I mean, WOW! Fall in all its glory, in states that are rich in their own beauty to begin with. WOW!
Yes, we drove into VT in the dark, but the drive the next day had tremendous payoffs.
I apologize in advance for the abundance of nature pics, I just couldn't choose!
We came across covered bridges of course,
More trees
Beautiful lakes in New Hampshire
With more trees...
And finally, we crossed over into Maine! I love their 'state description', or whatever it is you call those things. Anybody??
More exquisite lakes and trees, great reflections too!
And now we had finally gotten to some of the most beautiful coastal scenery as well. For us it was just the beginning of admiring coastal town after fishing village after coastal town, etc. Endless.
In case you were under the impression our trip was blissfully uneventful, let me set the record straight.
First of all, it was by far our longest day of travel, ever. Well, for this trip anyway. We went from 10AM to 7PM, stopping along the way a bit of course, but still, my oh my it was looooong.
Second, when we entered Maine from New Hampshire well, let's just say we almost got stuck, literally, again.
Crossing the state line at that particular spot can get pretty confusing. You can head up north on the highway, good ol' 95, or route 1, the coastal road. Then of course there's route 1A to confuse matters further. Using our trusty truck road atlas I *thought* we were clear to travel on all possible choices so we turned onto the coastal road for the more scenic drive. Uh oh. Again.
The minute we got on route 1 we noticed a very low-lying bridge and several height restriction notices......Immediately we veered off into a gas station to double and triple check our info. Well, we really couldn't get a satisfactory answer from our atlas so S went inside to ask the clerk. Meanwhile, I googled Maine's department of transportation (DOT) and dialed their number just as fast as I could. You see, we really didn't know if we could proceed any further on this road and had no idea where the next exit was and if we'd scrape our roof off getting to it! Turning around and going the other way from where we were at this point was impossible.
ME DOT was extremely helpful! I explained our situation, they patched me through to the bridges department (yes, there is such a thing apparently) and the nice lady there said she'd call me back after looking into it. Well, not 5 minutes go by and my phone was ringing. Government service at its best I tell you! My friend at the DOT informed me we were clear to travel on any road except route 1A. Given where we were now, we were going to be just fine. S by that point had returned shocked and disgusted by his conversation with the clerk who apparently did not know her north from her south and her east from her west and was clearly no help at all. Somewhat more relaxed now that we had the info from ME DOT we were still not totally satisfied.
Just then an official looking vehicle pulled into the pump next to us. Perfect, he'd know what he's talking about! Hopefully. Well he did and he assured us, in the strongest New England accent I've heard since listening to a recording of President Kennedy, that there are no low bridges and semitrailers travel up and down those roads all the time.
OK, so NOW we were set and convinced we would be ok.
North we headed again and I'm happy to report that our roof made it all the way up to Ellsworth, ME with us. Arriving at 7PM, we headed straight for the in-laws' hotel to say a quick hello before sestteling in for the night in our RV, in the hotel parking lot. Yes, they let us stay there.
The reunion with Saba and Savta (AKA Grandma and Grandpa) was terrific. We had not seen them in over a year and have now surprised them by showing up to join their little adventure in New England for a couple of days. We didn't surprise them walking through the door, that might have given them a heart attack. We were kind enough to inform them the day before that we'd be meeting up with them. It's a long story that I won't go into here.....
Anyway, our short visit turned into a 2 hour one of course and we all, kids included, didn't get to bed until after 10 that night.
Despite little sleep, much exploring was to be had bright and early tomorrow at Acadia National Park just down the road.
And so began our 3.5 week mad rush of a visit through the northeast.....from day one out here we barely sat still.....
gorgeous!
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