Fall foliage
 

I’m a single Australian lady in my 70s and am very lucky to be fit and healthy.

I fulfilled my long held desire to experience the fall foliage in North East USA in October 2019. Another ‘bucket list’ item crossed off.

I’d like to sincerely thank my Fodors family for all the help they conveyed to me in the year or so of planning. Your instilled courage in me to tackle driving through New England to achieve my goal. (We drive on the other side of the road in Australia so it was a bit confronting!! I will be forever grateful for your encouragement.

I had ascertained that it was not easily possible to use public transport to visit all the places I had on my itinerary in the New England area so I had no alternative but to drive.

After much agonising re choice of dates this is what we did.

Oct 2. Collected hire care from South Burlington. (I chose this location because it was a smaller city. The traffic was minimal - excellent for easing in to driving in the right hand side of the road.) Drove to Littleton. The colour was just beginning to show. Overnight in Littleton.

Oct 3. Overnight in Littleton.

Oct 4. Left early to reach the Mt Washington Cog Railway for 9.30am. It was a very easy drive and we were there in plenty of time. (Be aware that there is limited cell phone coverage in this area so don’t rely on online maps.) Unfortunately we struck blizzard conditions at the top of the mountain so our expected view of fall foliage across the mountainside was non existent!!! Just the ‘luck of the draw’ on the day. The leader of a tour group that went up the mountain with us showed a photo from the same day in 2018 and the view was magnificent.

We made our way to Bridgton in Maine where we had booked 2 nights at Grady’s West Shore Motel in the edge of a lake. A relaxing couple of days.

Oct 6. We backtracked to North Conway where we took the Conway Scenic Railroad at 11am. In retrospect we should have caught an earlier train so our journey to the next destination was undertaken in daylight. The Conway Scenic Railroad trip was spectacular.

We made our way to the Birch Knoll Motel in Laconia where we stayed for two nights and explored the area. Lake Winnipesaukee was a highlight.

Oct 8 We retuned to Conway and drove the stunning H112 Kancamagus Highway west to Lincoln. The fall colours were absolutely magnificent. The Albany covered bridge, built in 1858, was on this highway - a ‘must see’. We mostly followed H302 to Waitsfield where we stayed at the Whitehorse Inn,. This was a great base to explore the surrounding area. The Warren Store was a highlight.

We ended up staying 3 nights at tge Whitehorse Inn. It is a very peaceful welcome ing establishment - we loved it.

Oct 11 saw us make our way south on Highway 100 - another magnificent drive. We return our rental car to Hartford Hartford is a busy city but by that stage I was much more confident driving so it posed no problem.

This is only a brief overview of our adventure. The dates and destinations worked well for us.

That sounds like a lovely trip. It is sad that Mt. Washington gave you snow, but that could happen any time of the year there, it is known to be fierce.

thanks for the report.

Nice update. I'm glad you got to enjoy our little part of this big country.

I loved every minute of my adventure. I come from the southwest of Western Australia so the blizzard conditions on Mt Washington provided a different experience - certainly not something I would encounter where I live.

Glad you had a wonderful trip. For people unfamiliar with New England, you might add that the Warren Store is in Vermont. It's definitely unique sitting next to a mini gorge. Although fall is beautiful, it's not my favorite season. When the trees are just starting to leaf out in spring is my favorite time. There are actually different colors just a lot more subtle than fall.

Would really love to experience all the season’s defrosthn. Have a feeling I’ve run out of years to do that. 🤣🤣🤣

Sounds like a nice trip (despite the unexpected blizzard!) - thank you for sharing.

I must add at this point that the prime reason for writing this trip report was to give encouragement to others who might be contemplating a similar adventure. The support and encouragement I received from my Fodors Family during my planning phase was integral in deciding the final route. I can’t thank you enough.

I have traveled very little out of the US and figure I'm about out of time for more trips. Fortunately, living in a popular vacation area is a consolation. I used hiking poles when I went to Italy last September. They were a big help plus I think people were extra nice/kind to me. On my last night, a nice man stopped traffic on a busy street and escorted me across. Other people had run across but I just couldn't run.