Who are we

We are a family of 3 who took a break from our routine. All born in England, we have lived in Scotland since 2002 but from February to the end of July 2011 we were on the road in North America for 6 months. We are Mark (also known as Dad), Rachel (also known as Mum... and a whole bunch of other names... my usual at-home blog is here) and Heather (10/11 years of age during the trip).

Thursday 24 March 2011

New England - part one


Last we checked in we were in Rochester, NY. Well, we left there last Saturday morning and set off east towards New England. We took in some highway first, then came off to find lunch in a small town, and that proved harder than you might think. We found sweet nothing in Little Falls, NY and kept going through the countryside for some miles (parallel to the highway). Eventually we stopped at a New York Pizzeria in little place called Fort Plain and were just sitting enjoying a very delicious slice of pizza (each) when a horse and a little black box-like carriage went past (along a fairly ordinary looking small-town street). Amish people! Very exciting and quite unexpected in amongst the cars and pizza places. Didnt get a photo though (too busy eating).

Because we dont like to do too much driving in a day we stopped for the night in Amsterdam, NY (and we dont have a whole lot to say about that apart from that it doesnt seem to have too much in common with Amsterdam, NL). Sunday morning though we were up and ready to get into New England  first stop Bennington, Vermont.

Bennington is just inside the Vermont border and was added onto the itinerary largely because the poet Robert Frost is buried there (and we werent going to manage to get to any of the other Frost landmarks around the US, and I am a fan). His grave is by the Old First Church in Bennington (and you can read about why it is there here) and because it was Sunday morning the church service was just finishing as we were coming out of the graveyard. The locals were very friendly and let us into their beautiful old church for a good look round, a chance for some photos and some hints about where to go for lunch. After this we wandered up to the Battle Monument (remembering the Battle of Bennington 1777 from the Revolutionary War/American War of Independence), enjoyed the sunshine and gorgeous views and worked up an appetite. Next we headed into the lovely little town and had a great lunch in Madisons (local restaurant that makes its own, very good, beer). We could have stayed longer but our booking for the night was down near Boston, MA and we had a few states to get through before bed.

We drove east through dazzling scenery  mountains, trees, snow still high up on the peaks  and we stopped at the look-out for a few more photos. Then it was back down the hill towards Brattleboro and over the border into New Hampshire. We had originally had a longer NH stay planned but that had had to be changed  still, it seemed mad to be so close and not at least put our feet on NH soil. So we crossed into our third state of the day, stopped to try and find a cup of something, failed, took some more photos (oldest continuously working Post Office in Hinsdale, NH  posted a card there too), drove past an amazing garage completely covered in car number plates and then crossed another border into Massachusetts (where we did finally find a cup of coffee in a lovely local store in Northfield, MA). Then it was onto our stop for the night (Concord, MA). But that will be the next post.
New England part 1

7 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

Wonderful! We have the Mennonites in their horse-and-buggies on the roads around here. It is such an anachronism to view, isn't it?

I was in New England for the Bicentennial, in 1976.

Keep on truckin'!

Kat

The Bug said...

Love your pictures! I have never been to New England. Need to rectify that :)

Rachel Fox said...

Leaving New England for New Jersey tomorrow. Will try and get the other N Eng. photos up some time soon.

x

McGuire said...

Cambridge New England, massachusett? Who lived there? e.e. cummings. Did you visit his hooose?

Rachel Fox said...

Actually we didn't go to Cambridge, MA - well, we went through it on a train but we didn't stop there. Will be doing our Massachusetts section next post.
x

hope said...

The only thing the folks in Amsterdam had in common with the old country was the people...in fact, one area of the country was referred to as "New Amsterdam" and eventually became N.Y.

Lovely photos..I'm a day behind, so on to the next set!

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, I think we're several days behind...
x