New Hampshire and Vermont

(cont.)

Day 5: We drove to Gorham, New Hampshire and climbed up Mt Washington auto road with our rental car. Phew!  It was 7.6 mile journey that gains over 4,000′ in elevation! At the top, there’s a visitor center, cafeteria, gift shop, and museum. 

It cost $45 per car to go up and an additional $20 per added person so $65 total which seems slightly steep. (pun intended.)

At 6,288 feet, the summit is the highest point in the northeast. On April 12th of 1934, a wind speed of 231 miles per hour was recorded on the summit, and this remains the highest wind speed ever recorded by man.

Side note: originally Mike and I were going to rent a Polaris slingshot to go up the auto road. I think we would have froze to death!!  One thing I did not account for this trip is that 68° in Ohio is very different from 68° in the northeast. Plus, the summit was even colder! 

Day 6 We drove Kancamagus Highway and stopped at Sabbaday falls. The leaves were changing colors which made for a beautiful backdrop. The hike to the falls was easy (15 minutes maybe) and also very beautiful. Definitely recommend!

Afterwards, we drove to flume gorge. This was one of the highlights from the trip!!  I felt like I was walking in a fairytale. From their website, “The Flume is a natural gorge extending 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty. The walls of Conway granite rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet and are 12 to 20 feet apart.” we spent over an hour here hiking and looking around… This was a 2 mile hike with a lot of stairs and uphill, but so worth it!! 

Shout out to Indian Head resort!! We loved this hotel- they even offered pedal boats and had a cool lookout tower! 

Overall, I loved New Hampshire and it was my favorite state from this trip! We had good timing as far as the leaves changing color and we really enjoyed the flume gorge!! 

Day 7: On our last day we drove to Stowe, Vermont. We stopped by Moss Glen Falls which is the tallest waterfall in the state with a drop of 85 feet. This was another short and easy hike!

We then went to the village at Spruce Peak which was pretty vacant. There’s a little village that has a hotel, shops, restaurants, and is basically a ski lovers resort in the winter time. 

We drove through Smugglers Notch state park and there is one part of the road that is really cool. It’s a very windy road and people pull over to get out and hike. There are so many huge rocks which are perfect for climbing. 

Our last stop was the Gold Brook Covered Bridge. It was built in 1844 and has since been added to the national register of historic places. 

There were more hikes and more scenic drives (another auto road) we could have done. Unfortunately by this point in the trip we were kind of done. We were pleased with the foliage, the scenic drives, and the hikes we had already accomplished and were ready to relax.

We flew out of Burlington the following day and unfortunately it took us 12 hours to get home. (I hate airports!!) 

12 more states to go!! 

Maine

Just got back from a week long trip in the northeast! I was finally able to check off Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  (The only northeastern state I’m missing now is New Jersey which will be taken care of next year!)

We spent the most time in Maine so here is a recap of days 1-4:

Day 1: We arrived mid afternoon in Portland, Maine. The weather was cloudy and a little misty so we checked out the Portland Head Light before going to the hotel. Fort Williams Park offers trails and views which was a nice stop along the way. 

Fun fact: In 1776 soldiers were posted at Portland Head to warn citizens of coming British attacks. 

Day 2: We drove a few hours to check out Baxter State Park.  One of my new favorite trails happens to be at this park: Kidney pond!  I loved this trail because we could climb on rocks and on balance beams aka logs. :)  

We also hiked Daicey Pond, a little bit of Cranberry Pond. 

Baxter park was a little out of the way and the weather was a little cloudy, but I’m still glad we included it. There are over 215 miles of trails, more than 50 lakes and ponds, and so much more. 

Day 3 We drove a few more hours to head to Acadia. The only thing we had planned was to do an afternoon bike ride along the carriage roads. The carriage roads are super nice because no cars are allowed- just hikers and bikers. We rented e-bikes from Fat Tire and had such a great time. We did what they call the trifecta trail around some of the ponds. Jordan pond was my favorite - it was so pretty. 

I loved renting the bikes because you didn’t have to worry about finding places to park, didn’t have to worry about being run over by cars- it was perfect!

Day 4 We spent another day exploring Acadia, but this time it was by car. I was a little disappointed in signage around the park - it was confusing to get around at times. Another downside was that it was crowded so it was hard to find parking at some of the trails… Apparently everyone had the same idea about coming to Acadia in the fall. :)

Shout out to Bar Harbor Motel for being an awesome place to stay ! Highly recommend this hotel - it was close to Acadia and offered a bunch of amenities!  

Girls Trip pt 3: Ocean City & Boonsboro

....continuation...

On Saturday, after we left Delaware, we headed to Ocean City and stopped at Ponzetti's restaurant. They have INSANELY good pizza and I was quite happy with this pick! 

Of course it was still raining after lunch and this was supposed to be our other beach day.  Thankfully, we were still able to do the Banana boat in the rain. It's basically water tubing, but on a banana boat! THIS WAS MY FAVORITE THING!!!

We had so much fun on the banana boat! Lots of laughs!!

Since it was raining we mostly had our eyes closed which made it even more challenging to stay on the banana. I fell off once, but got back on and continued for the full 20 minutes. I LOVE water tubing so I was very happy that this had similar vibes!  Definitely recommend!

In the evening we walked around Ocean City boardwalk which I think was a lot bigger and better than Rehoboth. They also had a lot of kiddie/carnival type rides so of course we had to do something!

The Tilt-A-Whirl!

 

This brought back memories from my childhood! 

We were spinning so fast- this was my first time doing one since I was a child and I didn't know if my motion sickness would have an impact... I DID feel a little sick afterwards, but it was still SO FUN! We ended up doing it twice. LOL 

Overall, I think Ocean City would be better in good weather, but we made the best of it and this became my favorite day of the trip (Yummy pizza + banana boat + tilt-a-whirl!)

Ocean City

SUNDAY:  We left Ocean City and made our way to Boonsboro, MD. Of course the non-beach day (the day we decided to go to the caverns) turned out to be a beautiful day weather wise. GO FIGURE!
Crystal Grottoes Caverns is a natural phenomenon that has more formations per square foot than any cave known to man. Our guide, Dakota, was wonderful! We had a great tour which was around 45 min in length.

Inside the caverns

Inside the caverns

And that's a wrap on our Maryland/Delaware trip! Overall, the drives to and from weren't terrible. (around 8 hours one way.)  The weather could have been better, but we still had fun and I definitely enjoyed their company!

Girls trip pt 2: Dela-where????

 ....continuation from last post... 

After lunch on Friday we drove a little over 2 and a half hours to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Of course it was raining when we arrived so we asked the guy at the front desk what we could do. He said, "stay in bed and sleep."  (very helpful) 

Ignoring his advice we went to the boardwalk and grabbed some dinner. While at dinner we asked the waitress for recommendations on what to do and she told us to go to Maryland. (Also extremely helpful when we're trying to find things to do in DELAWARE) 

I decided to word the question a little differently the third time. I asked our Uber driver, "what's the best thing about Delaware?" (thinking he would tell us of a good attraction or thing to do)....  Instead he answered with a short and simple, "No taxes."  (Not exactly what we were looking for, but we did learn something new: Delaware does not impose a state or local sales tax!) 

All that to say...Delaware was a struggle.

When I began planning our trip to Maryland and Delaware, I didn't see a whole lot going on in Delaware. I'm not a big beach person, but Rehoboth Beach was highly rated and it seemed like the best option for our group. 

View of the beach in between rain showers.

A break in the rain and a glimpse at the boardwalk

Penny Lane Mall

Observations:  the boardwalk and Rehoboth Beach in general seemed very family friendly.  There was a place called Funland which had kiddie rides and games. There were also lots of shops and places to eat along the boardwalk... and of course, if you're a beach goer, there seemed to be plenty of beach/water activities. (Weather permitting!)  I think if my parents had taken me there when I was kid, I might have enjoyed it, but it is not a place I would go back to now. (This is just my opinion)

SATURDAY:  Before leaving Delaware we stopped at Seaside Country Store. The store had a food section (WITH REALLY GOOD FUDGE!!), Christmas section, nautical section, a bath section, and more. It was nice because it was on the way to our next destination: Ocean City, MD.  It was a good way to pass the time on (another) rainy day.


((TO BE CONTINUED))

I leave you with just one question:

..... Dela-where??????

Girls Trip part 1: Baltimore, MD

As most of you know, I am trying to visit all 50 states by age 40! As of last week, I was sitting at 33 states, but thanks to a few friends I am now sitting at 35! M&M&M&M (Michelle, Melissa, Meghan, and Michelle) journeyed to Maryland and Delaware for a long weekend away!

THURSDAY: We drove about 8 hours to Baltimore. My one friend is trying to hit all the ballparks so of course we had to catch a game at Camden Yards. (Baltimore Orioles vs the Chicago Cubs) If you know me, you know I don't care about baseball (or sports in general), but when you travel with friends you have to do stuff they like sometimes. :)  And honestly, with these girls, I could go anywhere with them and have fun so I wasn't going to complain about a game! I'm just thankful to have friends to travel with! 

Before the game!

During the game!

We stayed at SpringHill Suites by Marriott which was about a 10 minute walk to the ballpark.  We didn't have any issues with the hotel, but people in Baltimore do drive a little crazy. Baltimore itself is not on my list of places to go back to, but we never felt unsafe during our time there. 

FRIDAY: We got to sleep in a little bit since our next item on the itinerary didn't open until 10am: the Historic Ships in Baltimore!

USS Constellation the only civil-war-era ship still afloat! This ship was heavily involved in finding and capturing slave trade ships.

USS TORSK- This submarine sank the last two enemy ships of WWII and held a record (at the time) of over 10,000 dives!

Lightship Chesapeake- This ship functioned as a lighthouse

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter 37: This was the last remaining warship that saw action at the Battle of Pearl Harbor. 

I LOVE HISTORY -especially U.S. History! Touring old ships aren't really my thing, but this was definitely still cool... LIVING HISTORY! 

After touring the ships we stopped at Papermoon Diner for lunch. It's described as eclectic and funky, a "knickknack-laden diner." I think I first stumbled upon this diner when I was researching things to do in Baltimore. It's one of a kind for sure! 

Inside the diner!

Outside of the Papermoon Diner

The bathroom in Papermoon Diner-PEZ dispensers all over the walls and hotwheels covering the ceiling!

....TO BE CONTINUED....