White Mountains to White River Junction, Vermont

Raining today-makes the colors even more saturated and beautiful!

We backtracked this morning and went back to Bridgton & Fryeburg, Maine to see some of the downtown buildings and churches.  Messy driving, but beautiful.  There are lakes scattered all over this region of Maine.  The roads are terrible and most businesses do not have pavement.  The roads are uneven, probably from the frozen roadbed.  The soil is sandy when it is not granite.  It would be hard to build a solid roadbed.

Haven't seen this in a while!

Main Street in Bridgton, Maine

Most of the churches have tall steeples.  This one is in Bridgton.

Drainage at the end of Highland Lake in Bridgton.  Highland Lake is a 1,334 acre lake with clear water.

The spillway from Highland Lake

We returned to Conway and stopped in town at a small bakery across from the fire department and laundry.  We then went to the nearby Saco and Swift River covered bridges.  Beautiful water, rocks, and leaves throughout.

Don't see these around home!

Fire Department in Conway, NH

Laundromat in Conway, NH

Saco River covered bridge in Conway, NH

View from the Saco River Bridge

The truss structure of the Saco bridge

Another shot downstream.  You can see the new replacement bridge in the background.

Swift River covered bridge in Conway, NH

Stone home at the north end of the Swift River bridge

We then took the Kancamagus Highway.  The road was built in the late 1950's and is named after an Indian chief who lived over 300 years ago and attempted to keep peace between the settlers and the Indians.  He eventually gave up and moved his people after the British kept creating problems.

The Kancamagus-the clouds were hanging low in the air

Of course this is US Forestry land so we were unable to buy a permit to park and use the parking areas and restrooms.  Doesn't matter since the restrooms are boarded up.

Tell me why Obama closes the World War II memorial which operates solely with private funds and keeps his private golf course open stating "it is a private club and does not use government funds".

We made stops at the Albany covered bridge, lower falls, and Sabbaday Falls.  Gorgeous scenery all along the way.  It rained steady at times and drizzle otherwise.

The Albany covered bridge on the Kancamagus

Surprisingly, a number of covered bridges have burned.  Picnickers tend to set their grills up in the cover of the bridge or throw down a cigarette when taking shelter under the bridge.

Look at the multiple colors in only one leaf

Bathroom doors screwed shut on the Kancamagus

Taken at lower falls on the Kancamagus

The last cascade of Lower Falls

Sabbaday Falls looking down from the top

We made the 35 miles across he Kancamagus by 4pm and went to the Flume Gorge just before they closed the ticket booth.  The ladies strongly recommended that we not go through due to the darkness and to a line of storms which was approaching.  The walk through takes 2 hours.  Too bad to be so close, but I don't want to drive in total darkness across moose country.

We left and drove south toward Plymouth, New Hampshire and then turned west across 2 lane roads which make Weakley Creek Road look like a super highway.  Mobile homes and poorly maintained wooden frame homes seem to be the norm.  Most people seem to be loggers in this area.  We made in to Canaan, NH and met the storm front with driving rain.  We pulled off the road for a while in an area where there were four churches.  Noticed that there were weather vanes on the steeples.

Church in Caanan, NH.  Notice the weather vane on top of the steeple

We made it safely to Lebanon, NH and crossed the Connecticut River into White River Junction, Vermont to spend the night.

A couple of observations-we miss refills of our drink glass and the glass is just a tiny toy glass.  We also have realized that businesses will only have a unisex bathroom with one toilet.  No wonder they don't offer refills.  We miss good cooking.  They could take a lesson from some good southern ladies.

We've been asked all day if we are retired.  We have battled the tour buses of seniors and tonight the only room available is a hearing impaired room with a fold down seat in the roll-in shower which keeps falling.  BUT THE SCENERY IS INCREDIBLE and Connie says the men on the tour buses are charming and I accuse them of trying to pick her up.

Tomorrow we plan to go across Highway 4 into Quechee and Woodstock, VT before traveling toward Plymouth, VT and the boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge.