Kickin off Fall Foliage 2010

Well this is a first for me, blogging the day of the trip. The reason is because I am in a hotel. Don't worry, I haven't gone soft. I have an ever dwindling supply of discount tickets from Hilton so I decided I'd rather spend the same amount of money and stay in a hotel instead of a campground. I had an amazing first day. I headed out at 8am and before I even left New York I ended up on a dirt road. It turned out really well because I came across a covered bridge. After that I was on a roll and hit up 6 more covered bridges through Vermont and New Hampshire. The Henry bridge is a 127 foot town lattice truss. My next stop was really pretty. The Paper Mill Bridge went over a nice little waterfall.
Right around the corner was the Silk Road Bridge which is an 88 foot town lattice truss.
My next stop was the Molly Stark Scenic Byway but as I was driving through Bennington I come to a round about and in the middle is a massive stone tower. I couldn't even see the top from trying to crane my head around in the car. I decided it was worth a stop. I wandered over to a little gift shop to see what the heck this thing was and it turns out it marks the site of a critical military supply depot and is the tallest thing in VT at 300 feet. It only costs $2 to go to the top so I bought a ticket and rode up. The leaves were just starting to change. Vermont is the Green Mountain state and the mountains were really pretty but with the added color interspersed it was gorgeous. It was then that I fell in love with Vermont. One of my favorite movies is "Runaway Bride" and VT reminded me a lot of the setting of that movie. It's just so freakin quaint! Rolling hills, church steeples, falling leaves, farms...it's lovely.
Next along the scenic byway was the Hogback overlook where you can see VT, NH, and NY. I stopped by one more bridge in VT. It's a 80 foot long town lattice truss with a sidewalk added to it.I then crossed the border into New Hampshire. I saw a sign along the road that said gorge so I pulled off and saw it was a .7 mile trail to the Chesterfield Gorge. I thought it would be a good way to stretch my legs so I walked along. New Hampshire's motto is "Live Free or Die" so I was shocked when I saw a chain link fence and a railing along the trail. It wasn't even that deep of a "gorge". So much for that motto New Hampshire.
The covered bridges continued into NH. I had written directions to one but couldn't find the thing. I drive around Henniker but apparently my directions weren't that good and I didn't find the damn bridge. I finally gave up and drove on to the Rowell Bridge. Fun fact: A short time after it was constructed, a herd of cattle, driven faster than they should have been, moved the bridge off its abutments.My last bridge for the day was the Railroad covered bridge. This bridge is the oldest covered railroad bridge still standing in the United States. I actually waded out into a creek to get this picture. Downstream there were some kids on a rope swinging into the creek. Seriously, Vermont is like a postcard everywhere you look. What a great first day on the road and still so much more to see!!