Oct. 8 – Oct.11, 2021

We left Bar Harbor on the morning of Oct. 8. On the way to Maine's capital, Augusta, we saw an enormous "prison"-like building up on the hill, wondering what it was. After driving over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge nearby, we pulled over at the bridge lookout. We found that the bridge observatory was open to the public as well as "the prison," the famous historic Fort Knox, of which we were not aware. The bridge observatory offers 360-degree spectacular views of the Penobscot River and the Bay below. It is the tallest public bridge observatory in the world. Fort Knox is nearby, overlooking the Penobscot River. The massive fort was constructed between 1844-69, more than 150 years ago. The fort was commissioned but never saw the war. We all were amazed by this well-preserved pentagon shape building.

Left Fort Knox, we headed to Belfast for a quick lunch break. We didn't spend too much time there. Afterward, we went directly to the State House in Augusta, the capital of Maine. We missed the guided tour because of the side trip to Fort Knox, so we just walked around inside of the buildings. We try to visit the government buildings if possible while on travel. Typically, the government buildings in the states or the countries are among the best buildings in the area, being well constructed and maintained and offering some history.

Today's plan was altered once we found out that our old friends from Philadelphia would be in the same area. For some of them, we hadn't seen each other for more than 15 years. We were very excited to meet them at the footbridge in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, at sunset. We wanted to have dinner at the Boothbay Harbor to have some time to catch up. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any outdoor seating in the area as our friends preferred due to COVID-19 concerns. We decided to drive back to the inn our friends stayed in to have rice porridge, which they made in a slow cooker in the morning, along with many side dishes they brought home. With precaution against COVID-19, our friends were fully prepared with homemade food for the trip. The dinner was great and comfy. We chatted for hours before we left for our hotel.

On Oct. 9, we started our exploring in Vermont. The name of Vermont comes from two French words vert (green) and mont (mountain), the "Green Mountain State," as on the Vermont license plate. Three-quarters of the state is covered with forests. Vermont is the best place to see fall foliage in the country. Once we drove into the White Mountain in the region of New Hampshire and Vermont, the forest exploded with bursting red, orange, and yellow. In some areas, the fall color was near the peak or at the peak. It was the best fall color we had ever seen. We made a few scenic views stops on the way to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Once in the park, we did a short hike to the Pogue and South Peak Loop. It was a lovely hike with a great view. Continuing our journey, we stopped at Woodstock, Vermont. We planned to have dinner at Woodstock. But the area was flooded with tourists, and we could not find a place to dine in, so our only option was to continue driving and go to Rutland, Vermont, directly where our hotel for the night is located. Once checked in, we had Chinese food at a local Chinese Restaurant. We all were starving, so anything would taste good to us.

On Oct. 10, we had a full schedule today. We visited Cold Hollow Cider Mill first. Besides selling cold-pressed apple cider, they also sell legendary cider donuts. The apple cider was made of McIntosh apples grown nearby. The juice was fresh and sweet, the best we had ever had. The donuts were also delicious. The whole store was full of tourists. Unfortunately, the cold cider mill didn't run on that day. A couple of miles from the mill is the Ben&Jerrys Waterbury Factory. Due to COVID-19, the factory tour was suspended, but the ice cream store was open. We ordered Ice Cream. They were good as always.

Speaking of Vermont, a photo of a little Stowe Church in fall colors is everywhere, on the internet, on social media, postcards sold in the stores, and displays in art galleries. After a Google search, we located the photo shot site near Aveda Salon. We went there in the morning to snap a few photos but were not satisfied because the weather was not so great, mostly cloudy. Our next stop was Stowe Foliage Arts Festival. The festival features over a hundred vendors with the best of local crafts, food, and art. It also had live traditional craftwork demonstrations. The exhibits were of high quality. We had lunch at the festival. The festival site is connected to a nearby park with a lovely trail. The weather got a lot better in the afternoon. So we went out hiking in the park. With much of the bright red, orange, and gold color in full display, we had a wonderful time enjoying the beauty of Vermont's fall foliage.

As the sun poked out through the cloud more and more in the late afternoon, we went back to the photo spot to take more pictures of that famous small white church. Everyone wants to take photos with perfect lighting conditions, just like the postcards. We had to park far away and walk to the photo site as many people and cars were there. After hundreds of pictures of that little white church taken, we finally made it to Middlebury, Vermont, late, where we stayed for the night. The dinner was a take-out from a popular local Thai restaurant in downtown Middlebury as no tables were available for dining in. Like any other day on this trip, we had to wait one and a half hours to get our food. But the food was not bad at all.

On Oct. 11, before we headed back to Boston, we toured the Lincoln Family Home. It is a beautiful mansion on more than 400 acres overlooking Green Mountain and the Taconic Mountain, with a Europe-style garden. The estate was a summer home built by Lincoln's son, Robert. After we toured the house, we drove back to Boston. Vermont is our 46th state to visit.