New England

Hey, I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Another part of the holiday recap here.

So, after a day in Montreal we got a bus down to the USA. We crossed the border 4 times during this trip, and going into the USA was not a good experience. Our bus was late, but then it was in the queue for the border for 2 hours before we even got off the bus to be interrogated by the officials. Anyway, I think we ended up being about 3 hours late by the time we picked up our hire car, but there was still enough time for a touristy visit.

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We could not go to Vermont without going to Ben and Jerry’s world! We did the tour (it was something like $4 each so not bad)- it was quite interesting although the factory only goes in the week, and this was a weekend, so some of it was a video instead. Then had a free sample (which was pretty big- Andy’s had an entire oreo biscuit in it!).

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On the exit of the tour they had posters for the top 10 flavours, so of course I had to have a picture by my favourite! Then we joined the queue to buy an ice cream. We shared two scoops- one hazelnut one and one peanut butter/caramel one. They were good, but we had eaten breakfast very early (7am), been on the bus for hours, and this was around 4pm, so both of us decided that we should have had a smaller size- it was a bit too sweet.

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They even have a flavour graveyard there…

Anyway, then we drove to our B&B which was just gorgeous. It was in New Hampshire (Jackson), and by the time we had driven there it was the evening. Trip Advisor to the rescue- there was a pub within walking distance (The Red Fox Bar and Grill)- they did the most amazing salad with roasted pear, nuts and goats cheese- I was sold!

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On the drive to the mountains- a lovely view across the valley but huge clouds…

The weather was more overcast the next day. We headed out to the White Mountains National Forest, but got caught in a torrential downpour (when even the wipers on the fastest speed could not clear the rain)- we did have raincoats but we would have been soaked in seconds. We went to a visitor information centre to find out about the Old Man of the Mountain (the profile of a face on the side of a cliff that collapsed in 2003- there is now a memorial there, and do not under any circumstanced make light of the situation because the locals are very cut up about it- you could get memorial t-shirts and everything…). There was a walk to view it, but it was still pouring so we headed to another section of the park for a lovely walk to a waterfall (Flume Gorge).

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We even saw a bear cave- run!

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After a couple of hours we headed back to the car, and as the rain was coming our way again headed to some outlet shops.

In the evening we went to the Red Fox again- they had a brick oven for pizzas so we shared a veggie pizza and the grilled pear salad.

The following day we had breakfast at the B&B (which was fantastic- every day they had available fresh fruit, home-made granola, little home-made pastries, juices, teas etc, and then they had a menu for their cooked items- some sort of pancakes and some sort of French toast were on offer every day. One day I had French toast with bananas and pecans and one day spiced apple pancakes. Delicious.)  Anyway, back to the trip. It was raining again (hard) so we popped to some other outlet shops- I got some bargainous Gap jeans for about £18, and some Lindt chocolates.

Then we drove to Freeport in Maine. It was a really pretty town, with some outlet shops but also some quirky places too. After a few hours wandering around (and a Starbucks “lunch”- we don’t tend to have lunch on holiday- we each had a drink and shared a piece of pumpkin bread as we were hungry) we drove out to see the lighthouse at Rockland. You had to walk along a breakwater for about a mile, and it was really misty, so pretty spooky. We kept hearing fog horns but could not see the ships!

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It was pretty, but not like the sort of lighthouse I imagined! Walking back was strange too as we could not see the mainland because of all the mist. We still had a bit of driving after that (a couple of hours) so by the time we reached the town we were starving. We saw a Friendly’s diner and so that decision was made. They did do a veggie burger, but they also did tomato soup with a grilled cheese, and I fancied the soup so went for that with a side salad.

As we finished our meal the lights flickered and huge crashes of thunder rumbled about- we had to sprint to the car and were drenched! The storm was crazy- lightning every 10 seconds or so, and such heavy rain. The sat-nav took us straight to the hotel, and luckily we could park under cover to unload the car.

The next day we woke to glorious sunshine, and luckily those were our only really rainy days. I don’t mind a bit of rain and of course we pack raincoats, but some of that rain was so heavy we would have been soaked in seconds which is never fun. And of course the views are not quite as stunning!

Do you have lunch on holiday? We tend to have breakfast and then a snack like a cereal bar or banana, and then dinner.

Does rain stop play on your holiday, or do you carry on regardless?

 

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11 thoughts on “New England”

  1. Ooo I’m envious of your Ben and Jerry trip, looks like a lot of fun and the flavour graveyard is hilarious!
    I’ve been to Freeport! I worked at a summer camp near Augusta and my friend and I went there for a shopping trip. It was slightly terrifying because she isn’t a good driver in the UK, let alone in the US on the wrong side of the road!

    1. How lovely to work there! I am always relieved that Andy doesn’t mind driving when we hire a car as I would be so nervous about getting confused about where to drive!

  2. Looks like you made the most of it despite the rain. We don’t usually have lunch when away, if we have breakfast included in the hotel then we load up there and then just snack during the day instead.

    1. Luckily there was the only rainy place we went to.
      Yes if we have breakfast in our hotel it is great as we never need lunch then, if we have to go to a cafe and get a muffin or something I am likely to be hungry a bit later.

  3. Looks like you are having an awesome time! Loving your pics! I have NEVER been to Ben and Jerrys (or even had it out of a tub!)…..looks like I need to start living a little!

    1. It is good ice cream- I don’t tend to have it at home but when on holiday it is nice to have as a treat. Plus they at least don’t use growth hormone or anything (whereas a lot of US dairy is rather suspect I think). They have the best flavours though.

  4. Ben and Jerry World!!! Wow I would have loved that. I love how different you guys are to Ben and me. We’d probably have consumed a litre each of ice cream on that trip haha. And share a slice of pumpkin cake? Noooo way would that ever happen in our marriage hehe. We always have lunch as well. I quite like doing all the meals of the day in a different country – it gives me another opportunity to find somewhere nice to try some different food (and I’m greedy!)
    We’re heading to North Wales again on Thursday and I’m praying the weather will be OK. If it rains a lot it will probably stop a lot of the things we have planned as we’re going to do lots of mountain walking and it might not be safe or very pleasant! But usually rain doesn’t stop us on holiday – we just soldier on! In Mexico the one day it rained we just stayed in the bar and read our books nice and relaxed 🙂

    1. Although it was called world, it was really more of a shop and a little tour- not like Disney or anything!
      We have had a few times on holiday where we had our own things, but the portions in America are so huge that even with my sweet tooth I felt sick by the end, so we have learnt our lesson now and share.
      We do sometimes look at lunch but being veggie means less options anyway, and looking for somewhere can take a lot of time.
      Hope the weather is OK for you in Wales.

  5. Oh wow! Ben and Jerry world?? I think I would be in there all day trying to choose a flavour. I don;t have them all of the time, but they do make a lovely treat. We always try and get out regardless when we’re on holiday. When we’re away we want to make the most of it and see it all.

  6. I would love to visit the Ben and Jerrys store! It looks like you had such an interesting trip, those aren’t the kind of places I would have thought to visit, but I bet you really see a different side to the US there than the usual big cities.

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