Day Eight

We both slept in this morning and took our time getting ready for the day. Check out was at 11:00 and we left the room at 10:50. :). I loved the Green Mountain Inn- great place to stay if you go to Stowe.
We drove over to Burlington, VT for a scenic cruise of Lake Champlain.
A couple of pretty pics from the drive... Love this red barn.

Can you see the steeple peeking out of the trees in the next picture? Love those little town church steeples!


Our tour boat - the Spirit of Ethan Allen...


The harbor


The Burlington Boat house


It was a pretty cruise, but about twice as long as it needed to be. It was about an hour and a half long and we ended up just doing a big figure 8 in the middle of the lake. Made for some pretty pics though.


A view of Burlington from the water








I kept my eyes open for Champ, but never did see him. :)
After our cruise, we started our drive back down to Hartford. I spotted a hot air balloon over the mountains- I assume doing some leaf peeping from high above.


In the morning, we will get up and head to the airport. This has been such a fun trip- we have seen SO much of New England and have had such a blast! But, I am ready to get back home and hug my sweet boys- their daddy and and I have missed them tremendously!!!
A big thank you to Mimi, Pepaw, Gammy and DadDad for keeping them so we could have a great worry-free trip.
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Day Seven

Today we spent most of the day in Stowe and Waterbury. I got up earlier than Brian and headed to breakfast. I sat in a comfy chair inside the Black Cap Coffee Shop and people watched as I ate my blueberry muffin and sipped my coffee. After breakfast, I headed out to walk the town a little. Stowe is quite scenic this time of year.

I came upon this gorgeous view- there's just something's about a crisp white church steeple among fall foliage isn't there?




I went back to our room and picked up Brian and we headed out for the day. In Waterbury, we checked out the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.




It's a working mill and I thought Brian would enjoy seeing it. Looking back, we had three things working against us. (1) We're in a tourist heavy area, (2) it's during busy season and (3) it's a holiday weekend. Tons of people were there, but it was a neat place to see. We sampled some cider, bought some souvenirs and apple cider donuts- it was the whole experience. :) We headed back towards Stowe stopping at a covered bridge-




And then heading to Smugglers Notch State Park. This state park is BEAUTIFUL!!!! The pictures don't do it justice people- it was gorgeous!
















Back in Stowe, we ate lunch at Pie-Casso, a pizza place.




I got a three cheese pizza- super yummy- best pizza I've had in a while! Traffic was pretty bad with it being a holiday weekend, the farmers market and a craft fair, but we finally made it back to the room for afternoon rest. We headed to dinner at Cactus Cafe- yep, Mexican food in Vermont. It's no Tex-Mex, but it'll do. :).

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Day Six

Today was a mostly scenic driving day. Be prepared for pictures. :). When our route takes us off e highway, it is always a treat. Today was my favorite day as far as taking pictures goes. The driving? Not so much. :). Here are some of my favorites:

The camers was propped up on a rock with the self- timer on... Not bad. :)








































We finally arrived in Stowe at our hotel, The Green Mountain Inn. A cute little fall display by the front door...




Our room is suh-weet. We have an foyer. Seriously.




And a fireplace and giant TV.




And right now I'm sitting in my big old bed, drinking coffee made from the K-cup machine in our foyer. I luv vacation. :)
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Day Five

Today we headed up the coast of Maine. We started out in Portsmouth and went to the Strawberry Banke museum. It's a 10 acre preserved neighborhood which includes 32 buildings, some of which date all the way back from the 1600s. Portsmouth was originally called Strawberry Banke hence the name. We stopped at the Shapiro house and "Mrs. Shapiro" (a role playing actor) was there. She was an Jewish- Russian immigrant that brought some of her native seeds with her when she came to New England. She asked if we wanted some and Brian jumped at that! She gave him some kale, yellow tomato and big red tomato. We spent about 3 hours at the museum wandering through the different buildings- it was very interesting. Brian took most of the pictures on his camera, so I will add them another time. Next we headed up the coast.

We wanted to eat somewhere with a view since this was our last day on the water, so we stopped at Lobster Cove.




Brian got steamed lobster...




and I ordered scallops.




They came with baked potatoes and butternut squash. It was super yummy! And had a great view!




We headed further up the coast to Cape Neddick Lighthouse.




The fog had already moved in quite a bit and we had about a 10 degree drop in temperature in about 30 minutes!




It made for some pretty pictures though!




We had to stop at the Maine Diner- featured in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We only had some dessert and coffee, but it was a fun stop.




Further up the coast, we stopped at Kennebunkport to take pictures of the Bush summer house on Walker Point. It was so pretty with the sun setting.




It is actually more of a compound. There were quite a few buildings other than the main house - I'm sure for secret service and security. Even guarded gate.




We spent the night in Augusta, ME. Long day, but good sights!
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Day Four

Today we got up and headed to breakfast. I had read about Gould's Sugar House on-line and how good their pancakes were. They had also said that the wait was really long (like 2 hours), so get there early. We got there at 9:15 and there was only one other car in the parking lot.

We went in and ate. It was okay. Not bad, not great- but I have to say I'd be pretty disappointed if I waited 2 hours. The good news? The view was beautiful!



We started our drive. We were supposed to go to a state park, but it was raining, so we decided against it. There was also a lot of fog, so It was a good day to drive and stop in wherever we wanted. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.






He we are in front of a gorgeous lake... Camera set on self-timer on the hood of the car propped up with an IPad. :)





We got to our hotel a little early and even had time to go see a movie. The check engine light came on in the car, Brian called Hertz and is out trying to see if he can fix it. Car don't fail us now... We have lots of trip left to go. :)

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