The second leg of our trip was the leaf-peeping portion, where we stayed one night in Lincoln, New Hampshire, and two nights in Stowe, Vermont. While I wouldn’t say we saw peak leaves anywhere, we did see some beautiful color during this portion of the trip, especially in Vermont. All of the towns we visited were very small yet very crowded with throngs of visitors trying to get their fill of autumn colors, just like us.

Lincoln, New Hampshire

Impressions

Lincoln was a very tiny town, probably one of the smallest I’ve stayed in on a road trip. I’m not even sure it’s big enough for me to have impressions of it. Both activities we did in New Hampshire, the Kancamagus Highway and Flume Gorge, are within minutes of Lincoln, which is why we chose it, despite it’s size. It did make me wonder what it’s like to live there—if the hoards of people every fall are the bane of their existence or if they rely on the tourism. Probably a bit of both.

Activities

Kancamagus Highway—This 34.5-mile stretch of road from Conway to Lincoln is supposedly one of the most beautiful drives in the U.S. Sadly, we didn’t catch it at peak, so it wasn’t quite as fabulous as the photos we saw online. To be completely honest, I’m still not entirely sure if we were too early in the season or too late—some trees were already completely dead, some were vibrant, and some were still green. It made me think we probably saw as much fall color as we ever would have seen, given the variation even in trees close to one another. The drive was still pretty, but it was very crowded—so much so that we didn’t end up stopping because all the parking lots were full (or too much of a zoo for our taste). We did do the drive in the late afternoon, after coming from Bangor, Maine, so I’m sure doing it first thing in the morning would have been better.

Flume Gorge—I got us timed entry tickets to hike Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park, which is a one-way hike along the stream that formed the gorge. The hike took around 1.5 hours, but walking through the gorge itself was only a small portion of it. While not at peak, we saw some beautiful fall colors on this hike, and it felt really nice to get out into the wilderness ourselves instead of just driving through it. We had the first time slot at 9:00am, which I highly recommend if you want to avoid some of the crowds! Thankfully we were at the front of the pack so we could get a couple of photos with minimal-to-no people in the background. It wasn’t a particularly difficult hike, but I do wish I had worn athletic clothes instead of a sweater and jeans, as I did break a sweat.

Vermont

Impressions

New Hampshire was pretty, but Vermont was even more beautiful—picturesque at every turn with rolling hills, red barns, and covered bridges. Both towns that we visited, Stowe and Woodstock, had very charming downtowns. Similar to Lincoln, though, it was obvious they weren’t built for the amount of tourism they see now. There is only one road between Stowe and Waterbury, the nearby town with the Ben and Jerry’s factory, so you have to plan ahead for traffic. My mom and I enjoyed meandering down back roads when we could, though. It would be fun to visit again someday without a schedule to hike, read, and relax more.

Stowe Activities

Burtt’s Apple Orchard—It seemed like such a quintessential fall bucket list item to go apple picking in Vermont, so I knew we had to make it happen on our drive from Lincoln to Stowe (the orchard is about a 47-minute drive from Stowe). We took a very long, bumpy dirt road to get to the orchard—as it turns out, the back way—and enjoyed wandering around for about an hour. Unfortunately it was unseasonably hot (in the 80s!) so it was pretty uncomfortable instead of the cozy fall activity I was imagining. A lot of the orchard seemed picked over already, and I also quickly realized that apple picking doesn’t make a ton of sense as a tourist (who needs a bushel of apples when you can’t bake with them??). My mom and I each picked one apple, enjoyed an apple cider slushy, and went on our way. I would try apple picking again, but on a cooler day and in my home town so I can actually enjoy the picking process.

Gondola Skyride—My mom and I decided to do the Stowe Gondola Skyride on a whim about 30 minutes before it closed for the evening. It was always on my list of activities, but it was unclear to me from the website if you needed to book a time ahead or not. We decided to drive over to find out and ended up hopping on right then (there aren’t reserved times—there are so many cars that you just wait in line and get on whenever). It was a very expensive activity, but I did think the views from the top and on the way back down were stunning—probably some of the best color we saw all trip. And we lucked out with nobody else in our car on the way up or down!

Covered Bridges—Covered bridges are featured in all sorts of photos and marketing for Vermont, and we ended up checking out two of them near Stowe—Emily’s Bridge, a more popular spot that is supposedly haunted, and a red covered bridge, which I saw on the map and was off the beaten path. There’s nothing to do at the bridges other than take photos and admire them, but it was fun to drive by them nonetheless. They are still active roads, though, so watch for cars!

Downtown Stowe—We only spent about an hour wandering down the main street of Stowe and checking out the church with the iconic steeple. There were a handful of unique stores with made-in-Vermont art and keepsakes that we enjoyed browsing.

Cabot Creamery Cheese Tasting—This wasn’t originally on the itinerary, but I think I read about the Cabot cheese store in a brochure at our motel. It was on the way to the Ben and Jerry’s factory from Stowe, so we decided to stop in for a couple of free samples. They were all SO delicious—I wish I could have taken some cheese home! We also stopped by the Danforth Pewter store next door and got the cutest matching maple leaf necklaces.

Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour—The Ben and Jerry’s factory offers a 30-minute, $6 tour of their operation floor, and even though neither my mom nor I are diehard Ben and Jerry’s fans, it was still really interesting to hear the founders’ story and learn about the ice cream production process. We lucked out by visiting on a day when the factory was in production, which isn’t guaranteed! They also have a “flavor graveyard” with real tombstones that honor the ice cream flavors they’ve laid to rest, which was really funny.

Woodstock Activities

Downtown Woodstock—We spent about an hour wandering around downtown Woodstock, popping in and out of stores. It felt bigger than Stowe’s downtown and was, in my opinion, even cuter. We particularly liked the store Collective – The Art of Craft, where my mom got me a really unique felt hat for my birthday. Even though I thought Woodstock’s downtown was more fun, I’m still glad we stayed in Stowe because overall there seemed to be more to do there.

Sugarbush Farm—The dirt road to this maple and cheese farm was a bit of a trek (I wouldn’t want to get stuck there in bad weather!), but the farm was such an enjoyable afternoon activity. They have a nature walk where we got to walk through the maple trees and learn about the tapping process. We learned that a sugarbush is actually a name for a group of maple trees! There were also farm animals and free cheese and maple samples in the gift shop. My mom and I enjoyed a tailgate picnic in the parking lot with a pretty view of the horses.

What we saw of each of these states was beautiful, and even though we were told the leaves weren’t at peak, I’m happy with the color we saw. As a tourist who had to take multiple flights to get there, as opposed to someone who lives within driving distance and can plan more on a whim, I think we timed it pretty dang well. As always, let me know if you have any questions (or corrections) about today’s post! And thank you for reading.

Check out my other fall New England road trip posts:

Fall New England Road Trip: Itinerary and Details

Fall New England Road Trip: Maine

Fall New England Road Trip: Salem, MA

 

Miles of smiles,
Grace