Coffee, Hikes & Leaves: A Roadtrip in New England

Hi Guys!

I hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can’t believe ours was almost two months ago….holy cow! Then again we Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving practically as soon as summer’s over. My hometown team, The Redblacks, lost in the Grey Cup (our version of the Superbowl) yesterday, unfortunately, but it was pretty exciting nonetheless. I hope your weekend was a good one, too.

Now that November is almost over (wait what??) I thought I’d better hurry up and share a Fall-themed road trip with you guys. How does a trip to New England sound? Grab your pumpkin latte or apple cider and let’s hop in the car. We’re going to do some Leaf Peeping.

While I’m not a huge fan of Fall, at all, there is one thing I do like about the season: the changing leaves. And judging by the millions of other tourists who flock to New England every Fall too, I’m clearly not alone. 

Leaf Peepin’ is big business in New England. Particularly in Vermont where you’re bound to find some of the most spectacular colours anywhere in the country. I think it’s safe to say that money really does grow on trees ’round these parts, especially in October when tourists come here in droves.

Vermont happens to be one of my favourite States too, so it usually doesn’t take much arm-twisting to convince me to head there any time of the year, let alone when the mountains are completely ablaze in vibrant reds, burnt oranges and dazzling yellows.

 The show is spectacular.

I’ve been to Vermont several times but mostly in the summer (and twice at Christmas), but I haven’t been there in the Fall yet, for some reason. It was about time I rectified this!

So with a rare weekend off-work, my good friend AL and I decided to take a day trip to Vermont (it’s only a 3-hour drive from Ottawa).

I wasn’t really expecting to be blown away by the colours here at all, but that’s only because we get our share of spectacular foliage at home. So, you know it’s gonna take some pretty nice lookin’ leaves to impress me (ha ha).

When we arrived in Vermont, however, my expectations were surpassed—by a long shot.  This place is incredible in the Fall. The colours of the leaves are so vibrant that it’s almost surreal.

 

 

When we arrived in Burlington we headed to Church Street to have some lunch and roam around downtown.

This is the city’s main drag. It’s a hopping pedestrian street with a church at each end of it (hence the name). I think it puts our pedestrian street in Ottawa (Sparks St) to shame.

I can’t come to Burlington without going to this store, of course. That would be crazy talk.

This place makes some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had (even in Europe). So I may have bought one of everything.

As you can probably tell by the photos, it was quite warm….for late-November. We  couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather for some hiking and leaf-peepin’.

After a delicious lunch we grabbed a coffee for the road. And being the photo nut that I am,  it took us awhile to walk back to the car as I kept stopping to take pictures.

Speaking of nuts, say hi to Al!

You’ll rarely see this guy without a coffee in his hand. Which is quite funny because in University (20 years ago, or so), the only time he’d touch the stuff is if it came free with breakfast. Well he’s certainly addicted to it now, no doubt about it. (I may or may not have anything to do with that).

 

 

The sunny blue sky was the perfect backdrop for the brilliant fall colours, even here in downtown Burlington. I loved this flaming orange tree on one of the street corners.

The drive along the Green Mountains was absolutely phenomenal.  I especially love the stunning sugar maples, which had the most striking oranges and reds I’ve ever seen.

Montpelier is only about a 15-20 minute drive south of Burlington. Since I’ve never been there before, we figured this was the perfect time to check out this little town. It’s much smaller than Burlington, which surprised me as it’s the state capital. But when we arrived and chatted with a few locals, they told us this is the smallest state capital in all of the U.S! Cool.

I loved this town right off the bat. It’s your typical, charming small town with lots of old buildings and funky shops. And everyone knows each other and says hello to you (yep, even to the tourists) on the street. Beautiful and friendly!

 

 

A whole lotta red going on here. Thankfully I decided not to wear a red jacket today or I might have blended into the scenery a little too much.

 

When I think of the ideal small town in the mountains, this is it.

There is much history here, too. And a bunch of gorgeous churches, cool architecture and stunning mountain scenery. The fall colours are just an added bonus! 😀

 

 

 

 

Even though it’s been too-short of a trip, it’s been a pretty fun day and I really enjoyed visiting Vermont in the Fall, and finally getting to Montpellier, too.

 

 

Hope you’re all having a great Fall! I’ll be back in a few days with Part 2 to this post. Yep, more leaves! This time in Providence, Rhode Island (then no more leaves ’til next Fall, I promise)