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New England Vacation 2020 Part III: New Hampshire & Vermont
Tommy
Day 7: New Hampshire
The final part of our New England Vacation was driving through New Hampshire and Vermont after leaving Bar Harbor, ME. We left Bar Harbor on Thursday morning and we had about an 8 hour drive to our stop in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Instead of taking a direct route, we ended up taking the scenic route heading towards Mount Washington, driving through the Kancamagus Highway, and then stopping in Lebanon, NH.
Mount Washington
The drive to Mount Washington was about 4 hours and 20 mins from Bar Harbor, ME. You could definitely start seeing the colors of the leaves change once we got past Augusta, ME and started driving through the small towns in Maine. We didn’t check the fall foliage report for Acadia National Park, but I think we missed the peak by about a week as it wasn’t as colorful as I thought it would be.
We didn’t drive up Mount Washington and just stayed at the base as we wanted to have more time exploring the White Mountains National Forest. But it was a beautiful day out and you could see how high Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson were. I would love to come back and hike here sometime, but it was definitely windy. You can hear the wind in the video and I can see why Mount Washington has some of the most powerful winds in the world. The base of Mount Washington is about 45 mins away from Conway, NH, which is where the east side of the Kancamagnus Highway begins.
Jackson / Honeymoon Covered Bridge
So I didn’t know that covered bridges are a thing in New Hampshire and Vermont until I started researching this trip. But there are 54 historic covered bridges in New Hampshire alone. It’s definitely a touristy thing, but they have a lot of history and each one is unique, which is pretty cool. The Jackson/Honeymoon Covered Bridge was built in 1876 and it’s also known as the Honeymoon Bridge because newlyweds would have their photo taken at the bridge. The bridge was about halfway in between the Mount Washington Auto Road and Conway, NH. There was limited parking nearby as the parking belonged to a couple of shops nearby. It was pretty cool to see my first covered bridge!
Kancamagnus Scenic Byway
The Kancamagnus Highway (state highway 112) is an east/west, 34.5-mile scenic highway through the middle of New Hampshire. Going west, it starts in Conway, NH and ends in Lincoln, NH. There are also numerous hiking trails along this highway, which I would love to come back and do someday. This was probably one of my favorite things to do as it wasn’t overly crowded on a Thursday and the fall foliage was absolutely beautiful.
Albany Covered Bridge
Our first stop in the White Mountains National Forest was the Albany Covered Bridge, which was about 10 minutes away from Conway, NH. It is also seen in the featured photo above. The bridge was built in 1858 and it definitely looked much older than the Jackson Covered Bridge even though it really wasn’t. This bridge had a decent sized parking lot and the fall foliage was definitely getting better.
Lower Falls
Our next stop was about 2 minutes away at Lower Falls. Lower Falls was a very quiet scenic spot where you can enjoy the sounds. There were some people who were there just sitting and enjoying the nature. There are a lot of rocks that you can jump on and the river is shallow so it’s a nice spot for children to play around. There was a decent sized parking lot here.
Rocky Gorge Scenic Area
After Lower Falls, we drove about 3 mins to the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area. There were more people at the Rocky Gorge, but not anywhere close to what we experienced at Acadia. The current of the river was a lot stronger here and there were some higher points so if you have children, make sure to keep an eye on them. I saw a girl do the tree yoga pose so I decided that I totally had to do the same since I am now a yogi as of 2020. There was a pretty big parking lot at this area.
Sabbaday Falls
The Sabbaday Falls Trailhead is an easy heavily trafficked 0.7-mile round trip hike. The drive was about 8 mins away from the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area. Sabbaday Falls and the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area were probably the most crowded stops we visited. But it wasn’t overly crowded. It was a nice easy hike that took about 30 mins and there was a short hill near the falls that had about a 30 degree incline. This trail was pretty with the fall foliage and it was nice to get some fresh air from the long car drive. So I think it’s definitely worth stopping if you want a short easy hike. There is a decent sized parking lot here and it would be hard to find a spot during a peak time, especially on weekends.
CL Graham Wangan Overlook:
Our last stop of the Kancamagnus Highway was the CL Graham Wangan Overlook and we just stopped because the view looked pretty cool. There were a decent amount of people parked here and it was nice to stretch the legs or eat lunch. But other than that, there wasn’t really anything to do besides enjoy the view.
Once we finished the Kancamagnus Highway, we drove toward our stop in Lebanon, NH. Lebanon, NH is located in the west central part of the state right on the border of Vermont. Also, Hanover, NH borders Lebanon, NH and Hanover the the home of Dartmouth College. We didn’t check out the campus as we were too tired. It was getting dark by the time we arrived at our hotel and we actually saw a black bear standing on it’s hind legs on the side of the road. It definitely freaked us out and some of the cars behind us slowed down as they didn’t know if it would cross the road. It literally looked like a human standing on the side of the road, which was kind of freaky!
For dinner, we ate at Jesse’s Steakhouse in Lebanon, NH, which was right next to the Courtyard Marriott where we stayed. The food was delicious and it hit the spot after a long day. They also had a large outdoor patio, but we sat indoors as it was pretty cold outside. It wasn’t an upscale steakhouse, but it definitely beat something like an Outback Steakhouse so in between those.
Day 8: Hildene, Lincoln Family Home
The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We crossed over to Vermont immediately and started heading over to Manchester, VT where the Green Mountain National Forest is.
We stopped in Manchester, VT to check out the Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home. The drive was about an hour and 40 mins from Lebanon, NH.
I found the Hildene when I was researching things to do and we decided to visit as it was a little rainy outside so we figured doing an indoor activity would work best. Plus the reviews were fantastic. The Hildene was the summer home of Robert Lincoln, who was Abraham Lincoln’s only surviving son to maturity. I think admission was like $20/adult, so not too expensive and they have COVID-19 safety precautions in place. When we visited on a Friday afternoon, there were only like 6 people total including us, so we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves. The property was huge and it had some amazing views. This is definitely a great place to bring children or if you like history. This was a nice surprise of the trip and was a lot cooler than I thought it would be as I am really not into museums and touristy things.
The American Ideal Exhibit alone was worth the stop. There were many cool and interesting artifacts of Abraham Lincoln and it was about Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address.
The amazing views of Green Mountains and Taconic Mountains.
After the Hildene, we drove to our stop back in Sayre, PA. We stayed at the Hampton Inn, which was the same hotel we stayed at when we drove out to Maine. For dinner, we ate at the Bluestone Brewing Company, which has solid beer and very good food! I ordered the ahi tuna fish tacos and they were delicious! I ordered a flight of beer and my beers were the Blueberry Blonde, Howlin’ Pumpkin, Oktoberfest, Big Elk Amber, and Chunky Peanut Butter Porter. My favorite beer out of my flight was probably the Howlin Pumpkin Ale. I also had my first Microbrewery strawberry seltzer and Bluestone’s was amazing! It didn’t taste super artificial like the majority of the big brands like Whiteclaw or Truly. If you ever visit Sayre, PA then Bluestone Brewing Company is a solid choice!
Overall Experience
The final day was the long 10 hour drive back to Lake Bluff. This vacation was amazing and was definitely needed with the crazy year of 2020. I would love to go back to Portland, Acadia National Park, and White Mountain National Forest as there is so much more to do. Portland definitely had some of the best food in the US, the hiking at Acadia was incredible, and the fall foliage of the White Mountains National Forest was gorgeous. I would highly recommend visiting New England someday as there is plenty to do!