Fall (Autumn) Colours

Today was mostly a ‘driving day’ for us as we left the coast at Bar Harbour and headed to the mountains at North Conway in new Hampshire.

It was just a long day with a few stops. In the morning it was grey and rainy. It didn’t dampen our enthusiasm – took the shine out of our photos along the coast. One of them was at a covered bridge at Jackson, New Hampshire. Apparently, there are over 690 of these bridges still remaining in New England and they were built to prevent the horses (and buggies) slipping on the ice as they crossed the river. This one had obviously been restored over time and was in very good condition. It is currently used for road traffic.

We stopped for lunch in the little town of Farmington – a typical small American town. We received a nice welcome from the President of the local Chamber of Commerce, quickly grabbed some soup and a sandwich for lunch and than spent some time walking around the town. We obviously stood out as tourists because a number of people approached us warmly to welcome us and enquired as to why we were in town. I don’t think that they had met many Australians before as when we told them where we cam from, they were quite surprised. We  were very happy to see one trio of people outside the courthouse (they were serving on jury duty for the day) as they were able to point out where there was a public toilet in the courthouse. (When you want ot go, you have to go!) Once again on this trip , we have been struck by the friendliness of American people.

We have timed it well for the Autumn colours on this tour. In most places they are at their peak and are very spectacular.

On reaching North Conway, we went for a walk of a kilometre or so to a waterfall named Diana’s Baths. No one seems to know how it got its name, but there was once a waterwheel and mill near this site. I would like to believe that Diana was the mistress of the local saw miller, but I really think that she was the Queen of the fairies and this place is quite fairy like. It was a very pretty walk through the forest of silver beech and aspen trees with their various coloured trunks and golden leaves.

Our overnight stop was at the Red Jacket Resort in North Conway. This is probably the nicest hotel in which we stayed on this tour conducted by Trafalgar.