New England

This past week I visited one of my college roommates whom now lives on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. I flew into Boston on Saturday, rented a car, and drove about 2.5 hours to meet her.

On the way out of Boston, I stopped by a local seafood joint, Moulton's, for a lobster roll. Since it was mid-afternoon, I was the only person in the place other than the guy who served me.  I think he thought I was so odd for dining by myself mid-afternoon.

Once I met up with my friend, we headed to a BBQ competition at the Harpoon brewery in Windsor, Vermont.

Once we had our fair share of BBQ ribs, we headed back to my friend's cottage.  Can I just say how adorable all the farmhouses are in the area?  My friend is renting the below guest cottage and it is full of charm.  The view from the back porch was breathtaking!
 

The next day was packed with activities. We woke up and grabbed coffee and scones at a beautiful farm, Cedar Circle Farm.

 

Maybe someday I'll have a garden as beautiful as theirs.  

 

 

It even backed up to the Connecticut River.  Just beautiful.

After breakfast, we hiked for about an hour and a half on the trails through the woods behind her place. In typical New England summer fashion, there were tons of insects to deal with, but it was still a nice hike. 

 

 

It was interesting to see all of the stone walls in the area, sometimes in the most random spots.  My friends says that the land is rather rocky, so when settlers would till the land, the rocks were just stacked in a convenient spot. 

 

 

After the hike, we quickly stopped to say hello to one of her friends at a horse barn.  Then we headed to another farm, Sugarbush Farm, in Vermont for cheese and maple syrup tasting. I came home with plenty of goodies.  :)

 

 

We also stopped by Long Trail brewery so I could grab Jason some local craft beers (which he attested were quite delicious).

After that, we toured a couple cute small towns, including Woodstock (in the first picture below) and Hanover (where Dartmouth is) and then grabbed a quick dinner at a ice cream/ snack stand, Whippi-Dip, in Fairlee. 

 

 

The next day, I took it pretty easy, mostly relaxing/ reading on her friend's porch. 

 

On Tuesday, I headed back to the Boston area to meet Jason who was in the area for work stuff.

 

On my way south, I stopped at Monadnock State Park to take a nice hike.  I figured it was a 3-4 mile roundtrip hike up and down the mountain, so maybe I'd be able to complete it in 2 hours.  Boy was I wrong.  It quickly got steeper and steeper the further I went.  About half way up, a man who hikes the mountain daily (yes, he even moved within biking distance of the mountain so his schedule could accommodate daily trips) said I still had about an hour to go to the top.  That's when I figured for timing (and my knees) sake, I'd head on back down.  Fortunately, I still got some great views in.  They say that on clear days you can see all the way to Boston.

This was the trail up:

 

No joke.

 

Once to Boston (mid-afternoonish), we took a speed trip through the MFA.  Luckily, the docent pointed us straight toward our favorite style, Impressionism.  (Not pictured below.)



 

We also ran by to get a peek of Fenway Park.

 

 

Then we hopped on the train to Harvard, where I enrolled in grad school.

 

Just kidding. 

I did that at Dartmouth.

Okay, okay.  Maybe not.

Overall, it was a nice trip.  I'd like to go back one day to do more exploring, especially in the countryside.  Maybe next time I could go during autumn to see the leaves changing.