to those wanting to visit:  historically the time around Columbus Day marks the time for peak color in Vermont and upper state New Hampshire.

The fall colors were not as dramatic as I had expected; tons of color, yes, but mostly yellows, and without the striking contrast to green fir trees like we have in the Pacific Northwest. Also there were not as many red leaves that I had anticipating seeing.

I was surprised at how sparsely populated the area was. It is a land of rolling hills( mountains?) and forests with occasional small towns. Speaking of small towns I did not see many of those idyllic small towns you always see in the calendars of the area. Are there only a few or were we in the wrong spot? We did see some covered bridges that are always touted in advertisements for the area.

Parting quote:

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jamie Lyn Beatty

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday morning it was 44 degrees and managed to get to 51 degrees. Today it is sunny and will be 77 degrees by the time we get back to Boston.  Talk about variability!

After leaving Portland, Maine we stopped at the Portland Head lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It is situated at the entrance channel to the Portland harbor. Wow, was it a dramatic sight. The lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington in 1787. He hired two local masons to build it in 4 years. The original tower was only 58 ft. high, not high enough to be seen offshore so in 1789 Alexander Hamilton approved $1,500 of government funds to complete the light.  It was first made operational on January 10, 1791. We were able to get some great photos of the lighthouse and surrounding coastline.

We arrived back in Boston at noon where we were dropped off at Quincy Maket for lunch, with instructions to return by 1:30 for transport to the airport and/or hotels. Yvonne and I chose to eat at the famous Boston eatery, Durgin Park. It first opened in 1742 and is known for eating traditional New England food at long communal tables with “surly”waitresses waiting on people. Well, the location is the same but the surly waitresses are gone. We were greeted and served by friendly staff. The menu does indeed offer home cooking. I had corn beef and cabbage and Yvonne had chicken pot pie.

By 2:30 everyone had been dropped off for flights home or to local hotels. Because we have an early 7 AM flight tomorrow to Seattle we chose to stay at the airport. I am finishing up this blog and Yvonne is finishing her book club novel she never had a chance to read while on the trip.

It was definitely colder (44 degrees) this morning with a bit of mist in the air as we left at 9AM for Maine with a few stops along the way.

We made a quick photo stop at a small lake in Eaton, NH with a lovely 1879 little white church on its shore. With the still waters of the lake there was a great reflection onto its waters that gave us some fine photo opportunities.

Speaking of white I noticed that most of the houses we have seen are painted white. You do not see other colors of homes until you get closer to the larger cities. Also, Gary told us about the “long houses” that are in this area of the country and pointed out several along our travel route. Because of the cold and inclement weather here the people connected their home and barn so they did not have to venture outside. Yvonne sure hopes there was plenty of insulation between the barn and home if they housed animals in them. Many of the homes had steel roofs with large slopes, making It easier for the large amount of snow that falls here to slide off.

Soon we were in Maine. The colors were not as dramatic or as far along, because we were in the southern part of the state and closer to the ocean.

Our comfort stop was at a super Walmart that also had a Dunkin Donut franchise in it. Our English travelers were excited to “experience” one as they do not have the franchise in the UK. Several people picked up items while there and more than one person succumbed to the lure of a Boston Creme donut, including me!

From there it was on to Kennebunkport for lunch and everyone was excited to see the Bush compound. Before lunch we drove the shoreline past the Bush enclave. It turns out it is not one house. They own a series of homes along a peninsula jutting out into the sea. We had learned that one of the Bush daughters (Barbara Pierce) married Craig Coyne, a screen writer, there yesterday in a small private wedding with about 20 people present, including George Sr.  People on our coach were hopeful we would see someone important along the way! No such luck and we were told we could not get anywhere near the home and could not even stop the bus on the road past it. We did drive by very SLOWWWLY however.

Kennebunkport is one of those small (5,000) iconic Maine villages with a small harbor with boats, and plenty of shops and restaurants as it is a popular summer destination. The city was shutting down for the season and there were sales everywhere and a sign in the window of the locally famous Clam Shack that stated today was the last day they would be open. Most of our group wandered the town intent on having a lobster (or as the locals say- lobsta) roll or clam chowder, us included. We were given 1.5 hours to eat and wander but delays in getting into restaurants and getting served left no time to shop!

After lunch we stopped at the Nubble lighthouse at Cape Neddick to see the lighthouse. Unfortunately it was in a restoration mode and shrouded in plastic. We did get to see and experience the rugged Maine coastline, which is predominantly rock.

The last leg of today’s journey was to Portland, Maine where we will spend the night and have our farewell dinner at a local restaurant. Portland has a population of 67,000 people and the general area holds 1/3 of the entire population of Maine. Portland was originally called Casco and has the unique distinction of having been burned down on four separate occasions. Maybe that is why the city emblem is characterized by a Phoenix rising out of the ashes! Portland, Oregon was named after Portland, Maine. Why, I do not know. Portland is the largest port in Maine and so shipping and tourism (cruise ships) have become an important part of its economy.

We are staying the the Westin hotel near the downtown. Our farewell dinner was held at Tiqa, a Mediterranean flavored restaurant but the main course was obviously lobster! We had a private dining room, the wine flowed freely and we all had a good time.

 

Tomorrow we work our way back to Boston and the end of our journey.

 

 

 

A leisurely morning (no luggage out) starting with an “eat off the menu” breakfast which is nicer than the usual breakfast buffet which is always the same. Gary had said their pancakes were outstanding and so I chose the blueberry pancake option. He was right; they were excellent especially when served with maple butter and local maple syrup!

After breakfast there was a lecture on the foliage and animals that call this part of the country home.  Our speaker was from the Raven Interpretive Program organization here. We learned that Mt. Washington, which we will visit later, has the wildest weather in the world, including a record for wind speed: 231 mph in 1934. He also talked about how and why leaves change color and shared information about animal and bird migration in the area. It was a fascinating lecture with more than one humorous observation injected in the speech.

At 10AM we left for a tour of the White Mountain area of New Hampshire, near our hotel. Our first stop was at the site of the Willey House avalanche that killed 6 members of the Willey family plus two others, in August 1826.  Fearing a flood the family fled their cabin when the river started to rapidly rise. They were killed by an avalanche as they tried to climb to higher ground.  However, their cabin was spared because of large boulders that forced the avalanche off to both sides of the cabin. The original cabin is long gone but the site has become a popular tourist stop.

The weather was funky this morning; cloudy one moment and then sunny! It depended on where you were at what time. The colors of the foliage in the area seems to be more dramatic, with entire hillsides almost all covered with yellow leaves with patches of red interspersed.  After leaving the Willey House in partial sunlight we proceeded to the Mount Washington Resort to see Mt. Washington, the highest mountain in New Hampshire, with an elevation of 6,288 feet. As fate would have it we saw nothing but the hotel as the mountain was completely shrouded in clouds. Oh well, maybe next time!

Before heading to lunch we made a quick photo stop at the Silver Cascade waterfall. It is a lovely multi-level waterfall with a 300 foot fall, amidst granite rocks.

We went to  North Conway, NH for free time to have lunch. Unfortunately because it was a holiday weekend during peak fall colors the town was jammed with people and so were the restaurants, even though we were arriving at 1:30 PM. We had to wait about 20 minutes get a table and another 20 minutes to receive our lunch sandwiches. Luckily we had enough time to not be concerned about rushing.

The buses returned everyone to the hotel at 2:30 and those who wanted to take a short (0.6 mile) walk to see “Diana’s Baths”, another series of small waterfalls that cascade 75 feet down the landscape. It was originally the site of a sawmill in the 1800s and was acquired by the state in the 1940s. About half of the people chose to take the walk, including me. It was pleasant fairly level walk through the woods to the stream and waterfalls.

Back at the hotel Insight hosted a cocktail reception to thank us for traveling with them. Dinner was on our own at the hotel. Tomorrow we leave for our last stop, Portland Maine.

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!

The day dawned at 37 degrees and nothing but sun, sun, sun! You couldn’t ask for anything better for an autumn day in Vermont. Gary had planned a day of local sightseeing with some unusual activities.

After taking a group picture at 8:30 AM we proceeded to our first destination, which is probably the main reason people even bother visiting Stowe- a visit to the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory for a tour and obviously a tasting.  We were pumped-even though we would be there at 10AM. Ice cream is good any time of the day. A part of the installation is a graveyard holding tombstones of ice cream favors that came and went. It was hilarious, as each tombstone had a limerick explaining why the flavor is gone and the years of its life. I was rather surprised that there were over 30 such “graves” but once I started reading the epitaphs of some of them I even wondered how they survived as long as they had.

The tour is very popular and is sold to the general public for $4/person. The tours  leave every 10 minutes and there were probably 30 people per group. We first saw a 6 minute video on the history of the company (It was started in 1978), then shown the actual manufacturing process. The last part of the tour was a tasting of the flavor of the day which was vanilla laced with butterscotch crunch. We learned that the plant here packages 300-400,000 pints a day! Ben & Jerry opened an ice cream parlor in Burlington, VT in a filling station after taking a $5 correspondence course in making ice cream. Their success came from loading the ice cream with “chunks”, something that had not been done before. The company was sold to Unilever in 2000, but has an independent board of directors.

We had some spare time before our next appointment so Gary drove us through the nearby state capital of Vermont, Montpelier. Trivia for the day: Montpelier is the smallest state capital (population 7,635) in the entire USA.

Our visit to Ben & Jerry’s was a good start for our day, but the day got better as we next stopped at the Morse maple syrup farm where they have been making maple syrup for over 200 years! One of the owners, Burr Morse, an elderly gentleman with a wicked sense of Vermont humor, entertained us with a lecture and slide show on how maple syrup is made. We learned that it takes 40 gallons of sap from a maple tree to make 1 gallon of maple syrup! Worse yet, the total harvesting season is only 4-6 weeks long and is extremely dependent on the weather. Something we learned (and had not known) was that the texture and taste of the resultant syrup changes as the outdoor temperatures during harvest changes. The earliest syrups are very pale in color, growing increasingly darker and bolder in taste as the season progresses. We had an opportunity to try the 4 different grades of syrup that are normally offered for sale.

After the lecture we were seated at tables where we each had a cup of ice and a cup of hot maple syrup. We were instructed to slowly pour a small amount of syrup onto the ice, stir it around with a fork until it hardened into a soft pice of maple candy, called maple taffy, which we could then consume. It was quite tasty. And not overly sweet.  There was a dish of donut holes on the table if you wanted to dip them into the maple syrup. There was also a dish of dill pickles which we were told would “cleanse” our palate before making more candy. God knows who decided that was a good way to cleanse the palate. I got adventuresome and tried dipping the pickle directly into the syrup and it was quite tasty! All in all this was a fantastic excursion and one of the highlights of the trip so far.

We had a late lunch in the town of Stowe, which is not very big (population 4,423) and a typical tourist town with cute shops, some dating back to the turn of the century.

We returned to the Trapp Lodge at 3:30. Some people wanted to attend the 4PM tea, Others, including me, chose to hike to the chapel the Trapp family built high on the hill behind the lodge. The path meanders through the forest along one of the cross-country ski trails the facility maintains, before climbing the hill to the chapel in about 1/2 mile. It took about 15 minutes to get there. After the walk most everyone convened in the lodge to view a short video about Maria’s return to her native Austria late in life, and clarifying what really happened during her life, not what we saw in the Sound of Music.

We chose to have dinner at their brewery located one mile from the lodge. A shuttle is available to take people back and forth. It was surprisingly crowded and we almost left when we heard it would be a 45 minute wait, but two other couples who had come earlier got called to their table just as we were going to leave and invited us to join them, which we did. Nice menu with a focus on German food, but quite  noisy making it difficult to carry on a conversation.

Tomorrow we head to New Hampshire for more “leaf peeping” and other adventures.

 

 

Correction:  I was wrong about us going to Ben & Jerry’s today. It will be tomorrow; however there will be another ice cream stop today at a working dairy.

Bright and sunny this morning as we leave the Cranwell resort. It is one of those places you wished you could spend more time, but it is time to move on and explore Vermont.

Trivia for the day:  Vermont was originally settled and named by the French. It means “green mountain”. They eventually lost it to Britain but the name stuck. Did you know that Vermont was actually a sovereign state (like Texas, California and Hawaii) before it became part of the US?

Vermont is a rural state with a population of about 600,000 people. It is noted basically for skiing, lumber and maple syrup, although there are some financial companies in Burlington. Montpelier, the state capital, is the smallest state capital in the US.

We headed north and entered Vermont about an hour after leaving the hotel. The colors are starting to change a bit (mostly yellow but a few reds are showing up) and we are now seeing the Green Mountain range that dominates Vermont landscape. They call the hills mountains but they are not tall by our standards. Still they are tree covered and the rolling landscape is pleasing to the eye. Our first stop of the morning was at a local store called The Apple Barn where they served us warm apple cider, hot apple donuts and coffee. Apples are a major crop in this area.  Surprisingly honey crisp apples are cheaper here than they are in Washington state, where the majority of honey crisp apples are grown. When we got back on the coach Gary gave each of us a honey crisp apple to keep us satisfied until we got to the next food stop!

The next stop was at a shop that has been sending us catalogs for years – The Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont. It has been in business since 1946 and is huge, selling all sorts of things in a series of old, connected buildings in the middle of nowhere. We walked through it all sampling tons of food samples they offered and managed to escape without spending money on things we did not need to carry home.

On to lunch in the small town of Woodstock, and no, it is not where the rock concert was held. That was in Woodstock, New York. This town was the summer home of Laurance Rockefeller who built a home and ultimately a hotel here. The highlights of the area were to see a bell cast by Paul Revere in 1818 which is at a local church, a lovely library that dates back to the 1890s and a covered bridge (of which there are many in Vermont). We grabbed a quick lunch (good homemade soup) and a sandwich then wandered the town to catch the sights. The covered bridge was a bit of a disappointment as it was rebuilt in 1969!  We all thought they should have lied on the sign and said it was built in 1869 because it does look that old. The library was a delight and a bit reminiscent of libraries of old. The bell was larger than I expected and it was nice seeing something that old and important in American history.

About 1/2 mile from the town is the Billings farm and museum originally started by the Billings family, one of the other important families in the area. In fact Mr. Billings was so important that Billings Montana was named for him. It is an active working dairy farm with cows, chickens, horses and sheep. The original 1890s home built for the farm manager has been restored and decorated as it would have been. There were animal barns and fields to explore. There are a marvelous set of displays of old tools and methods used in growing and harvesting crops, milking, making butter and cheese, maple syrup and apple cider. The displays were excellent and worthy of more time than was available.

Of course, the main attraction of the visit was the free ice cream we received, made on site from the milk of their Jersey cows. Many of us headed there immediately and did the sightseeing after we had consumed our ice cream.

As we were about the leave the facility it began raining pretty hard. Luckily our driver and Gary brought out umbrellas they carry on the bus so we could all get back onto the bus without getting soaked. We did make a short stop at Queche Gorge, which the locals call the “little Grand Canyon”. Most of us did ignore the rain and ventured out onto the bridge to snap a few pictures of the gorge. I can confirm that the analogy to the Grand Canyon is indeed really a stretch.

It was then a 90 minute drive to our destination for the evening, the Trapp Family Lodge near Stowe. The rain stopped along the way and the sun came out. Weather sure changes quickly here.

The included dinner tonight was based on a beer tasting to accompany the courses. I was skeptical but it actually was pretty nice.

We are staying here two nights. Tomorrow we will be exploring the area around Stowe, starting with that tour of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream which is headquartered here.

Cloudy and cool this morning but no rain. First surprise of the trip was our bus was “yellow”, not the usual white color of other Insight buses we have been on. Again the bus is roomy, with big leather seats and plenty of leg room, electrical outlets to keep electronics charged and wireless internet, and a bathroom for emergencies.   What more can you ask for?

The breakfast buffet at the hotel was better than normal with a coffee pot on each table so you were not at the mercy of servers.

We started off with a short driving tour of the downtown area of Boston where some of the famous landmarks were pointed out, like the bar that served as the backdrop for the Cheers TV show, the building where both the Boston massacre occurred and where the Declaration of Independence was first read, old graveyards holding the tombs of early Puritans and other famous Americans of the era. Trivia of the day: Paul Revere got all the fame but  no one knows of his riding partner that day, a gentleman by the name of William Dawes.

We walked part of the well-known Freedom Trail finding our way to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market where we had some free time to explore. It was at this point that a “glitch” in the tour occurred. Someone in the front of the bus noted that there had been a bad odor near their seats from the time we left the hotel. Our guide, Gary, immediately contacted the bus company who agreed to change out the bus before we left Quincy Market. They felt it could be done in 20-30 minutes. Mind you, we were in a city where they thought the Big Dig project would only take 9 years (it took over 25 years)! Actually it only took about an hour which is not bad.  No one was upset as we all know things happen and we are in no hurry- we are in vacation!

We left Boston around 11:45, heading west on the Massachusetts Turnpike to our first stop in Stockbridge. More trivia:  the first turnpike in the US was built in the 1790s between Lancaster and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1 PM the clouds started to part and some blue sky started to appear. We also began seeing rolling hills (the Berkshire mountains) and trees showing their fall colors. I was surprised how rural things got as soon as we left Boston.

Our lunch stop was in the town of Stockbridge, a small town of about 2,000 people first settled in 1734. Today it is a popular tourist stop. Way back when this area was fashionable for very large “cottages” (defined as having 30 rooms or more and at least 20 acres of land) for the rich who summered here. It is the former home of Norman Rockwell and the Norman Rockwell Museum is located here. Chesterwood, the studio of Daniel Chester French, who is well-known for his work creating the Lincoln memorial statue, is also in Stockbridge.

After a quick sandwich and a local ice cream we proceeded to the Norman Rockwell museum for a one hour visit. We all remember his famous Saturday Evening Post covers portraying his paintings of everyday American life. I learned that he actually created 323 covers for the Post, the last one being his portrait of Jack Kennedy in 1963. Norman was a gifted “illustrator” who used photographs, live models and sketches to create his scenes which he then painted on canvas. He dropped out of high school at the age of 14 and attended a series of art schools, becoming the official artist for Boy’s Life magazine at the age of 18 and creating his first Saturday Evening Post cover at the age of 22. During his career he created over 4,000 pieces of art. As is typical one could spend a lot more time then we had to really appreciate all his art.

Our hotel, the Crandell Spa & Golf Resort, was only 15 minutes away in Lenox, MA. It turned out to be a pretty posh spot that was originally a large estate dating back to the 19th century, originally called Wyndhurst. President McKinley visited it. Frederick Olmsted (of NY Central Park fame) designed the gardens. Our dinner was held in the original mansion which now houses their restaurant. It was an elegant setting (almost like eating in a private home) and the meal was excellent.

Everyone is excited about tomorrow as we will be visiting Ben & Jerry’s!

A long overdue Bucket List entry has been to travel to New England during the autumn to see the fall colors that are noted for being some of the best in the world, and articles I have read say that being there around Columbus Day (October 8) is usually peak color time. I had some deposit money on hold from a previously cancelled tour that prompted me to sign up for the 8 day Insight Vacations “New England Spectacular Fall Foliage”.

Normally we would fly in a day early to let our bodies adjust but since this is simply a jaunt to the East Coast we chose to fly in the same day. The bad news is because it is to the East Coast our flight to Boston leaves Seattle at the ungodly hour of 6:40 AM so we chose to spend the night near the airport to ease the pain of the early morning.  It will be further eased as we were upgraded to first class on our Alaska Airline flight (probably not a good idea as Yvonne might get too used to riding “up front” all the time).

Up at 4AM, delivered the car to our usual parking lot,  rode the shuttle to the airport, checked luggage and passed through security by 5AM!  We could have slept longer, but one never knows how busy the airport might be, even at this early hour.  Surprisingly there was a lot of traffic on the road-where are all these people going at 4:30 AM? The airport, however, was fairly quiet-a pleasant alternative to some of our past trips.

Our plane left on time and they fed us a nice breakfast- with real silverware, coffee cups and plates!  Flight time to Boston was about 4.5 hours and we arrived to Seattle weather- dreary skies and drizzle. Luggage arrived quickly-Alaska airlines prides itself on rapid luggage delivery. If it takes longer than 20 minutes they will give you a voucher for a future discount or additional frequent flyer miles. I do not recall ever collecting on that promise and today was no exception.

Insight Vacations provided us with a prepaid taxi voucher to take us to our hotel, something we have not experienced before and was certainly a nice touch. After checking in we met our tour director for the trip, Gary Blender, who gave us luggage and name tags and reminding us that a dinner reception was scheduled for 6PM this evening.

At dinner we learned that there were only 32 people (normally there would be 40) because of some last minute cancellations. Most are Americans and surprisingly there are no Australians or New Zealanders, which is very unusual as they are world travelers and we always seem to have some on any trip we have taken.  There are about 8 people from Great Britain. There is a large group (17) from the Tampa area who call themselves the “owls” which we soon learned stood for “older, wiser, livelier seniors”.  I like that! Gary briefed us on the upcoming trip and gave us detailed instructions for tomorrow- breakfast begins at 6:30AM, luggage available INSIDE the room (usually we have to put it in the hallway) at 7 AM and the bus leaves at 8 AM. He assures us there will be enough fall colors for us to enjoy.

So off we go on our next adventure.

 

 

Well, we finally had the opportunity to see the other parts of the country called Great Britain. London is still the charming city it was 20 years ago when we visited.  The rest of the country is equally charming, maybe more so, as you get away from the “big city”. We absolutely loved the little village of Corfe Castle, the site of the wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed Edinburgh, Bath and Stonehenge. I loved hearing about the people, places and history of the country we studied superficially when we were in high school. The pastoral countryside we drove through was calming and inviting. The little towns and villages were idyllic. The food choices and preparation has gotten much better than it was when we visited in the 1990s. The people are friendly and welcoming, even though some do have almost unintelligible accents. 

There is something reassuring about traveling in an English-speaking country where you can read the menus and, for the most part, know what the menu say (what is “swede” in that food dish?), understand street/road signs, and converse with a good chance of understanding what was being said. It was extremely nice to know we could eat the food and drink the water with no fear of health issues. Visiting Great Britain is an easy “adventure”.

Would I go back to Great Britain? Certainly, in a heartbeat. There are always new theater shows to see and I have not visited Cambridge, Oxford, the Cotswolds or the Northern part of the Scottish Highlands. Will I do so?  Time will tell…..

 

Travel quote of the day:   “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustave Flaubert