Road Trips to Northern New Hampshire and Vermont

Jeff has been on the road checking for fall foliage, so last week and this week we hit the road. Last week we went to Northern New Hampshire and back again in one day. Phew, long day! If you want updates on how the foliage is doing, you can find that at Jeff’s blog, all things fall foliage, all the time.

A trip to northern New Hampshire isn’t complete without a stop at Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. Breakfast or lunch can’t be beaten. We took a ride over the Kancamagus Highway and returned home. But before that, we left Polly’s and drove into the Northeast Kingdom.

On our first day, we hurried over to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, checking out Long Pond in Westmore, Vermont, and taking some backcountry dirt roads, coming across some amazing mountain views.

When we went foliage was just getting started so we vowed to return the next week. This time we decided to spend the night and make it a two-day trip. but because it was 20/21 September there weren’t many fall colors seen. Here is a comparison of Bald Hill Pond on 20 Sept in 2017 (a very slow year) and 5 October 2021.

Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont

I’ve been trying to get Jeff over to the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont for years now, so we finally made time for that. The Fairbanks family pretty much built St. Johnsbury and one of them was a collector of stuffed animals (as in taxidermy). It was a thing in the Victorian times and the prominent exhibit there, so if you don’t like dead things, probably not the place for you.

Museum of Natural History-St Johnsbury — Fairbanks Natural History Museum

However, there are some animals in the exhibit that don’t exist any longer, so it is a chance to view them. And where else will you be able to examine the differences between a brown bear, a black bear, and a polar bear up close? And a full-size bison so lifelike you think he’s going to turn his head any second?

Unfortunately, they moved the Fairbanks scales to another facility. Jeff was interested in learning more about the scales as they have one at the Salem Maritime Historic Site. We’ll have to make another trip to St. Johnsbury for that.

We traveled back over the Kanc and the foliage was nice around Mt. Washington, but it still has a way to go. Where will we travel next week? And what will we find? Ask Jeff, Maybe he knows…

Lisa Folger
Pewter and Periwinkles my Art blog

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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