Last day

Well this is the last day of my week long Fall Foliage 2010 trek across New England so enjoy. This was my first road trip where I spent more time in hotels than camping. I started worrying about paying for hotels but then I realized that, for the first time ever, I have paid vacation time. So basically I’m being paid to stay in a hotel. Oddly enough, I sleep better and feel more comfortable in my tent and would much rather be outdoors (except when a hurricane is dumping massive amounts of rain obviously).

Last night I had crossed the Quechee Gorge on my way into the campground (and driven along it too apparently thanks to Jack’s poor directions to the campground) but because it was dusk I didn’t really see anything. I parked and found a trail running along the gorge to a dam so I meandered on down. On the way back to the bridge I saw a balloon floating through the trees. Ballooning would be an awesome way to see the foliage. Even better would be “road tripping” by balloon. Think about it; throw a backpack and a tent into a balloon, float miles across the sky taking in the view, and then land in a field somewhere at night and camp out. Brilliant!

I hiked down the other side of the gorge. The trail said to the bottom of the gorge but really it just went downhill to where the gorge petered out into a stream. Oh well. I took a few pictures from the bridge over the gorge and headed out to find more covered bridges. About 4 miles west of Quechee is the Taftsville covered bridge. Many of these bridges are still in use so there’s no place to park and take pictures (as foolish leaf peepers such as myself tend to do). I had pulled over and gotten out and was taking pictures when I heard someone honking at me. I turned around, saw neither myself nor my car was in the way, and then saw some guying waving me over to his car. I thought maybe he wanted directions (for some reason people always ask me for directions-I must look like a local everywhere I go). When I walked over to the car I saw it was the same gentleman who was in the pizza place last night! I’m a freakin local after 12 hours! He kindly offered to take a picture of me in front of the bridge. How nice is that!?

I drove over into Woodstock and walked around the Marsh Billings Rockefeller Historic Site (the only NPS site in Vermont). The mansion was gorgeous but it was only available by tour starting at 10am and it was 8 am and I had a long way to go to get home so I just snuck around and took pictures. I took a great picture at the farm museum that truly encapsulates all that is Vermont; cows grazing in a pasture with a backdrop of fall foliage. If there was a covered bridge in the pasture covered in maple syrup it would be perfect. I stopped at two more covered bridges on my way out of Woodstock. I finally posted photos of this last day on Facebook a few days ago and Jess made a comment that said “ I bet you were sick of these freakin bridges by the end of your trip”. So true! I mean they’re pretty and quaint but after seeing 20 of them, they lose their luster.

That’s my style though. I exhaust one category of things (i.e. firetowers, covered bridges, hot springs, mountain passes, scenic byways etc.) and then I’m done with them the rest of my life. I like to come back from my trips and feel that I’ve conquered something. I would have been a great Viking.

After overdosing on covered bridges I was ready to head back into New York but I wanted to see some more “mountainy” foliage since the day had dawned bright and sunny. I decided to drive back through the Adirondacks to extend my trip since I’ve never been to the ADK’s in the fall and I’ve heard it’s gorgeous.

I went old school on this trip, foregoing Jack a lot of the time (sorry friend) so I consulted my AAA map and saw that I could cross over into Fort Ticonderoga from Vermont. I was driving along in some very rural country when I saw a sign that said Ferry to New York. That’s strange I thought. So I turn on Jack and he says “In 4 miles board ferry”. What!? Apparently I didn’t see the ferry designation on the map. Next thing I know I round a bend and there was a stop sign a few feet from Lake Champlain. There was a shack with a sign posted that said the ferry runs all day and costs $9. It was the cutest damn thing. After waiting a few minutes it pulled up to the dock, I drove on and in 5 minutes I was across. I did take the opportunity to walk around the deck and take some nice pictures of the shimmering sun on the water while we were in transit. It was my cars first ferry trip and I think Gray Rock enjoyed it.

I drove into Fort Ticonderoga but it was expensive and looked exactly like Castillo de San Marcos in Florida so I walked the perimeter, took a few shots and left (just like in the days of yore!). I’d never been that far east in the ADK’s and it was quite pleasant. There weren’t many people out and I rode along with the windows down. I stopped at a few lakes to stretch and take some pictures. Despite all the incidents I’ve had in the Adirondacks I really love those mountains. It’s probably because they almost feel like Colorado to me and I’ve really been missing the West lately. I miss having the mountains at my doorstep to escape too.

By the time I got to Utica to get on the Thruway I was starving. I got gas but decided to just grab something to eat on the Thruway. Well if you don’t know the Thruway only has rest stations every 20-30 miles and with my luck the first one I came to only had a Starbucks. I typed food into Jack and he recommended I exit and drive 10 miles. Damn it Jack. Finally I found a McDonalds right off the Thruway and got some food.

Overall I really loved this trip. Despite the rain, the weather was warm, the leaves were gorgeous and the views were spectacular. I even got home on a Saturday to give myself a day to unpack, do laundry, and relax before going back to work. That’s the first time I’ve done something like that and it was much easier to transition back that way. It’s been a month since I’ve returned and I’ve been dragging out these blog posts so as not to overload people with the trip. Plus I have nothing else on the horizon for a while so I need to make my life look interesting. I might do a PA road trip over Thanksgiving but I’m running out of my hotel coupons so we’ll see. Next year though is the “Battlefields, Blossoms, and the Birthplace of America” road trip. It’s so ambitious I have Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and a 7 page Word itinerary. Oh and Jess will be making commemorative t-shirts. We’ll be going to Philadelphia, Washington DC (during the Cherry Blossom Festival) and Gettysburg. Epic!

Saint Gaudens and Quechee

Driving through New Hampshire I passed by this really cute covered bridge. Inside was a Shoppe! It was so cute and it smelled amazing. I drove on to New Hampshire's sole National Park site, Saint Gaudens passing one more covered bridge along the way. I had the address plugged into Jack and saw a sign for the site so I figured I was on my way. Then Jack told me to turn. So I did and ended up on one lane gravel roads! I passed gorgeous farms that personified New England in the fall: stone fences, cows grazing, dappled sunshine through the brilliant foliage, etc. So I couldn't be too mad at him. I rumbled into the parking lot and it was after 5pm so it was closed. I grabbed a brochure and took a few pictures to prove I was there. Augustus Saint-Gaudens is one of America’s greatest sculptors-allegedly.The mansion was covered in scaffolding so there wasn’t much to see. When I left there I went .2 miles down a gravel road and hit the highway that I had originally been driving down. Thanks Jack!

I drove out of New Hampshire and into Vermont. I passed by another cute little bridge. I love the sign above.One of my coworkers lived in Quechee and blew glass at the Simon Pearce studio and suggested I stop by. I was still in my yellow slicker and flip flops with my mud covered jeans and crazy hair when I walked in and I quickly went into the basement because I thought management was going to throw me out for my heinous appearance. The studio had a restaurant in it and there was glass everywhere and I did not feel comfortable. In the basement there was a glass blowing studio and a hydro electric room. I walked outside to see the waterfall that powered the place and it was insane! The hurricane had raised this river as well and I was actually scared to stand next to the thing because it was so powerful. It was like Niagara! There was also a cute little covered bridge. I was exhausted and desperately wanted to be out of my wet clothes so I went searching for my campsite. I considered staying in a motel again but everything was booked because it was a fall foliage weekend. Jack got me lost on the way to the campground. Every time this trip he’s been a few miles off. He needs updating I think. I called the campground and they directed me in. on the way I saw a pizza joint and because the sun was setting and I was miserable and hungry I stopped to get something to eat. By the time I arrived it was almost dark so I threw up my tent in record time by the light of my headlights. I dove in and scarfed down my meal. Except for a lone olive that I thought was a crouton (damn eating in the dark), it was delicious. I got into dry clothes and set off to find the bathroom. They are always centrally located in campgrounds but because it was off season there was only one apparently. After bushwhacking behind my campsite I couldn’t find the damn thing so I figured I’d look for light since bathrooms are always well lit. I stumbled into a few motor homes before I realized that’s probably not a good indicator. I finally located it in another loop and then had quite the time figuring out how to get back. I finally found my tent and settled in-warm and dry.

Flume Gorge

Franconia Notch State Park was weird because you get on Interstate 95 and then the exits are the different scenic areas of the park. The first exit was the Flume Gorge. It costs $13 to get there but since I saw Grandma and Grandpa Burns had been there I figured I would go. I had on a yellow rain jacket, flip flops, and a t-shirt and jeans because it was muggy with the rain. I opted to take the bus up to the Flume since I didn’t want to hike 3 miles in my flippy floppies in the rain. Sitting on the bus I hear men shouting on the radio about the treacherous conditions in the Flume and they are advising someone to stop selling tickets so they can clear people out. With that playing loudly the bus driver pulls up to the trail, opens the door and says "have a good day". What!? The Flume is a natural granite gorge that has stairs built into it so you can walk up it. Photos and video show a trickling stream where families walk along and enjoy the bubbling brook. This is what I saw:

Because of the rain the water had risen 4 FEET and was lapping at the wooden supports. The wood was slippery as hell. I went along until I saw a guy blocking the trail. He didn’t stop me, just warned me to be careful up ahead. Further up someone stops me and tells me to put away my camera because of the waterfall (Avalanche Falls). I zipped up my pocket, grabbed both sides of the rail and carefully stepped up the ramp that passed the waterfall. The water was so powerful that the falls were coming over the walkway and I blindly dashed through what felt like a car wash. When I emerged breathlessly on the other side every single part of me was drenched. It was exhilarating. Instead of going back down (yeah right) I decided to hike the scenic mile through the forest back to the bus stop. I passed the Liberty Gorge and went on to the Sentinel Pine Bridge. The bridge is so called because a hurricane blew down a pine and settlers used it to construct a bridge. It was really pretty and a nice respite from the rain. I hiked back past glacial boulders and crossed another covered bridge that the bus had driven over earlier (the Flume bridge). I was pretty exhilarated at my insane trek so I drove another couple miles to the Basin- granite pothole 20 feet in diameter. This is what its supposed to look like

And this is what I saw:

WTF!? The entire viewing platform was washed out!! Water was gushing everywhere. I crossed one bridge with some water across it and stopped when I saw the sign almost submerged. If you leapt across the water and swung around a tree you could proceed further but even I’m not that crazy. I could just picture me being across the bridge when it got washed out and being stuck in soaking wet clothes. I quickly went back across the bridge and fled. Even the trail was a sopping mess. I made one more quick stop at Boise Rock. Here’s the story of it: “Thomas Boise, a noted teamster of this region was sledding through the Notch in mid-winter, soon after the first road was built. Overtaken by a fierce snowstorm, he was unable to continue on. Realizing he must take drastic action to survive, he killed and skinned his horse. Crawling under the overhang of this rock, he wrapped himself in the hide and spent the night.

Men sent out the next day to search for him found Tom still alive but encased in the frozen hide that had to be cut away with axes in order to release him.” I was pretty sure the park was going to kill me if I hung around too long so I left and headed back to Conway via the White Mountain Scenic Byway. This passed by Crawford Notch State Park. The mountains were gorgeous had exposed rock faces and I could see water cascading down them. There was one really cool waterfall-the Silver Cascades along the roadside. I drove through the rest of the park but it was raining too hard to do much.