Taking in Life Around Me: Triple Dipping

This week I'm going to Triple Dip because I think I can find images for #sundaystills hosted by Terri at Second Wind Leisure, #cffc hosted by Dan at No Facilities, and #lens-artistchallenge, this week hosted by Beth at Wandering Dawgs. If you found your way to todays post....thank you so much. Sometimes it can be a bit discouraging to see no comments. I know many have told me to switch to Wordpress, but I just don't have the energy to do it nor want to put out $$ so I'll stick with blogger and hope that people will be patient and find the way to comment. I know last week or the week before blogger was having issues which was frustrating, but it's been good to me. 

Terri's challenge this week is our color challenge, highlighting the colors of apricot and orange.

Dan's challenge this week is Who/What/When we shop (Okay, originally the prompt I believe was do (any activity), then Terri mentioned that it was actually changed to "shop" but I don't quite have the energy to change this whole post soooo, I'm going to add a few things for the shop aspect but still going along with our trip. Sorry if there's confusion. That's what happens when I copy and paste the prompts into my calendar lists and then don't check periodically. This isn't the first time I've done that. 

Beth is challenging us to post bridges.

 

Let's jump in. I am a lover of all the prompts this week. Fall colors, bridges (okay, I will admit that if it's a high bridge, I do have a bit of trepidation since I'm afraid of heights, but they are cool. The prompt of "do" means my favorite activities are involved. 

So, come along as I take you  mostly on a trip we took a few years ago (because we love to travel=do) and a favorite activity has been visiting new places and of course my camera goes everywhere with me which is also something I love to do (I pretty much photograph everything).

In October of 2022 my hubby and I celebrated our 30th anniversary by taking a bucket list trip around the New England states for about 10 days. You can check out my posts on my trip tab at the top of the blog. The first goal was to hit the peak seasons of leaves turning. We were going to be true "leaf peepers"...I didn't know that was a phrase. We found an awesome leaf map (I refer to it in one of my trip posts) that helped us decide when to go and what route to drive. My other goals were to find covered bridges and sample foods that are popular in the states and areas we visited. 

I took the creative liberty to remove the modern signs on this covered bridge. You can see what it looks like with them below. I realized they needed to be there, but I admit, I was kind of disappointed. In each area we were visiting we made sure we looked up what covered bridges were nearby. I have quite a few more than I shared here. It was hard to have restraint.

The colors were stunning and we spent a lot of time stopping and admiring the gorgeous colors. 

The craftsmanship in these bridges is incredible. A few of them you could walk through only, others had side portions added for walking. 

Most of the fall foliage was oranges and reds. In Colorado, there was a lot of yellows because of the aspens. The other thing I loved about visiting the NE states were the old churches and just old buildings in general. 

I removed a few signs from this bridge too. I believe this bridge crossed over into another state. 

I nabbed a photo on both sides of this bridge. This is the Bath Covered bridge. 

I loved learning about how and when these bridges were built. We are never too old to learn. 

Another thing we love doing is visiting cool locations...this Maple Farm in Vermont was a winner. We were able to walk through the trails (which was great after doing so much driving...we always tried to find places to stop and stretch or walk around). 

I loved the diamond cutouts on this bridge in Woodstock, Vermont. 

You will almost always find me with a camera...even in our own home state, I am known to bring my camera everywhere, and if I don't have that, I will pull out my phone for a photo or video. 

We almost always stay in airbnb's and will usually cook some of our meals there, we didn't really do that much on this trip. We sometimes stopped and grabbed meats and cheeses and simple things but also one thing we love doing is trying local restaurants, stores, coffee shops, etc...I avoid "chains" as much as possible. On this trip, we also avoided main highways and interstates as much as possible, sticking to back roads which led to some great finds. 

This creamery in Sandwich, NH was completely self serve and the cutest place (I shared about it on my trip posts)...we packed a cooler (that was available there) with local cheese, sausage and of course ice cream. I always google "what is a popular food in _____(insert state or region). Then I go in search of it. 

When I go on trips I also like to find local coffee "shops".

Yes, please to farmstands and markets. 

Insert sigh....a covered bridge, fall leaves, AND a waterfall! I was in heaven. I could live in the NE states.

One stop I HAD to make was to Mystic, Connecticut. While we were there we discovered there was a 100 year celebration of this bridge. It is called the Mystic River Bascule bridge and is a single-leaf drawbridge built in 1922. It uses twin 230-ton concrete counterweights to life the 85 foot wide by 218-foot long movable span. 

Hubby and I on the other side of the bridge. 

The above photo was from our trip to Colorado when we took a train ride out of Durango...This bridge made me a bit nervous, but the scenery was beautiful.

Closer to home I snapped this shot of the Fremont Bridge while in Portland traffic. It spans the Willamette River and has a double deck. It was open to the public in 1973. And hey! I got some orange in this pic too with those newer apartments. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin