Following our hectic few days in New York, USA Trip Part 1, on Friday we picked up our hire car and set off for New England, while Pete and Jess picked up another and set off for Rhode Island to start their trip. We planned this part of the trip with the help of our trust Lonely Planet guide, and using Google maps to plot the track and work out mileage and time for each journey.
It didn’t take us long to reach the forests in their wonderful Autumn colours,
and we enjoyed a few hours travelling through the incredible scenery along Route 100 until we reached our Airbnb in Wilmington, VT.
The apartment is above Ratu’s Liquor Store, a wonderful store with every kind of liquor. Part of the rental was a free growler, which Kirsty grabbed as they had an alcohol free beer, but Jason acquired some cans too, and we bought more still. Well, its a long trip..
The apartment backs onto the Deerfield River, with lovely views.
As it was still early afternoon, we wandered into Wilmington for a nosey, and loved the town.
It is full of quirky little shops and eateries, and pretty buildings and river views.
Ian found himself the second hand bookshop, which extended out into a yurt, full of books, cd’s, even 8 track tapes, while I found the Norton House Quilting Store and the 1836 Country Store, both full of gorgeous stuff begging me to buy them.
We dined in Jezebel’s Eatery, a lovely cosy restaurant, where we enjoyed some Mac’n’cheese, before retiring to test the beers.
Saturday morning, we first stopped at the aptly named ‘100 Mile View’, where a walkway along the side of the Hogsback Mountain provides distant views, looking their best at this time of year.
As you can see, the weather was endless blue skies all day.
and a wonderful gift shop full of maple syrup, moose souvenirs, and anything else you should want to remember your trip here.
Still full from last nights dinner, we bought picnic supplies and set off up route 100 on the look out for a lunch stop.
And found the best! The end of Lake Penelope, a picture postcard place to stop.
Next we called in at Killerton for supplies, and the gentleman in the Visitor Centre told us to take the road opposite for a couple of miles, where we would see snow and fall colours together. We stopped at Mad Hatter’s ice cream cabin, where we found great photo opportunities, and saw the snow at the top of the ski resort in the distance.
After many more beautiful miles, and interesting buildings
we arrived in New Hampshire, and reached our next destination, Bethlehem.
Our Airbnb here was a little out of town (or we were feeling lazy) so we drove into town looking for somewhere to eat, but it seems the whole of Bethlehem eats out at 18:00 on a Saturday, so we gave up and bought dinner from the supermarket.
It was only later we realised the irony of this, there was no room in the inn for my pregnant daughter, in Bethlehem! Only that story didn’t end with frozen pizza, beer and TV.
Sunday we set off for Surry, stopping at Walmart, Jason wanted to see if they had a gun store, just out of curiosity. They didn’t, so we just stocked up on food.
Miles and miles of scenery passed by.
The cog railway for Mt Washington.
Then we called in at Belfast, a coastal town with some nice shops, for a leg stretch.
We found a great children’s shop where we bought baby stuff and a 2000 piece jigsaw just made for me!
We eventually reached our cabin, set right on the shore of Toddy Pond.
We had bought marshmallows, with the plan of lighting the fire pit, but by then it was getting cold and dreary, so instead we got the fire inside going, and cosied up in the blankets for a relaxing evening.
With showers forecast, we drove into Bar Harbor, a pretty harbour town, but now overrun with souvenir shops selling Bar Harbor t-shirts and hoodies.
I finally got my lobster roll!
The weather was drizzly so we decided to drive around Arcadia Park, rather than go for a walk, and then went back to the cabin for cards, food and TV.
Next morning was still and bright, after heavy rain all night, so more photos of this gorgeous spot. I thought I spotted a Loon, but it might have been a cormorant instead, but we did see chipmunks.
I will leave you as we set off down the Maine Coast to Portland, back soon..
Shardlows Highs 
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