New England Fall Foliage and More

It’s a trip I’d talked about taking for several years: touring New England to see the fall foliage. I didn’t quite realize, though, that I’d be touring six states in nine days (October 6-14), and I’d do a lot more than just look at pretty leaves.

The trip started in Boston. From there, the tour bus circled New England, going to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, back through Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and then back to Boston again. Whew! It was a whirlwind journey, and I have a hundred pictures. My husband probably has a hundred more (he took the one above).

So this post will be photo heavy. I’ve devised some categories in an attempt to organize for both you and me what I saw, ate, and learned.

What I Saw

Fall foliage, of course!

Boston Common at the beginning of the trip
Somewhere in New Hampshire, the state with the best colors at the time we went
Again in New Hampshire
Many fall foliage displays in lots of towns

It’s not fall foliage, but I can’t not post this picture. Remember the TV show Cheers? Here’s the bar in Boston which served as the opening shot in every episode.

What I Ate

Be sure to eat some lobster and chowder, I was advised. So I did.

A Maine lobster dinner
A lobster roll (bottom right) with steak fries and slaw. New England’s equivalent of our shrimp burger?

I had chowder three days in a row for lunch: Boston clam chowder, haddock chowder, and New England clam chowder. I may have overdone it a little. I don’t think I want clam chowder of any type for a while now.

New England clam chowder, my third type and final bowl for the trip

I also ate a Boston hot dog, which differed only in that beans were in the chili, and Maine blueberry pie for dessert with that lobster dinner pictured above. Maine is a big blueberry state and the pie was good, but not any better than the blueberry pie I enjoy here in eastern North Carolina.

What I Learned

From history to architecture to art, I picked up some new information in New England.

For example, I learned that Newport, Rhode Island, is home to the oldest synagogue in America as well as the site of the Catholic church where Jackie and John Kennedy were married in 1953.

Touro Synagogue, built in 1763
St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, where Jackie Bouvier and John Kennedy tied the knot

Newport is also home to the summer “cottages” of the rich and famous of the Gilded Age, a time beginning in the late 1800s before federal income taxes and ending with the stock market crash of 1929. The Vanderbilts, for example, had loads of money to lavish on their summer home, the Breakers.

Not my idea of a beach cottage but then I’m no Vanderbilt

Did you know whaling was once big business in New England? I toured an old whale ship in a place called Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, a re-created maritime village.

The Charles W. Morgan, the last remaining wooden whale ship in the world

I love this picture taken by my husband of a lighthouse in Maine.

Somewhere in Maine on our way to Acadia National Park

A visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was a highlight of the trip. Rockwell’s often humorous illustrations of American life graced the covers of 323 Saturday Evening Posts.

One of my favorites

There’s so much more I could share about this trip: quaint covered bridges, the many historical sites of Boston, the rocky New England coastline, the small New England towns. But I’ll stop here with a final picture. A good trip is even more fun when shared with friends.

Once upon a time in a cafe by the water in a small New England town
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1 Response to New England Fall Foliage and More

  1. I love those autumn colours! Absolutely stunning. Some interesting history, and I share your views on the beach cottage! It sounds as if you had a really interesting trip.

    Like

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