Day 26 - North Conway, NEW HAMPSHIRE to Burlington, VERMONT

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Up around 8am for a quick bite for breakfast and we said farewell to the Holiday Inn Express at North Conway and hit the road yet again. One thing about our Chrysler 300S is that it vibrates so badly at speeds of 40 mph, 55 mph and over 65 mph so I’m guessing it needs a wheel alignment or something and is so annoying I have just adjusted to drive at a speed where it is not so annoying but it’s always there and it’s not just the steering wheel where you feel it as we have a dozen water bottles on the floor of the back seat and they just shake rattle and roll all day long ! We just did not have any time in our schedule to consider going to Avis to swap it.



I originally planned to head west along the Kancamangus Highway so we could see it from both directions but after yesterday’s traffic I thought it best to avoid this road just in case the same issue arose (it is peak foliage and Columbus Day holiday weekend combined). Google maps is normally really good at showing the traffic but so much of this area has no phone reception so google maps can’t get the feedback on how bad the traffic is so we headed north towards Littleton again on the same road we had travelled on yesterday for the first half an hour. The weather today is really cold again (around 4 degrees) and maximum will only be about 9 degrees but there is no wind so it does not feel quite that cold.



It’s been a cloudy day with the odd shower and it was not long after going passed Littleton that we crossed the Connecticut River and we were in Vermont our 50th state (and state number 10 on this trip). Not long after crossing the state line I pulled into the Vermont welcome centre and asked the chap “where can I find Moose ?” and he opened up his filing cabinet and gave me a map of a moose road trip he recommends with no guarantees (he said had not seen a moose for almost 3 months now !). The best option he presented was a bit further north towards Canada and not really on the route where we are heading but thanked him anyway and we’ll take our chances.



As we approached the town of St Johnsbury I noticed a sign saying gift shop so I hit the brakes not knowing what to expect. The entrance looked a little creepy and we slowly opened the front door and we are not sure what to find and inside was a really nice and in fact quite a large gift store. Turns out we were at the gift shop for the Maple Grove plant which is the world’s largest maple syrup farm and we bought some blueberry jam, maple syrup (in a bottle that was the shape of a maple leaf) and a big box of maple syrup cream cookies (it had 18 that should last us a couple of weeks). It’s hard to believe that we are only an hour from the Canadian border which probably explains why its so damn cold here. The lady that served us said it was snowing back in Littleton last night so it is definitely cold !



We asked google maps to find us a diner and it sent us to Anthony’s Diner at a town called Waterford and first we made sure it was not behind us this time ! Again we had a slight wait for a booth seat and the hostess made us wait outside in the entry area where it was freezing cold, especially whenever someone opened the door to come in or go out. Kerry ordered the last available supply of the meatball vegetable soup and I was going for the same so instead I ordered a burger and some potato skins to share which were good but not as good as we had at Rumford Falls.



Before we reached our destination we also drive past Montpelier which is the state capital but did not bump into former governor Bernie Sanders anywhere. This looked to be a very small town to be a state capital.



We arrived at our hotel the Green Mountain Suites in Burlington around 3pm and there was some roadworks happening around the hotel so it was a little tricky with some road closures and detours going on. The hotel has an amazing lobby with a huge fireplace that was on and looked really welcoming and looked exactly like the photos we saw online. We were upgraded to a King Suite in the southern building adjoining the main building which had an interconnecting walkway on Level 3 (our room would be on Level 2).



We arrived early enough to get some washing done that was badly needed and then we drove to the downtown Burlington waterfront area (about 5 minutes away) to see the most amazing sunset occurring across Lake Champlain towards the mountain range in upstate New York. Going here was highly recommended by the guy who had checked us in. On the way we drove past the University of Vermont and with all the young folk walking around you can tell this is a college town.



Kerry went crazy with taking photos as the sun went down with not a breath of wind so the reflections of the water were quite incredible. I’ve only posted a few of the photos she took but they were all quite amazing shots. We then parked the car near the Church Street pedestrian mall and took a walk past the shops that are visible on the YouTube live webcam of this pedestrian only area that we have been watching over the last 3 years planning this holiday including Ben & Jerry’s, Kettel Korn and the Beer and Coffee shop and we finally got the find out what that unknown shop was that we could not identify on the webcam footage (more about that tomorrow).



We chose to have dinner at Ken’s Pizza and Pub which was established 1973. I ordered a BBQ beef brisket sandwich and Kerry had a broccoli cream soup and for drinks she had a Citizen Cider Strawberry Crush whilst I had a Fiddlehead IPA beer (which was not the best taste actually). We had a booth seat yet again and it was still really cold despite the sunshine and I withheld some of the tip as the waitress took away my beer glass before I had finished it when they cleared the table. There was only a little bit left but the principle applies here !



Seems like a quiet area so hopefully a good nights sleep is ahead and we have the next 2 days to explore the Burlington region of Vermont.

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Photos

Mt Washington Hotel
Can’t see Mt Washington in the background but look at how the sunlight makes the colours pop !

Nice reflections with the Mountains in the background
That is New York’s Adirondack Mountains yaounde can see across the other side of Lake Champlain.

Sunset at Burlington
Nice to see them holding hands on the jetty.