NE States Road Trip part 4......Day 4 New Hampshire

A few notes before I start this post. One thing I loved, was that the days didn't fly by. I felt like we savored every moment of the trip and used every minute of daylight and once we were in the hotel for the evening, usually by 6:30/7:00 (because there's really no "night life" in super small towns) we just relaxed. I read, went through photos on my phone and camera, deleting ones that I didn't want or didn't turn out. Then I uploaded to Facebook and instagram before going to bed. We watched movies or TV shows. 

Also noteworthy is that these states are so small that you can literally go end to end, state to state and back again in a day.  For example, north to south Vermont is only about 157 miles and East to west it is about 90 miles towards the Canadian border and more like 41 near the Massachusetts border. Lol. A few times we were in New Hampshire, then we were in Vermont then back in New Hampshire. Sometimes I wasn't sure where we were. This did make it easy to see a lot in a little time.

Because we took a lot of back roads we were mostly going through small towns, and it was actually a culture shock of sorts the first time we saw a fast food restaurant or larger grocery store after so many days. It was kind of awesome. We had fun pretending what it would be like to move to places like these. When we hit the bigger cities, I found myself saying, "no, take me back to where we were". I was loving the small town feels, even the "bigger" small towns. 

We thought it was funny how there were churches so close to each other. I was also very annoyed by all the cables and wires. Ha! They really got in the way of the "old feel" of things.

Back to the trip....

The morning of day 4, October 11th, we woke up, got ready and decided to walk to a local coffee shop I found, White Mountain Cafe and Bookstore.  The building was really old and in need of some sprucing up on the outside, but the inside was so cute. We ordered drinks and breakfast sandwiches. The baristas were nice and helpful. I browsed the bookstore while I waited for our drinks and sandwiches. I would have bought a book but I knew I wouldn't have much time to read. Turns out this little place was for sale. Kevin decided it would be fun to inquire more...and again, we had fun dreaming about what it would be like if we could buy it, move and do something different...it would be fun. I've always thought it would be fun to have a bookstore and coffee shop. But it's on the other side of the USA, our family is on this side, and we're not quite at a place to do it. However, it was fun thinking about it. Anyways...our sandwiches were really good, as was my coffee, which I can't remember what I got. I think I simply got a caramel white mocha and an egg sandwich on a bagel. I honestly don't remember.

The trees in the cemetery during our walk were beautiful. We didn't wander into any of them, but that would've been interesting. 

From this location, our plan was to get to the Kancamangus Highway which is a popular scenic route for seeing the fall colors. It runs 34.5 miles (east/west), and you better have a gassed up vehicle and a physical map because there are no gas stations, stores, or cell service (at least we didn't have any), and not much of anything else for that matter for those 34 miles. From our location, we took NH-16 to Bear Notch Road and then on to the Kanc Hwy. It was such a beautiful drive. Bear Notch Road closes in the winter. The trip from Gorham to the Kanc hwy was just over an hour. I thought Bear Notch Road and NH 16 were almost prettier.

Side note--We frequently saw the term "notch" and I wasn't sure what it meant (we used google and Siri often on this trip)..notch is another term for a deep, narrow mountain pass. I love that word, don't you?

As we headed toward the Kanc Hwy, we came upon the Mount Washington Auto Road. It would have been an amazing drive, however, the line of cars was so long, it wasn't worth our time. When you are on a somewhat tight schedule, you really don't want to waste a few hours or more, and while in the realm of scenery, it wouldn't have been a waste, the time waiting in a line, or driving behind a lot of cars and not knowing how long it would take, that would've been a poor use of our time. We bypassed this, but I think if we had more time it would've been something we did. 

We stopped in Jackson, NH and went to Jackson Falls. It was so pretty and just nice to get out and walk. From there we caught Bear Notch Road which is such a pretty drive, and if I'm honest, almost prettier on that day than the Kanc Hwy. Maybe I should've brought my computer and written posts each night since I feel like even with the help of my postcards, I'm forgetting things. 

While in Jackson, NH, we stopped off at the White Mountain Puzzles, origin of the brand White Mountain Puzzles, which started in 1978, and are made in the United States. Here's their about page. Their puzzles are so neat, I plan to start buying them. Especially because they are manufactured here in the states. 

Eventually we hit the Kanc Hwy. It is beautiful, it is definitely worth driving, but we felt like maybe we were a week late for this one in regards to the fall colors and leaves. I overheard someone mention they had a wind storm the previous week and we felt like a lot of leaves were off the trees. We traveled west on this day, stopping at various viewpoints along the way.

From there we got on the main highway, which was Interstate 93. We drove to the northern most part of New Hampshire (we could see the Canadian border). 

Towns we stopped in or drove through:

Berlin

Pittsburgh

Littleton

Bethlehem

These towns are quaint and simple. In Bethlehem we stopped and ate lunch from a little corner market and their sub sandwiches were really good. We found a picnic table, sat and enjoyed some sunshine while we ate. In Littleton, I browsed some shops while Kevin looked at the map. I found an awesome herb shoppe that I could've spent a lot of time and a lot of money in. They also create their own tinctures etc. There was also a wonderful shop called White Mountain Canning Company, that sold all sorts of flavored oils, again, I could've spent lots of time and money there. It was filled with so many local jams, oils, and other treats. 

Littleton

I thought this was cute. Yes, I did wave.

We also started our hunt for covered bridges. I'll have to do a completely separate post on those. I wanted to see as many as we could. 

Most of the bridges have numbers. This one is the Mt. Orne bridge. The original bridge was destroyed during a log jam in 1908 and this one was built in 1911 and was built to connect Lancaster, NH and Lunenberg, Vermont.

Sites we stopped at:

Beaver Brook Falls: A beautiful falls right off the parking lot. 

Jackson Falls: Another simple waterfall easily accessible from parking area.

Franconia State Park: This park is almost 7,000 acres and straddles I-95 for 8 miles. 

Falling Waters Trail: A gorgeous cascading falls easily accessible 

Heading up Falling Waters Trail

I also love old barns and there were plenty of these to be found. 

This is the Balsam Grand Resort, which is currently closed to the public as it is in a redevelopment phase. Originally it was built shortly after the Civil War as a 25 room summer inn and gradually grew from there. 

Just one of the ponds we stopped at to get a photo of the reflection. 

Part of the Falling water trail system. 

These old buildings fascinate me. 

Beaver Brook Falls

I love murals and these were on a building we drove by in Berlin, NH. They are painted on plywood pieces that were put into place to cover broken windows. They are meant to depict the history of Berlin.  They were painted by art students from the College of Arts and Sciences and the building now houses a museum. 

One thing I hoped to see other than beautiful leaves was a moose, but no moose to be found yet. 

I remember at one point thinking "it just smells like fall". There's just something about this area. No wonder Hallmark movies are "filmed" here. 

Two local food items I tried that are popular in this area were blueberry soda and Whoopie pies. The blueberry soda was really good. The whoopie pie, sadly did not live up to my expectation. I think I'll stick with my mother in laws. She and my FIL lived in Indiana for several years. He was mennonite and they were in amish country, so whoopie pies became a staple. She makes them every year for special occasions. I should probably learn to make them so that I can carry the tradition on. 

These fun benches were found in Bethlehem, NH. I also apologize that many of my photos are out of order. I need to work on that. 

Behind the picnic table where we ate lunch was this sign. I found it interesting. 

Tinctures being steeped at the Herb Shoppe in Littleton.

We then headed back to Gorham for one more night before heading to Vermont. I don't remember what we did for dinner this night (kicking myself for not journaling more or writing the posts sooner). We may have stopped at a store and grabbed some things or ate before we got back to Gorham.

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin