Blogs from Meredith, New Hampshire, United States, North America

Today was advertised as the warm and sunny day by the weatherman last night, but I'm afraid he and I have differences on what warm and sunny means. It was in the upper 50"s when we got up, but by the time we had another of Chef Paulette's delicious breakfasts and hit the road by 9:30, it had warmed to the lower 60's. Today we were heading north to Franconia Notch, but we planned on taking the old Route 3 instead of the more efficient I-93. Route 3, also called the Daniel Webster Highway is just a wonderful road, winding through the mountains, it used to be the main thoroughfare for trips to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Most of the attractions remaining date back to the 20's and 30's and are places I visited ... read more

We woke this morning in beautiful downtown Burlington, Vermont. I can't say enough about how nice this town is. Since it is a downtown hotel, there is no free hotel breakfast, so we went in search of somewhere to have breakfast. In looking at Yelp, there were several within walking distance, but most were upscale bistro's and bakeries and we were just looking for bacon and eggs. Finally, we found one called Handy Lunch which was just what we were looking for. A third generation run, since 1945, diner frequented mostly by locals and it was great! After breakfast, we loaded up the bike and headed for our first stop of the day, the Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour. Located due east of Burlington, we followed US-2E out of town for about 27 miles. On the ... read more

We left Burlington and opted for a scenic drive through Vermont and New Hampshire. We travelled the Interstate only to Barre then took US highways to St. Johnsbury. The roads were good and led us past "typical" Vermont farms and fields, with clean rivers and streams and little towns still in reasonable economic condition. We entered New Hampshire and opted for the "middle" route through Crawford Notch. Other options were straight south towards Franklin (boring), the Kancamagus Highway to Conway (very steep), or the northern route to Dixville Notch (pretty, mountains, but very long). One of the first things we came to was the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods. This is a glorious grand hotel (we've seen several this trip) and in addition to wonderful dining, skiing and lodging, the place is tied to history. ... read more