Day 5 and we were up early packed and breakfasted ready for the 8.30am departure and the journey through the New England Countryside. Just on the outskirts of North Conway we spotted another covered bridge
though we didn't have time to stop and stare.
Our first stop of the day was at the Willey House Historical Site.
The Willey House, formerly a small inn and residence in Crawford Notch, is the site of a landslide that claimed nine lives in August of 1826. Though the surrounding area was strewn with boulders and debris, the Willey House stood unharmed. The family however, perished in the landslide, becoming part of the legend of the Willey House.
Just across the road is the Saco River, which indirectly was the cause of the demise of the Willey Family, you can read about it
here.
Surrounded by the panorama of Crawford Notch, the views around the site are amazing and has picknicking areas nearby, along with hiking trails and campgrounds.
Setting off again it wasn't too long before our guide pointed out the Mount Washington Site Lodge Hotel
The Mount Washington Hotel and Resort is one of the last surviving grand hotels in the White Mountains and includes an 18-hole Donald Ross-designed golf course, as well as the hotel's original 9-hole course designed by A.H. Findlay. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Our driver decided to take a detour and took us right up the drive past the front of the hotel!
Back on the road again, the lovely
Sugar Hill river view,
to our next stop the lovely town of
Bath, it seemed strange to be visiting Bath on the other side of the world when we've never been to Bath in England! The population of Bath was 1,077 at the 2010 census, it is now mainly a tourist destination,
with it's little church,
covered bridges, of which this is just one,
ice cream parlour, of course we had to try one and delicious it was too.
The fascinating Brick Store, the oldest store in the US which has been continuously operated since 1790.
The inside is a veritable emporium!
Fortified by the ice-cream and the leg-stretch we boarded the coach again for our journey through Vermont to our stop for lunch,
Montpelier.
The first permanent settlement began in May 1787, when Colonel Jacob Davis and General Parley Davis arrived from Charlton, Massachusetts.
General Davis surveyed the land, while Colonel Davis cleared forest and
erected a large log house on the west side of the North Branch of the Winooski River. His family moved in the following winter.
It was Colonel Davis who selected the name Montpelier after the French city Montpellier.
There was a general enthusiasm for things French as a result of that country's aid during the American Revolution.
The settlement grew quickly, and by 1791 the population reached 117.
You can see the dome of the State Capitol Building in Montpelier in the distance as we approached.
Here it is close up.
We quickly found somewhere to have lunch, so we could spend the rest of our stop looking around and taking photographs of the buildings and places of interest.
By population, Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the United States.
I'd love to live somewhere like this, right next to a river.
Always remember to look up, you could be surprised at the view.
There's the Golden Dome of the Capital Building again in the distance.
Lunch break over we were back on the road again to be surprised by an unscheduled but welcome stop at
and what a fun place it is!
With a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and
a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry open their
first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington,
Vermont. Read the full story
here.
We walked up the hill to the cemetary,
the discontinued flavour cemetary that is. Great view from the cemetary.
Take the time to zoom in to see the various flavours that have been killed off.
After a fun couple of hours it was time to get back on the coach again for the final leg of the journey for Day 5 to our stop for the night, Stowe, and once again we arrived with just enough time to unpack the necessaries, eat and retire for another early start the next day.
Join me in Part 6 for our journey across the border to Canada and Montreal.
