From the start of October in Georgia, evenings are cool, and life outside an airconditioned building or vehicle is once again bearable. It's also the time when grass dies back, leaves start turning and eventually fall to the ground.
Fall, in the States, like every other season for that matter, is a time of celebration, and in the south, front doors are decorated with wreaths in fall colours and symbols - oranges, browns, corn husks, burlap sacking, and varying shades and shapes of gourds and pumpkins.
Fall is also when the "Leaf Peepers" come out to play! These are serious folk, like you and me, who enjoy the changing seasons and the beautiful kaleidoscopic show that nature puts on, especially in the cooler climes: the north-east of the country is famous for its leaves!
Boston, Massachusetts, a city high on my bucket list in the north-eastern part of the country, was chosen for our week-long "Fall Break" - a designated school holiday and therefore one that would not see us arrested by the County for taking Isabella out of school!
It was also perfect as a launching pad for a week of touring New England - the states in that top corner, including: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine - though we didn't make it to Connecticut, and we'd been to Vermont last Christmas.
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| Dapper, isn't he? |
The Fall Break this year included a long weekend for Columbus Day, so booking accommodation in Boston was a challenge. We were determined to spend some time in the city so we chose a decent chain hotel 20 minutes north of Boston and spent two nights there. It was affordable - less than $300, which seemed to be the average for a night in town!
We walked our bottoms off, from the time we arrived around lunchtime on the Saturday, taking in much of the central historic district on foot. With only a day and a half, we managed to walk most of the Freedom Trail - a redbrick designated path, taking in a number of historic sites along the way, including Paul Revere's House, the Granary - burial ground, the Old North Church - where lanterns shone out signals indicating the British were coming!!, and a few other sites in between.
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| Off on his famous Midnight Ride to warn his buddies that the British were coming... |
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| Pleased with herself and her "school pack" on Paul Revere |
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| Isabella had taught us about Paul Revere and was thrilled to visit his Boston pad |
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| Daniel took following "The Freedom Trail" very seriously! |
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| Homemade pasta in Boston's "Little Italy", North End |
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| Hating his lunch! |
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| Hoeing in to my tiramisu! |
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| The Old North Church from where Revere's lamplight signals that the British were coming by "sea" were communicated |
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| Interesting box pews |
The kids also enjoyed a bit of "kid time" running around Boston Common, and the Boston Children's Museum.
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| Would have loved to have visited this museum and thrown some tea in Boston Harbor, in protest of the British taxes!! |
It was refreshingly cool and we - perhaps just I - loved being rugged up for a change and feeling the coolness on my face!
Dave and enjoyed our version of a children's museum - the Cheers Pub, the inspiration for the 80s sitcom, "Cheers". Funny, they didn't seem to know our names!
We had great coffees, pastries, pastas, and loved strolling around the city, which is vibrant and interesting - though, I wonder if it would be the same in the middle of winter. There are some great gentrified neighbourhoods in Boston, and a lot of beautiful historic and well-preserved buildings.
It felt like it would be a lovely place to live, work and play in. With so much to do, see and experience, we'd barely scratched the surface - a common frustration with our travel, especially to America's bigger cities, where we just never seem to have enough time to do a really interesting place justice...but then I suppose it's better than not seeing it at all!
At least four people correctly guessed we were Australian - not something that happens much in the south, so we wondered why that might be. Are Bostonians better travelled and more worldly? Are their accents more similar to ours and therefore it's easier for them to distinguish - much like we can tell a New Zealander but not necessarily a Canadian Interesting! Or are they more likely to watch foreign films, travel outside their state, and mix with others?
From Boston, we headed south, via Plymouth, Massachusetts. Dave was keen to see the famous(?) Plymouth Rock, where the first Pilgrims set foot on American land after disembarking from the Mayflower in 1620. The Rock is housed in an open-air structure with a roof and rails, supposedly to ward off souvenir-hunters seeking to purloin a piece of American history!
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| Lobster roll and clam chowder, of course! |
We found some rolls and a version of a clam chowder in a rather rustic looking fish and chip shack, called Wood's Seafood - it was our first taste of a lobster roll, and at about $16 each they weren't cheap. The bread was quite sweet - like a brioche - and the big, meaty chunks of lobster flesh were bound together in a mayonnaise, dill sauce. It was good, but not that good! Early days though - we'd only been in New England 48 hours, and we had another 6 days ahead of us - that was potentially another 12 opportunities to taste our way through the variations of lobster rolls and clam chowder!
A colourful main street with a number of "antique" places, a gorgeous old stone church, and a couple of cute eateries, Plymouth was a relaxing place to stroll and take in its significant place in American history lessons across the nation.
Further south and a little west of Plymouth, we crossed a bridge and found ourselves in the smallest state in the land - Rhode Island, where we spent one night in the town of Newport - yes, the America's Cup home. We also enjoyed strolling around this quaint town, with it's not so quaint, historic mansions.
Newport was once a popular summer destination for the Vanderbilts, and other wealthy families and the legacy left in the form of beautifully preserved historic mansions is an incredible look back in time to a period where too much gilt paint, dolphin images, and marble bathtubs were never enough. Many of the mansions in Newport were modelled on Italian palazzos or French chateaux, and for a fee, the public can enter and gawk in amazement at the homes and their lavish decorative features, but with a four-year old in tow, we had to be selective - and realistic.
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| A kindly passerby noticed my arm contortions in an attempt to take a family selfie and came to my rescue - lovely sunset! |
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| Irish pubs anywhere will always attract an Aussie bloke! |
No photography is allowed inside the house, which was excruciatingly frustrating for me, as I get quite snap-happy around beautiful food and places, but if you're keen you could look online and see a little of the excessive opulence I'm referring to - The Breakers, Newport Mansion web link.
There were two audio tours available - one for kids and one for adults. I was imagining parties on the scale of Baz Luhrman's "Great Gatsby", as we listened to how the Vanderbilts used to live in such a house which was their "normal" summer home!
Daniel, to his credit, lasted for 40 minutes of his audio tour in "The Breakers", the one mansion we'd read was The mansion to see if only seeing one. Isabella, on the other hand, loved it and in true girly-swot style, proceeded to write down 10 interesting facts about the house and the Vanderbilts once we got back in the car!
My personal favourite fact number 1: the servants had to refill the marble baths with hot water FIVE TIMES to warm the marble before the Vanderbilt family member could take his/her bath!! Wow, no water restrictions in Newport, clearly, and it did make me ponder how much lead time someone would need to give prior to taking a bath - 30 minutes, an hour?
My personal favourite fact number 2: the children of the household would sometimes use silver trays as sleds to slide down the central and rather grand staircase.
My personal favourite fact number 3: the central staircase was designed with the ladies of the household in mind: the steps were shallower, to allow for a dainty descent - when not sliding down on silver trays - and the position of the staircase was a central feature of the Great Hall, where balls and parties were held, and as such, the young ladies of the family made their debut into society via this structure!!! So, "making an entrance" in The Breakers was physical as well as social.
There's a beautiful Cliff Walk in Newport which we walked part of, up to "The Breakers", and that allowed us the luxury of enjoying not only gorgeous sea aspect but also the chance to take in a couple more mansions, albeit from the outside only. The added bonus was that there were no precious historic items within reach and no booming voice-overs warning a particular toddler not to swing on the rope barriers...wonder who they were referring to?!!
Heading out, we stopped at a set of lights downtown and I noticed a sign outside a cute little Catholic church which just happened to be the one that Jackie and JFK were married in! Such an unassuming place, with so much history. Can you imagine the stories those streets could tell?!
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| These might be handy at home...certainly kept these two out! |
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| Cute anchor made from driftwood |
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| Jacquie and JFK tied the knot here...Newport, RI |
Time was ticking on and while we'd thought we might stop in at Providence, Rhode Island's state capital, and a highly-recommended foodie destination, we simply didn't have time. It was already mid-afternoon and a three plus hour drive was ahead of us; we wanted to make our next night's accommodation before dinner time.
Concord, New Hampshire, was chosen not for any great attractions but for its relative proximity to Mt Washington, the highest mountain in the eastern part of the US, and one that Dave was intent on climbing! We had a pretty busy and slow drive, encountering the fringes of Boston's peakhour on our way, and got into town pretty late.
Chain motels have been great for times when all we need is a bed and a breakfast - the one we had in Concord was literally that - a clean and spacious place to stay with breakfast included, and it was all we saw of Concord.
Mt Washington's summit can be reached by foot, car, or train - we chose the train, the Cog Railway, to be precise! The cogs literally stop the train from hurtling backwards and give the wheels something to cling to on the steep incline up the mountain, which in some parts seemed like a 45 degree angle! The round trip was about 3 hours long - 1 to get up, 1 hour on the summit and about 40 minutes to come down again.
Reknowned for having the worst weather in America, true to form, the climate at the summit was abysmal. Having researched this ahead of time, we'd all rugged up and even with hats, gloves, scarves and various other layers, the kids still whinged about the cold. "I'm cold" x was cried by Daniel without taking a breath between utterance at least 20 times, in the short 10 minutes we were actually outdoors on the summit!
It was probably about 5 degrees up there but the wind chill factor was quite fierce, and after the obligitory climb to the summit, just beyond the Visitor's Centre, we were all happy to retreat to the cosy comfort of indoors, where we had lunch and surveyed the museum. The kids loved a Snowcat Simulator, taking turns to tear around a mountain clearing the path in the snow.
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| Dave insists I take a picture at every state line... |
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 The Appalachian Trail, which starts in Georgia, was the subject of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". |
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| The summit! |
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| We were there on a "non-rare"day, unfortunately |
Once down again, we headed east towards the Maine coast, and our next "home" for three nights. Along the way, we travelled along a small section of the Kancamagus Highway, a stretch of road in the mountain region, noted for its beautiful trees - especially at this time of year. I wish I knew more about the species of trees in this region, but I think there were maples, spruce, cedar and pine. Whatever they were, they were gorgeous! I told the kids to look out for "traffic light trees" - bright and distinct oranges, reds and greens - which helped keep their gaze outside the car and appreciating nature.
The journey, as much as the destination, was something to behold in this beautiful part of the country, and we did stop a couple of times to try to capture a little of the magic...pity how photos never really quite do these times justice - a 360 degree panoramic camera is what we need. Well, we did our best.
Peak hour traffic and fading light seemed to feature in a couple of our drives this trip - not recommended! Anyway, we managed to find our way to our AirBnB digs for 3 nights in Hancock, Maine, by about 10 pm.
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| Maine had so much "picture postcard" scenery it was hard to put the camera down! |
The house was furnished with an eclectic collection of furniture and textiles, but the one unifying feature was the artwork. The owner, a lovely, friendly woman, named Suzanne, whose day-job was interpreting medical/legal documents from Spanish to English, but managed a few holiday cottages on the side, and painted and drew in her spare time - whenever that was!!
Her pictures really appealed to me, for their whimsical and naive images and the bright colours. When Suzanne explained the inspiration behind her art, it was even more appealing. So when I'd chatted with her a bit about them one day, she mentioned that she had some for sale and I just had to grab a few of my favourites.
We enjoyed a few local walks from the house.
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| Our digs for 3 nights |
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| Enjoying breakfast in the Farmhouse |
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| The kids' room! |
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| Got a good one! |
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| Not such a good one! |
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| Enjoying foraging! |
We chose a rather wild and woolly day to explore Acadia NP and it was pretty chilly, but we rugged up and enjoyed a rare experience - for us being accustomed to living in Georgia - cold air on our faces!! Loved it! The kids not so much, and Dave kind of under-dressed for the occasion - or the climate - but I loved it!
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| Dave had a firm grip on the back of this little risk-taker! |
Bar Harbor is a popular little holiday town on the edge of the Acadia National Park, and I'd done my requisite research on foodie spots and found a coffee shop known for its clam chowder, lobster rolls and great coffee.
We scored seats in this tiny establishment and were enjoying our lunch when we overheard someone with an Australian accent say "Who let you out of Laverton!?" - Laverton being Dave's Melbourne base. Turns out one of his former colleagues from Melbourne was living in DC and was enjoying Bar Harbor with his family and just happened to stumble into the same cafe as us! What are the chances?!
While in Bar Harbor we even tried the local specialty ice-cream flavour - lobster ice-cream. Can't say I was impressed with it enough to order a cone, but it was interesting - vanilla with chunks of lobster in it - not really appealing, is it?
A few other curious local foodie finds:
Toasted sandwich with Granny Smith apple, onion and cheese - curiously tasty: salty, sweet, crunchy and soft!
Blueberry pie - a Maine-stay (excuse the pun!) as it featured on a lot of local menus. We tried a couple while we were in the state, so as to truly form an accurate opinion, of course, and both were delicious. Maine blueberries are tiny little wild things, much smaller than those you'd buy in the supermarket, but still sweet and pretty and perfect pie-fodder!
Pickled wrinkle* - a large carnivorous sea-snail, which was pickled and used as protein in leaner times when the local fisherman weren't harvesting the clams and lobsters that they needed to feed their families.
*We learnt this because we ate at restaurant in Birch Harbor, Maine, called the Pickled Wrinkle! It was a lively little place, full of locals - mostly over 60 - listening a live band - mostly over 80! Fun place!
On our way south, after a few days of exploration, we came across the visually striking Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observation Tower. With the tallest bridge observatory in the world, at 128 metres, we couldn't pass it by!
We spent our last night in New England just south of Portland, Maine, in a cheap motel - basic, but clean(ish) - never really have come to terms with the smell of nicotine thinly-masked by copious amounts of cheap deodorisers.
Anyway, we had an excellent seafood meal at C2, Portland's Westin Hotel restaurant, and the kids behaved so everything was lovely!
Portland, Maine, is a foodie destination and friends had made some firm recommendations about a particular bakery where we would be able to sample the best "Whoopie Pies" known to civilisation. A Whoopie Pie is a soft, sandwich-style cake/cookie combo with a sweet cream filling - imagine a macaron on steroids - bigger, softer, sweeter!
They are supposedly a New England speciality, and apparently derive their name from Amish fellas who upon stopping work to eat would declare "Whoopie!!!" if their lovely, devoted wife/mother had slipped one in their lunch basket!
The classic flavour is chocolate with vanilla filling, but seasonal variations include pumpkin-cinnamon spice with maple-syrup cream - which was the one I chose. Yummy, sweet but surprisingly light, and therefore lethal! "Two Fat Cats Bakery", you were worth the pilgrimage!
Brunch in Portland was at a modern Italian restaurant where I ate a poached duck egg, with duck prosciutto, and truffle oil - heaven on a plate!
From there, we beetled south, towards Boston, and our evening flight back to Georgia. On our way, we stopped at the less well known site of the witch trials of 1692, Danvers, Massachusetts. Danvers was the original Salem Village, but changed its name to Danvers to try to disassociate itself from its grubby history. Pity really, as the nearby Salem Town is a bustling tourist destination, full of witchy-themed museums, tours, gift shops, and the like.
While in Danvers, we had a very informative tour of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead - the home of one of the victims of this bleak time in Massachusetts's history. We learnt about the circumstances of her trial, and how the original accusations were based on the flimsiest of rumour, personal slight, and misinformation, and a willingness to believe that these poor people were consorting with the devil!
The Salem Witch Trials lasted less than a year before reason won out and "spectral evidence" - that which had been used to condemn 15 women and 5 men to death and relied on witnesses' dreams and visions of the devil - was no longer admissible. Too late for the 71 year old grandmother, Rebecca, and the other victims of hysteria and superstition.
To lighten our spirits after this rather somber pitstop, we crossed a spit across to the rugged "tied island" of Nahant, Massachusetts. Daniel, by this time was asleep in the car, Isabella was desperate for a bit of park time, and we had a lovley little Maine goats cheese and blueberry wine to scoff before boarding our flights in a couple of hours time.
We found a park, and let Isabella run free, while we sat, rather suspiciously, in the front of the car, sipping a dark liquid out of a paper cup, and gouging at the cheese with our fingers - the kids had eaten all our dry biccies in a feeding-frenzy, and we weren't going to leave this Maine goats cheese to waste just because we didn't have a few biscuits!
We weren't arrested and continued on our way to Boston's airport, via the car rental joint. Dinner was at an airport "restaurant", uninspiring fodder to keep us all quiet until we landed at Atlanta's airport after 10 pm.
What an action-packed week we'd enjoyed on the New England coast - loved every minute of it, and so glad we came!
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