September 22-26, 2003 - Quest for Fall Colors

It was getting late in September and we needed to continue our journey.  Many campgrounds in the Northeast close down after Labor Day, another set closes down at the end of September, most of the rest close by October 15th.  We wanted to see a bit of all of the New England states before everything closed down and we especially wanted to see the famous fall colors, "The Foliage".

September 22nd we drove off the island and headed towards Vermont, going 129 miles to Massena, NY and staying at Massena International Campground:

We drove into town and did some grocery shopping and noticed a lot of Canadian license plates.  There was a major bridge close by.

The campground had a 10% off gas at the local Indian reservation gas station so we stopped to fuel up the next day.  The normal price was cheaper than the other stations.  They had two sets of gas pumps, one set was set up for Canadian money.  We made sure we went to the American money pumps and they had someone do the pumping.  When he was done with the motorhome he had us move forwards and top off the car.  That 10% off was real money.

We drove 117 miles to Homestead Campgrounds in Georgia, VT and checked in for two nights:

We planned to take a drive to see the fall colors in northern Vermont on the 24th and that is what we did.  We drove north, then east and went back and forth into New Hampshire and eventually back west to Burlington and north to the campground.  We did not see that much fall color, here is about the best we did:

We did stop in Saint Johnsbury at Maple Grove Farms and bought some maple syrup stuff:

We did enjoy the scenery and the hay all wrapped like marshmallows:

We even saw a bit more fall color:

On the 25th we drove 123 miles to Apple Hill Campground in Bethlehem, NH and saw this on the way:

We were glad to get into the hills since it was quite windy for the first 50 miles.  The wind calmed way down after that. 

The campground was full so they put us in overflow by the rest rooms for one night:

The next day, the 26th, we followed the route recommended by the campground and it was a nice trip.  We saw some fall colors and part of the route followed a river:

More colors as we crossed over to the Kancamagus Highway:

It was pleasant weather, so we didn't have our coats on:

This guy was having fun in the water:

Once we were done with the Kancamagus Highway we explored the stuff off I-93, like "The Basin"

We came upon the remains of "The Old Man of the Mountain", the symbol of New Hampshire.  Doesn't look like much now, does it?

We really didn't see the dramatic fall colors, but the locals said the weather had not cooperated and this wasn't a good year.

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