Author: simon

After that amazing start to the day, we went to explore the Maine coast north of us. The weather seems to alternate by the day at the moment, so wall-to-wall sunshine, albeit a bit of an October chill.

Camden (including breakfast):

Camden State Park:

Similar to what we found last year, the parks are amazingly accessible – park and walk about 30 yards to get these views!

Then a short walk (actually it’s nearly a mile) to the lighthouse:

And had mentioned pumpkins before. If you look carefully you can make out the “buy 2, get 1 free” sign.

An Early Morning Feast

We had noted we hadn’t seen a sunrise, but this was the view from the terrace:

Then a walk by the nearby lake:

And all will become clear. Forecast for the middle of the day wasn’t great so we had an early walk. As well as the view from our terrace, this house is beautifully situated right next to some woods by the estuary, so made sense to enjoy them early.

Then a plan to go sightseeing along the coast, but stymied by:

1. Everything closing for the season, including Shaw’s lobster shack in New Harbor and the Seagull Cafe on the coast; and

2. The rain – which Maine is well known for.

Lighthouse in the rain:

Quick stop in Damariscotta (which at least was open). One thing about the US at this time of year is the pumpkins – they’re everywhere. This is one of the more tasteful displays:

Then to the sandwich, which was dinner.

World famous lobster shack in Wiscasset – visited by Lionel Ritchie and Paul Newman to name 2. Note the queue on a damp and cold Saturday afternoon for a lobster roll. $25 each, so the most expensive sandwich we’ve ever had, but one was ample for dinner for two – 1 – 1 1/2 lobsters in each one, and absolutely fantastic.

Final “arty” shot:

Haven’t come across a single Trump supporter – and many are vehemently anti. Perhaps not surprising when Vermont is Bernie. Sanders territory. Anyway, we liked this card:

A long(ish) drive today – about 3 hours – crossing the State line between New Hampshire and Maine. Stunning scenery under most circumstances, but pretty dull compared to what we’ve been used to.

Stopped for coffee in a tiny village – allegedly Maine’s prettiest – called Wiscasset. And would you believe it but we got chatting to the cafe owner’s mum who lived just round the corner from us in Golders Green in 1994. It’s a small world.

View from the house (in Boothbay):

And a beautiful walk in the woods just around the corner:

Then headed into Boothbay for a wander. It is clearly very popular in summer, but as Autumn comes and the evenings are getting decidedly chilly, everywhere is on the verge of closing down at the end of the season.

It had occurred to us that so far, we have been totally sunsetless (and sunriseless as well). Managed to put that right this evening:

Obviously the view being improved by a cocktail or two.

Its a Cosmopolitan by the way. Some dispute about the measures, but looked to me like 8 parts vodka, 2 parts cointreau and a splash of cranberry juice. And probably the bargain of the whole holiday at £3.50!

Then the obligatory clam chowder and lobster tail dinner.

Think leaves, think rain, put them together and here you go.

So it was a day for catching up on stuff and not doing much. So some random thoughts in no particular order:

Americans are relentlessly upbeat, and really do mean it when saying have a good day. Very tiring to a grumpy old Brit.

Gas is ridiculously cheap – always costs less than £20 to fill up.

Every house’s lawn is vivid green and incredibly manicured. Lawn mowing must be big business!

New England seems very liberal (in a civilised European way), and very environmentally conscious (apart from gas prices).

Food (apart from last night) is pretty grim. Bring on the Maine lobsters.

Speaking of which, Maine tomorrow.

I think today will end up being the most spectacular of the whole trip. Foliage fully in colour, beautiful day, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire are more spectacular than Vermont. Oh, and it is forecast to pour with rain for most of tomorrow and then get significantly colder by the weekend. So here goes – the place names are just to remind us where we were – everyone else should simply enjoy the colours and the scenery.

Cannon

Basin

Kancamagus Highway

Other

And finished with probably the best meal out we’ve ever had in the US – in Bethlehem!

Yesterday it was 9(48) degrees and cloudy. Today it was 28(82) and sunny – indeed on occasions it got too hot but who’s complaining!

Smugglers’ Notch

Potash from Canada was the first illicit trade if you’re interested.

Waterbury (near Stowe)

Had a walk and stopped for lunch – view in front:

View behind:

White Mountains

Then to our next stop in New Hampshire and the White Mountains. View from our deck:

And a couple of random pics nearby:

Still waiting …. drove over to Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe. Very similar to yesterday – peak foliage but cold and damp. So here is a brief selection, with a lot of promise for tomorrow.

And St Albans Bay.

Not a heading I ever thought I would write, but we now understand the components of New England in the Fall.

1. Foliage. See later, but we saw something resembling “peak foliage” today.

2. Weather. See later, but it became clear that autumnal sun and blue skies are important.

There are then the further components required to be able to share the experience, being a decent camera (which we don’t have) and someone reasonably competent operating it (make up your own mind here).

That is probably a giveaway to today.

We learned in passing that northern Vermont is really geared to winter sports – especially cross country snowmobiling, and leaf peeping seems to be a little aside at this time of year. Hence the mist above – we’re up in the Green Mountains.

Came down a bit and stopped for a couple of walks:

And didn’t see a sunset.

Early morning walk. Found a friend who wasn’t quite as fierce as a mountain lion!

Then a longish drive north. Not especially far, but although the roads are good the speed limits are absurdly low – 45mph on a long straight single carriageway is not unusual. Anyway, got to Burlington which describes itself as a city. It is the largest in Vermont but that’s not saying much.

After the colours of yesterday, here is the black/white/grey of today.

Bit of a mooch around town:

before heading further north to St Albans (really). We’re only about 60 miles from Montreal now.

House and a friend:

and a walk by the lake:

So all a bit humdrum today. Bob (the owner) has told us though that it’s peak foliage about half an hour east of here, so with a bit of sun forecast hopes are high!