Melanie and I have been traveling around New England most of September and October. Watching Fall happen, experiencing the changes in temperature and foliage. Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire have provided the highlights this pass through.

This past week found us leaving the Maine coast and Acadia National Park and moving back into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When we last were through the Whites in September, Fall had really just begun with some color, but mostly in the higher elevations.

This time around Fall was in full glory. She was a sight to behold. The Kancamagus Highway (Kan-kuh-MOG-us), or The Kanc, is an amazing drive when the leaves are changing.

Not counting earlier in September of this year, we were last through the area about 7 years ago. Melanie had a deposition in Manchester so we extended our stay and after work was done, we drove up and did a loop drive through the Whites which included The Kanc. We were fortunate both times to catch the leaves at their peak. 

The photos below represent two passes along the 34 mile stretch from Lincoln to Conway, then Conway back to Lincoln. On the first pass traveling towards Conway, we stopped and I shot photographs. After lunch in North Conway, I did what I'll call point and shoot (set the camera, point and shoot) from behind the wheel. I was pretty skeptical of the results, but for snaps shot from the hip so to speak, they're turned out pretty good.  Enjoy. 

Put The Kanc on your list.

Acadia National Park

Dry camping, Carriage trails, North East Harbor, Seal Harbor, Bar Harbor, The Bubbles, rocky shoreline, turkeys, harbor seals, cormorants, fall foliage, lobsta rolls, horse drawn carriages, yankees, deer, electric assist bicycles, Cadillac Mountain, small snakes, starry, starry skies, quarter fed showers, wild flowers, a true gem.

Good evening from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. We're here over night before traveling towards the White Mountains and the Kancamagus Highway and, hopefully, a bit more leaf peeping activity.

We arrived here from Killington, Vermont where this Sunday past Melanie was the special guest of Church of Our Saviour which sits along the Ottauquechee River. Rev Lee Alison Crawford and her wife, Anne Brown, welcomed us and we left with treats from their on-sight bakery and their apple trees.

We were in Killington for three days, staying in our second Vermont State Park, Gifford Woods.  The Fall weather has been glorious. Highs in the 70's low's in the 40's and 50's and the foliage just keeps getting richer by the minute. This morning when we awoke it was 37 degrees at our campsite. 

The Appalachian Trail runs through Gifford Woods and on Saturday past, Melanie and I hiked south on the AT to Deer Leap Trail and Deer Leap Rock overlook. The weather and overlook were spectacular. We got back to Miranda in time for kickoff. 😎

Winhall Brook Campground is another in a growing list of great Army Corp of Engineers campground at which we've camped.  The campground is divided by the Winhall River and is designated North Campground and South Campground (photos below are of the South Campground). 

While not often the case, the dry camping spots in the South Campground at Winhall Brook are significantly better laid out than the small electric/water loop. If you can camp for a few days without power and water, you may consider some of the sites along the Winhall River.

One of the things I often look for is easy access to biking both for scenic exercise and as a way to retrieve groceries. Winhall Brook is close to several small towns which are an easy bike ride away via the nearby roadways. There's also the West River Trail which runs directly out of the north campground and goes 16 miles along the West River into South Londonderry, Jamaica and Townshend. 

As with every ACOE campground, the grounds are well-maintained, the bathhouses clean, in this case, a bit dated, and staff friendly and helpful. 

Molly Stark State Park, just outside of Wilmington, Vermont, was our first Vermont State Park.  At only 148 acres, it is smallish. What I'd call a pocket park. But what it lacks in acreage, it makes up for in quality of sites and amenities. 

Molly Stark has 23 tent/RV sites and 11 lean-to sites. Sites are all dry camping, no electric, no water, no sewer. The sites are all nicely spaced and carved out of the forest with attention to privacy. There's also a relatively new (2 years old) bath house with 4 showers, a place to get fresh water and a convenient dump station for RV's.

One of the best parts of the park is the Mount Olga hiking loop trial with a spur trail leading up to a fire tower that gives one who climbs it a spectacular 360 view of the surrounding area. When we're back through Vermont, this park will definitely be on our list of places to park Miranda. 

It's on the cusp of being seriously Fall here in Maine. On our way from Essex Junction, Vermont we happened on a great little campground outside of Wiscasset, Maine. Chewonki Campground.

Run by two sisters and their two daughters, Chewonki has been in existence since 1961. These women do an outstanding job of keeping the grounds kept and the pool and bathhouse spotless. And they're personable too. 😎

While the price for full hook up (in season) is a bit more than we normally pay, that's not a complaint. The set and setting is worth the price of admission. Note that we are here within days of their off season and within about a month of the closure of the campground for the year.  I'm guessing that during high season the campground is full and doesn't have the feel it does now when we are one of about 5 campers in the campground.

After spending a few great days in Essex Junction and Burlington, Vermont, we traveled towards the Maine coast through New Hampshire. I happened on a great place to stay for an evening through Harvest Hosts. Mount Washington Cog Railway. 

The Cog Railway allows you to park in their RV lot overnight at no cost. It's a very quiet parking lot with a spectacular view of the White Mountains and Mount Washington.  As a bonus, since neither of us had done it before, we took the cog train to the top and spent an hour on Mount Washington. 

The last time I was up on Mount Washington, I hiked down to Lake of the Clouds hut and back on a beautiful fall afternoon. Weather can change fast and is constantly changing on Mount Washington. The weather was very cool and windy this time around but, as always, the views are great even if we were a little socked in with cloud cover.

Rode the Island Line Rail Trail out of Burlington, Vermont this morning. Nice. Real nice.

Melanie and I spent a nice couple of days camping along the Ashuelot River at the Ashuelot River Campground. Our site was relatively private (many of the sites nicely spaced out) and set in the pines on the back side of the campground.

The campground is located very close to the Ashuelot Recreational Rail Trail which provides a great bicycle ride of about six miles into Keene, New Hampshire. 

Melanie and I spent the day in New York City yesterday and started our day with a walk along The High Line.  Arriving by train at Penn Station from Summit, New Jersey where we are staying with a friend, we took a brief half mile walk, climbed the stairs at (roughly) 10 Avenue and 28th Street. The High Line ends at Whitney Museum of Art (closed, unfortunately, on Tuesdays) on Gansevoort Street.