Sunday 10/12/08
Northern New England
Today is another driving day. It is mid-morning by the time we get packed up and leave Bar Harbor on our trip west. The Princess needs to be dragged off the island so we must have had a couple great days here. We are going to spend most of the day traveling on US Hwy 2 which we pick up just west of Bangor.
It is already lunch time so we stop at Tim Hortons, an ever-present chain in Canada, to see what it's all about. They have combo meals like all the other fast food places, but their combo is a soup, sandwich and doughnut. What a concept! John has a chicken club and Mary has a chicken salad that are both so-so and we skipped the doughnuts. Apparently we missed the best part. We fill up our gas tank at $2.90 a gallon which is nice.
During the afternoon we dally through little Maine towns, along rivers and across little mountain passes always surrounded by a sun-shiny palette of fall colors. As we cross into New Hampshire we wiggle through the White Mountains and the Mount Washington Valley. It is a short hop into Vermont at St. Johnsbury where we catch I91 south. As much as we like the backroads, this is a beautiful stretch of highway swaying to and fro between the mountains with great valley and river views. The late afternoon sun adds a lot of drama to the scene with New Hampshire always just to our left.
We exit at White River Junction and if we turn left we hit Hanover New Hampshire (Dartmouth College) but we turn right on Hwy 4 heading into the Vermont central mountains. We get to Woodstock, VT, our destination, and drive right to The Village Inn where we will be for the next couple nights. This is a Victorian house built in 1899 with nine guest rooms and, strangely enough, a little bar. Our hosts David and Evelyn make all the right moves as we check in with introductions and a friendly and thorough tour. Our room is on the third floor with narrow stairways and halls so dragging the luggage to our room gets all the blood moving after the long drive.
Our mission for tonight is a burger and beer and David recommends Bentley’s in the town square. It is a nice 10-minute walk into town and we are reminded of the charm of these arch-typical New England villages. There are very few people on the streets, obviously because they are all in Bentley’s. The place is packed and Mary powers to an open bar stool while we wait for a table. The solo bartender had a large full bar and is also pouring for the dining room so he is suicidal. We do get a couple beers and get seated within the promised time. There are four other tables around us that also get seated when we do, all with one server. Ouch. John’s chili-cheeseburger and Mary’s bleu cheese burger turn out to be pretty good so the whole thing turns out better than it could have.
Northern New England
Today is another driving day. It is mid-morning by the time we get packed up and leave Bar Harbor on our trip west. The Princess needs to be dragged off the island so we must have had a couple great days here. We are going to spend most of the day traveling on US Hwy 2 which we pick up just west of Bangor.
It is already lunch time so we stop at Tim Hortons, an ever-present chain in Canada, to see what it's all about. They have combo meals like all the other fast food places, but their combo is a soup, sandwich and doughnut. What a concept! John has a chicken club and Mary has a chicken salad that are both so-so and we skipped the doughnuts. Apparently we missed the best part. We fill up our gas tank at $2.90 a gallon which is nice.
During the afternoon we dally through little Maine towns, along rivers and across little mountain passes always surrounded by a sun-shiny palette of fall colors. As we cross into New Hampshire we wiggle through the White Mountains and the Mount Washington Valley. It is a short hop into Vermont at St. Johnsbury where we catch I91 south. As much as we like the backroads, this is a beautiful stretch of highway swaying to and fro between the mountains with great valley and river views. The late afternoon sun adds a lot of drama to the scene with New Hampshire always just to our left.
We exit at White River Junction and if we turn left we hit Hanover New Hampshire (Dartmouth College) but we turn right on Hwy 4 heading into the Vermont central mountains. We get to Woodstock, VT, our destination, and drive right to The Village Inn where we will be for the next couple nights. This is a Victorian house built in 1899 with nine guest rooms and, strangely enough, a little bar. Our hosts David and Evelyn make all the right moves as we check in with introductions and a friendly and thorough tour. Our room is on the third floor with narrow stairways and halls so dragging the luggage to our room gets all the blood moving after the long drive.
Our mission for tonight is a burger and beer and David recommends Bentley’s in the town square. It is a nice 10-minute walk into town and we are reminded of the charm of these arch-typical New England villages. There are very few people on the streets, obviously because they are all in Bentley’s. The place is packed and Mary powers to an open bar stool while we wait for a table. The solo bartender had a large full bar and is also pouring for the dining room so he is suicidal. We do get a couple beers and get seated within the promised time. There are four other tables around us that also get seated when we do, all with one server. Ouch. John’s chili-cheeseburger and Mary’s bleu cheese burger turn out to be pretty good so the whole thing turns out better than it could have.
A pleasant walk back to our very-cute room and we boost each other into our tall bed where we nestle into our 107 pillows. That’s what it feels like anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment