New England Fall Foliage Trip Day Eight: East to New Hampshire
The bookshop beneath our apartment beckoned us this morning before we headed out from Waterbury.
Our visit was short and sweet, and Waterbury was a perfect location for a little bit of sight-seeing coupled with some needed R&R.
We departed on the scenic Vermont Route 100 and had a blast taking our time and stopping at interesting spots along the way.
Exhibit A: Cold Hollow Cider Mill. The place was teeming with visitors and a sign announced “legendary cider donuts,” so we figured that qualified it as a must-stop.
Indeed, not only were the cider donuts melt-in-your-mouth delicious, they also had a vat of fresh-pressed apple cider that we sampled. Best. Cider. Ever.
On the road again, we made it a few more miles before a bookstore on the side of the road in Stowe called my name. Bear Pond Books. It’s so fun to see and visit all these fabulous little independent bookshops as we travel! Each one is unique and offers interesting perusing.
At the River we cross from Vermont into New Hampshire, and within minutes we had already traversed 2/3 of the state! We arrived at Mt. Madison Inn & Suites in Gorham, New Hampshire, our lodging for the night, at 2:30, quickly off-loaded our bags, and made the 15-minute drive to the Mt. Washington Auto Road.
Some of the signage on-site and a few comments I read online caused us to hesitate when determining whether to drive our rental car to the summit of Mt. Washington on the Auto Road or not. The warnings made it sound like the road was high risk and we should travel it at our own risk. But when comparing the [still outrageous] cost of $85 for the four of us to go that route with all the alternatives late in the day that were upwards of $200, we decided to give it a try.
Turns out all of those sentiments were a bit over-hyped, in our opinion. The road was smooth and easy to drive, sufficiently wide enough for two cars to pass, and a seamless 8-mile ascent to the top.
360 degree views stretching for 92 miles were our reward at the summit. The weather in this place that is known to have “the worst weather in the world” and has clocked the fastest wind speed at 231 mph couldn’t have been better today – sunny and no wind.
Claire and I perched on a boulder and reflected on the magnitude of the creation surrounding us. How incredible to realize that the God who created all this and so much more also sees and cares for each individual person that seems smaller than a speck in comparison!
Julian spent time tracing the perimeter of the area at the top of the mountain, making sure he got pictures from every side and angle. It sure is great to have a photographer-husband as a travel companion [or else these posts would be really boring]!
The road back down and its turnouts where we were encouraged to give our brakes a break provided ample opportunity for more snapshots of the brilliant fall foliage.
By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain we were all ready to eat dinner, which proved to be more difficult to accomplish than expected. Our first choice was in a hotel and due to busyness was only serving hotel guests in the restaurant. Our second choice was also extremely busy and quoted a wait time of 30-35 minutes. Our third choice (which appeared to be the only remaining restaurant open in Gorham tonight) was Road Hawg BBQ.
The service and food were both mediocre, but we were grateful for the sustenance. We were also grateful for a hot tub awaiting us at the inn, where we spent the remainder of the evening soaking and visiting with some fellow guests. A relaxing finish to a day on the road.
