Even though I grew up in Virginia, where we got our fair share of autumn every year, a part of me always wanted to go to New England to visit/see autumn/live. I remember exactly how this fantasy started: We got a magazine in the mail that had one tiny photo of the region all decked out in autumn colors. I held onto said issue long past its “good by” date and spent hours gazing at that photo. (This was before the Internet, so I couldn’t just Google more pictures of it. That single one was so precious.) Last week, with my autumn carols playlist on loop in my head, I finally got my chance to go up there.
Boston
We landed in Boston. For years, this city has been near the top of my list of places I might want to live someday. In addition to the seasons, I’m drawn to the architecture and Colonial history. There were so many fascinating museums to visit and tours to take. We didn’t have a chance to do any of those things on this trip, as we were only there for a short time before taking off for Vermont. So we will have to go back again.
What I did see of Boston, while absolutely gorgeous, convinced me I could not live there unless I could walk/Uber/take public transit everywhere. (Or–one can dream–if I had my own personal driver.) The thing that did it for me was all the tiny lanes that suddenly merge into each other with no warning whatsoever. What is that!?
We spent our first evening walking around the surrounding streets (Fenway Park was right nearby) before having dinner at the home of some friends.
Side note: I was excited to learn, as we walked by a long line of people awaiting theatre entry, that Sabaton and Epica were playing there that night! Just had to fangirl over that a little bit.
In the morning, we checked out the Boston Common and some of the surrounding streets. So lovely.
AirBnB #1
For that first night, we stayed in a beautifully kept brownstone on Bay Street, which is canopied by tall deciduous trees. The view was stunning. Our host, Lihua, was so friendly and helpful! She offered up suggestions and history about the residence. And she even allowed us to keep our valuable parking space for hours longer than we had paid. There was a good breakfast included, and we enjoyed chatting with some of the other guests.
We were just past the peak for autumn colors, although that’s still a blessed relief from no autumn colors at all in Florida. And “just past the peak” still looks amazing in New England. The words in my head as we left Boston and headed north along scenic side roads were “glorious”, “majestic”, and “heavenly”. Throughout this trip, I felt like I was experiencing the emotional equivalent of a massage. It was like my heart and soul had been in pain and cramped up for so long, I had forgotten how nice and relaxed it was possible to feel. As we rode through those red and gold and orange leaves, all of my constant stress just died away as though it had never existed.
Keene, NH
Keene, New Hampshire was one of our most favorite stops on the whole drive. It felt like people lived there, in a good way. And the coffee shop we stopped in had such a cheery vibe. Plus, it was so picturesque! So was every other place we went, but I don’t know…Keene just felt good.
Shockingly, this incident occurred the day after we passed through.
Leslie’s Tavern
After Keene, we stopped at Leslie’s Tavern in Rockingham, Vermont for a cozy dinner inside a historic tavern constructed during President John Adams’s administration. The restaurant is owned and operated by chefs John and Leslie Marston, a husband and wife team who focus on fresh local ingredients (some of which they grow in their own garden!).
The atmosphere inside Leslie’s was so relaxing and welcoming, with a warm fire going and soft jazz playing. And my mushroom soup with fresh thyme and sherry was probably my favorite thing I ate on the entire trip! I also loved the pork potstickers and warm bread, and my old-fashioned was really good, too. (Although after listening to the description of the cherries that they preserve in all kinds of delicious spices, including one I’d never even heard of, I was disappointed that they forgot to put them in my drink! Alas. It still tasted wonderful.) Anyway, I highly recommend a visit here if you happen to be in the area!
AirBnB #2
For the second two days of our trip, we stayed in hosts Nick and Hannah’s home in Thetford, Vermont. It was out in the country and so spacious and comfortable, and very modern. The guestbook was invaluable to us in planning our trip, and we enjoyed the maple candies they left for us. We had fun watching the chickens strut around, followed by the dog. And we explored a bit of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales while relaxing before bed.
Woodstock, VT
We began our third day with breakfast at Soulfully Good Cafe in Woodstock, Vermont. I ordered avocado toast with brie and dressed greens. That and the hibiscus and rose hip tea were so full of flavor!
Woodstock was gorgeous and absolutely worth the visit. You could spend a day or two walking around, seeing the shops, and trying some of the different restaurants. It was livelier than any of the other Vermont towns we visited, but in that exact same way that all tourist towns have. More like a theme park than a town where people live. It was similar to how I felt about Whitefish, Montana–it was fun to be there, but not my favorite segment of the trip. There are other places in Vermont and New Hampshire, equally lovely, that feel “lived in” rather than “passed through”.
Hanover, NH
If you ever want to feel simultaneously enraptured by beauty and woefully inadequate, visit one of the Ivies! Our brief stop at Dartmouth was my first time ever seeing one in person. It was exactly as impressive as you might imagine.
In Hanover we ate at Molly’s Restaurant, where a bit of foreshadowing occurred. I saw Philly cheesesteak on the menu. Since it could be the closest I ever got to Philly, I thought, maybe it would be the most authentic experience I would ever have with a cheesesteak. Noticing, however, that it came with American cheese (which I thought was a strange choice, not knowing any better), I asked them to please replace it with Swiss. Then I ordered truffle fries and a glass of Storypoint cabernet (“full-bodied with blackberry and dark fruit flavors, aromas of maple and wood smoke”, from the menu) to go with it. It was a fantastic meal.
Inside the restaurant, I saw a quote I enjoyed that my Google search attributes to Sally Stanford: “If you are being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade.” It had a very ‘me’ vibe to it.
Montpelier, VT
Like almost everywhere else we saw in Vermont, its capital had a bit of a sad and run-down feel to it. Of course, this may be because we were there during church hours on Sunday morning.
All of the action–and I mean all of it–seemed to be happening inside The Skinny Pancake, a cleverly-named crepes restaurant where we stopped for breakfast. Service was friendly but slow and a bit disorganized. However, the food was good and made our wait worth it. Intrigued by the roasted squash and basil sunflower pesto, I ordered the Breakfast Monster. (This also included eggs, cheddar, spinach, and caramelized onions). That fresh basil was to die for! I also loved the “hash purples”–like hash browns, but with shredded beets and carrots instead of potatoes. This restaurant was a local chain with several locations around the state.
AirBnB #3
On the fourth and fifth nights of our trip, we stayed even further out in the country on Spring Hill Farm. Once again, we found ourselves in wonderful, spacious rooms with a great guestbook and chickens! Hosts Jon and Colleen left us fresh eggs in the fridge. And I immediately regretted not purchasing a bottle of their maple syrup to bring home with me.
While on the property, we got to enjoy their trout pond, complete with a wild blue heron quietly stalking some fish. We also went hiking some of their trails up to a field and a beaver pond. (We didn’t get to see the beavers, but we did see the beaver dam.) On our trek, I found myself getting spooked at the thought of nearby bears, having just read a story about an unprovoked bear attack elsewhere three days earlier. But I got my Kate Austen on and spotted some hoof prints while scouring the ground for claw marks.
We were also shocked to discover that the guests who left the morning we arrived were also from Jacksonville. And they were the only other southerners in the entire guestbook! What a coincidence. That seems to happen everywhere we go. Like the waiter in New Orleans, or the obnoxious drunk at a bar in Petoskey, or the obnoxious private-school kids who set off the fire alarm at my hotel in Raleigh. And in typical Jacksonville fashion, these previous guests left their mark in an obnoxious way: By destroying the brand new blinds the hosts had just put in. Go figure.
The guestbook was the first place either of us had ever heard the phrase “Northeast Kingdom” to describe that section of Vermont. It also led us to the Miss Lyndonville Diner, where I tried some superb clam chowder for brunch. I wish I’d had room left for pie!
Lancaster, NH
In Lancaster, we happened upon a great book sale in a really cool library from 1908. You could fill up shopping bags of books for $1 apiece (that’s per bag, not per book). We filled up two bags, and the friendly librarian helped us pack them all into a box and tape it up. Then we walked right next door to the post office and mailed it home to ourselves! It arrived the day after we did.
Concord, NH
We really enjoyed Concord, as well (which my GPS pronounces as “conquered”). New Hampshire’s capital (like just about everywhere else in the state) just felt livelier and happier than Vermont’s.
In Concord, I got to try a dish I’d never heard of at The Post Downtown–tourtiere! This was tied with that mushroom soup and the avocado toast for my favorite thing I ate on the trip. I think tourtiere is basically the same as mincemeat pie, which I have never had, but I do try to find mince pie every year for dessert! Tourtiere, mince, and mincemeat pie all use what are essentially mulling spices to make everything inside taste extra delicious. Or as my boyfriend put it, it was like they went outside and picked every plant they could find and threw it in the dish. (He was insulting it at the time that he said this, but I thought it sounded like a compliment!) Since he hated it, I scarfed his down immediately after finishing my own. Because when was I going to have tourtiere again?
Since I’m talking food again, I should point out that I never actually ended up eating anything with maple syrup on it the entire time we were there. I did have several maple candies, but no syrup. But never fear: I brought home four bottles of it in four different flavors! So there is lots of delicious maple in my future.
A Note About Parking
A general observation about our whole trip was that parking anywhere is a major pain. They really don’t want you staying downtown for long! There were multiple times in all three states that we saw parking enforcers while we were getting into and out of our car, on their way to nab someone. We kept having to cut our explorations short because our time limit was running out. On our last morning, we ran out of time in the middle of breakfast. My boyfriend had to get up and go down the street to put more money in the machine before he could eat! I mean, I know rules exist for a reason, but the time limits just seem so irrationally short. Just something to keep in mind and plan for if you’re ever driving in these areas as a visitor.
Philly Cheesesteak
Because we had a layover in Philadelphia on the way home, and I had no idea when, if ever, I’d be back in Philadelphia, I just had to try an authentic Philly cheesesteak. When in Rome, you know. But I really should have done my research first. Had I known what an actual Philly cheesesteak involved, I would have avoided it. I’m used to the variations having peppers and onions, and Swiss or provolone or even mozzarella. I did not know that the authentic varieties include none of those things and instead come with American “cheese”. Or even–the horror–Cheez Whiz!
To make matters even worse, there was a nutrition label from the side of a can cooked into my food. Fortunately I was eating it with a fork (I know) instead of handheld, so I spotted that right away. There were some good Cajun fries that came with a “famous cheese sauce” that tasted like it was just more melted American cheese. So I’m done with authentic Philly cuisine. I know it isn’t fair to judge the whole of it by airport food, but there’s no situation that would make either American cheese or Cheez Whiz edible to me. Give me turtle soup over that any day!
In Conclusion
So in summary, everything we saw was lovely, and I would go back to New England anytime. We agreed that the region felt almost like a mix of our two home states of Virginia and Michigan. By the very end of our vacation, I was feeling saddened almost to the point of tearful at the thought of possibly never living in such a place again. But if I were to redo this trip, I would probably have spent more time in New Hampshire than in Vermont, as there just seemed to be more to do.
