Leaves, leaves, leaves

From Maine to Vermont there is a beautiful parkway called the Kancamagus. It goes through the White Mountains and beautiful leaf changes. Which were our favorites? The red ones spoke most to me. I think they are maples. Put them in a row with yellow/orange hues and wow. The mountains have a fair number of pines in between which add a fantastic evergreen background to the excitement of the fall changes. The funniest bit, as we reached the top of the range and started down towards Woodstock, we tried to figure out what was up with the forest. Why is it grey? Was there a fire? No city kids. This is the end of the leaf season. The leaves have fallen off already! Sheesh. How did we manage to miss that? As we pulled into Woodstock, it was dark and the Woodstock Inn is big! We were thinking smaller, oh well.

Next morning we took to town--a cute New England village that somehow didn't speak to us as much as other places. Still we found a terrific lady at Laundry Room who would actually do our laundry by the pound! Yippee! From there we shopped for coffee shops and tried out a couple before heading out to Simon Pearce where they make glass things using hydroelectric power from the river next door. They also have a restaurant with great food and killer views. Yum. From there we sat on the green nearby and did the crossword before heading out to explore.

The Quechee Gorge was our unexpected find of the day. Billed as the Grand Canyon of Vermont, I wouldn't call it that but it's amazing and stunningly beautiful. There is something I really love about a gorge. Deep and dramatic, with textured cliffs on the sides sprinkled with trees
and a river running through it all. Breathtaking. We started walking along the path to the dam and then to the bottom of the gorge. Hey, this is why gorge is the root of gorgeous, right?

Tomorrow we are off to Lake Placid NY. Mixed emotions because we would both love to be in Amherst with friends Susan and John. Cancellation policies are a bitch!