Hello, I’ve missed my blog, (life is busy) but I’m going to get better at sharing more often!

Our fall trip to New England was absolutely amazing – it far exceeded my expectations and that doesn’t happen very often!  We flew to Boston using our Southwest Airlines companion pass, costing about $44 round trip; the companion pass is one of the best deals around!

Most of our hotels were booked with points, except for Bar Harbor. They were all OK, nothing outstanding. 

We immediately picked up our rental car and left for Maine. In less than a week, we drove 1,234 miles in 35 hours of driving time, and my sweet hubby did it all while I “oohed” and “aahed” over the leaves and asked him to stop every few miles feet to take photos!    

We feel like we hit the height of the leaf peeping, arriving Columbus Day weekend.  I did lots of research and used a friend’s itinerary to maximize our leaf viewing.  Our route was up Maine, hitting the coast at Camden and following the coastal road to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Here’s some pictures…

After spending a couple of days, we hit the road for New Hampshire, driving across Maine, with lots of stops!  My hubby was born in Maine, and we were driving right by the capitol, so we made a quick stop. We did the “Kanc.” which is NH route 112, a 56 mile-long east–west state highway in northern New Hampshire. The highway winds across the state, connecting Bath to Conway through the heart of the scenic and mountainous White Mountain National Forest.  It was spectacular and my very favorite; I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

It was then on to Vermont, where we stayed near Ascutney Mountain.

On the way back to Boston, we visited Shelburne Falls, MA and Starrett Tool Factory and museum in Athol, MA.  My husband got to visit old tool stores, tool museums, Ben’s Mill in Barnet, Vermont (opened just for us), and the American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT.  Some of these were planned and some were happenstance, but it made the trip so much more interesting, especially for him!  (;

I can’t say enough about the leaves – the trees were simply beautiful.  I remember staring at a tree that had more than twenty shades of color from green to red to yellow. We have lovely autumns where I live also, but the trees in NE are just everywhere with colors that look unbelievable, almost fake!  It was Mother Nature at her finest!  

Next up, my summer trip to the South Pacific, Thailand, and a Turkish gulet cruise.