Covered bridges, Dartmouth, Sharon VT, Cheese and Syrup

Lydia has this traveling thing down. 

We had no idea that our drive from Maine to Vermont through New Hampshire would be so crazy.  The drive was supposed to be about 3 hours so really not too bad but instead it took us closer to 6!  It was a beautiful weekend and Columbus weekend too and we had the craziest traffic.  This little town called Fryeberg was having their county fair and it is apparently not to be missed.  We could not believe the traffic to get to this fair.  We were driving the opposite direction and the lines went on for miles and miles.  We were trying to get to Conway, New Hampshire to check out the colors and some covered bridges something I was really looking forward to but our drive took so much longer than expected that the light was pretty much gone.  It was disappointing.  What we did see was beautiful and I can only imagine what we were driving by in the dark. We will just have to go to New Hampshire again!  Good thing we live out here.  Apparently they have tons of restored and not so restored covered bridges.  I have always loved covered bridges and am so glad we got to see some.

I love the mountains in the background too. 

 We stayed the night in Vermont and took a little time the next morning to hunt down some covered bridges.  They actually have them marked on many maps they are that sought after.  We found a few and then we headed to the first of our three destinations of the day: Dartmouth College in Hanover NH.  We thought it would be cool to visit an ivy league campus and check out the downtown area. It seems like most of these schools have cute little downtowns.  On our way to Dartmouth we drove by some signs for a Lake and Mark decided it would make a great drive so we made a short detour and it was beautiful.  We drove around the lake enjoying the views and then headed over to campus.  It was fun to walk around a bit and think of how prestigious the school is.

DARTMOUTH CAMPUS

After visiting Dartmouth we headed over over to Sharon, Vermont the birthplace of Joseph Smith. This was a beautiful area and where we got some of our best pictures.  We were the only people at the monument and enjoyed the calm spirit and picturesque Fall views.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  A perfect Fall sight with awesome weather.  Mark and Sue had gone in 1993 and I had been in 2003 so it was fun to talk about the difference and be back.  It was nice to have it to ourselves as well.

 The contrast with the bright green grass was Mark's favorite. It is awesome. 

 These mums were amazing! 

After Sharon, Vermont we enjoyed a pretty drive to Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, Vermont.  This is a running farm with animals,  maple syrup tapping and processing, cheese making and beautiful views.  Jared and Lydia enjoyed the animals and Mark, Sue and I enjoyed the samples. They have 4 grades of syrup and 14 flavors of cheese.  So yummy.  We also went on a little walk through their maple trees where they tap the syrup in the early spring and enjoyed seeing the tubes and the pretty trees.  They had their syrup room open so we walked through on a little self guided tour to see how the syrup is made  It would be fun to see trees actually being tapped but I am positive Vermont is way more pleasant in October thatn it is in early March.  We attempted some quick family pictures on our drive out but we were facing the sun and Jared could not handle it.  I agree it is not easy but I didn't think it was that hard.  I wish we hadn't stopped as it just left everyone irritated.  Then it was back in the car to search for one more covered bridge (found it with plenty of light left) just down the street from the farm.  It had a pretty waterfall and was a nice stop.

 Those colored blocks are the chess wrapped in wax. 

The plan was to stop in Deerfield, MA but there was too much traffic and road work.  We stayed in Springfield, MA that night and spent our last night in a hotel.  Monday would be a long day in the car. When Mark booked the hotels he made sure to choose places with pools and they made Jared and Lydia so happy.