New England Revisited
Our latest adventure, in celebration of Tim’s 48th birthday, was a revisit to New England. We first visited all the New England states (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) in 2008. However, at that time I was quite ill, constantly nauseated, sedated, and being treated for PCP pneumonia. To say that it was an unpleasant trip, for much of the time, would be an understatement and we hoped to have better outcomes this time around. I am happy to report that we did! Tim’s excellent photos can be found here, and the map which shows where photos were taken and which therefore gives a sense of our route can be found here. Enjoy!
Autumn Colors
Tim is very fond of autumn and especially of the vibrant colors that it can bring to deciduous trees. There is a small amount of color in Georgia, depending on where you are, but much of our foliage is evergreen and what trees do change color are not as dramatic as what can be found elsewhere, although Georgia does publish a leaf color change map to help local “leaf peepers” find what color there is. New England is, of course, justifiably famous for its fall color displays and when planning this trip we discovered sold out inns and hotels with either no rooms at all, or limited space at prices that would make New York City blush! Over $300 a night for a Hilton in Burlington, Vermont of all places? You better believe it!
The last time we tried leaf peeping, the color was limited at the time of year we went. The timing, and even the occurrence, of leaf color is heavily influenced by multiple factors of weather and other conditions that change each year. In 2008, we ultimately had to cross into southern Canada to find decent color, but this year we had no trouble at all finding glorious color most everywhere we went in Vermont and New Hampshire. We were assisted by the Leaf Peeper application on our iPhones that gave daily updated reports on the leaf conditions across multiple states. Really, leaf peeping is big business, and the limited season accounts for over 25% of Vermont’s total tourism revenue on a yearly basis.
Beginning in Atlanta
We started the adventure at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Concourse C, the home of shorter haul flights on smaller aircraft to more limited interest destinations, therefore the concourse contains about twice the number of gates as other concourses used by larger equipment for more popular destinations. However, this doesn’t matter much since we spend our time in the rarified atmosphere of the Sky Club looking down and out the windows at the activity on the ramps. Our flight was an early afternoon one, the earliest of only two per day direct to Manchester, New Hampshire, although far more frequent services can be found in LaGuardia and Detroit. An alternative option is to use Burlington, Vermont airport, also from Atlanta, LaGuardia, and Detroit, but prices in to Burlington are considerably higher and schedules are less attractive, with only one early evening direct arriving about 9pm from Atlanta. I suppose one could use another airline, but we certainly won’t be budging from Delta any time soon!
Arrival Manchester
We arrived about 5:00pm but thankfully there isn’t much of a rush hour in Manchester, even though it is the largest city in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine with over 100,000 residents. We drove west out of town on relatively local US Highways, a quite impressive system not well known to westerners since the system is limited in the west but quite extensive in the east. We crossed the width of New Hampshire in under two hours, crossing the Connecticut River, which forms the border with Vermont. We were staying in Brattleboro, a small but reasonably nice town of about 12,000 people. We ate alongside the river at The Marina restaurant and then retired early, tired from a day of travel even if it wasn’t an extremely long one.
Brattleboro Breakfast
On the way out of Brattleboro in the morning, we stopped at the Chelsea Royal Diner for breakfast, which was an interesting experience. The hostess greeted us by telling us that there were no tables available but we could eat at the counter, which was fine with us. I was however mystified as to why the couple immediately behind us, we held the door for them, were given a table immediately. The arrival of the UPS driver, who had a brief conversation with another patron that ended with “tell you mother I said hi” I think explained it all. In a town this small, everyone knows everyone and as the tourists, the counter was good enough if a local wanted a table. OK, I can live with that. Another interesting point was that the diner was clear in their menu presentation that you could opt for local free range eggs or the regular kind, just as you could pay an up-charge for the real local maple syrup or get the corn syrup type. I opted for the real thing, because believe me, if you have ever had the real deal, you WILL know the difference between it and the corn syrup kind flavored with something approximating maple. Yes, the real thing is more expensive, but since most of us don’t use large quantities of it, it really is worthwhile to spring for the real deal, even if it comes from Canada.
All About Maple Syrup
And speaking of maple syrup, I learned that the grading system was developed at a time when maple syrup was used to sweeten just about everything, especially baked goods, so the highest ranking syrups, “extra-fancy” are also the lightest in color and taste so that the maple doesn’t overwhelm the taste of whatever you are sweetening. So, if you really want to taste the maple, choose the lowest grade, “grade B” which is dark and has the most intense flavor. Sadly, you won’t find it outside of New England, and even then you won’t find it in most gift shops or other places tourist frequent. You will have to hunt it down at road side stands and farmer’s markets. I scored a full pint for $15 and I can have it all to myself since Tim won’t eat sugar in most any form. Let’s heat up that pancake griddle!
Eating Local
The emphasis on the fresh and local eggs would be repeated in many ways throughout our time in Vermont, although less so in New Hampshire. Vermont seems to have strongly adopted the “locavore” attitude which stresses eating that which is grown or otherwise produced within 100 miles. Of course, this might be difficult in some places in the United States, but it probably isn’t as hard as you might at first think. Large scale agriculture is most common in the Midwest and the Western United States, but small scale farming isn’t absent from other places, you just have to look a bit harder, and yes, you have to be willing to pay a bit more sometimes. But buying and eating local foods is better for the environment since there are not large carbon emissions associated with long distance transport and it also helps the local economy by keeping money in your community instead of sending it to corporate headquarters in places like Bentonville, Arkansas. Strong local economies benefit everyone and while you might not work directly in farming, indirectly your livelihood may well depend on the ability of those who do depend on agriculture. The job and living you save might well be your own. And, almost invariably, locally produced food will be fresher and healthier. Eating local is good for you and good for your community. Try it!
Tim and I try very hard to eat as locally as we can and all of our meat, except for fish, is locally produced and we frequent the farmer’s market for local produce as well. Yes, we do buy some things that are mass market but I think we do better than most when it comes to eating locally, so we were excited to see that ethos so strongly supported in Vermont. And, it made it easier for Tim to find things that fit with his preferred way of eating. Vermont produces quite a bit of produce and certainly a great deal of dairy, although that is diminishing sadly. Most everyone has heard of, and perhaps even eaten, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, which is a Vermont invention and which is still produced there in Waterbury. Sadly, it isn’t what it once was since it is now owned by Unilever, a British-Dutch conglomerate, which also destroyed the once excellent Bryer’s Ice Cream. Now, Ben and Jerry’s contains at least three different artificial thickeners including vegetable gums, additives which make me physically ill with bloating and incredible abdominal pain, which is why I avoid most all mass market foods and restaurants whenever possible.
Grafton Cheese
But, lots of other Vermont producers are maintaining the independence and integrity of their products and Grafton Village Cheese is one of these. Grafton itself is a postcard perfect New England village with white houses and black shutters among color changing trees and we did stop there to mail cards, but we visited the cheese outlet just outside of Brattleboro. Grafton cheeses actually win European tasting awards so they do have some amazing products! We stocked up on a few tasty bits since we knew that we would have refrigerators in all of our hotels and local cheeses make excellent night time snacks, just like we tend to do at home while watching television in the evenings. And, as a bonus, you could walk up on a catwalk and watch the locals making what you were eating, so you knew there was no trickery of selling you something as “local” when only the corporate offices were local. Nope, you could watch the cheese being made right there.
Apples
We continued on a bit to the north and east, crossing a covered bridge, of which Vermont has more than any other state, over 100 in fact, in search of local apples. We first discovered Honey Crisp apples in 2008 at a roadside apple barn in southern Vermont and have been hooked ever since. We frankly won’t eat any other apples and the prices in the local stores are outrageous at usually over $3 a pound. And the quality usually isn’t that great either, so we import them directly from a grower in upstate New York, just over the border from Vermont in fact, less than an hour drive from where we were. And yes, I realize that this is the absolute opposite of eating local, but the sad truth is that while local Georgia growers try to produce Honey Crisp, an actually copyrighted brand and variety held by the University of Minnesota, it just frankly isn’t cold enough here even in the mountains of the Blue Ridge, and we just can’t bring ourselves to sacrifice the quality of the northern grown apples to match our preference for local products. We aren’t perfect. But, since we were in New England, prime apple growing territory, at the harvest time for Honey Crisp, we hoped to find some and use our generous three free bags with Delta to bring home the apples at better prices than we could have them shipped. The clerk at the Grafton Village Cheese outlet knew of a local grower and so off we went towards Dummerston, Vermont. Don’t blink, or you will miss it! We found the grower way off on a very small side road and while they were not allowing pick your own, which was fine with us, they were happy to let us taste test in the barn while forklifts moved about the new harvest. This grower is 100% organic and clearly local, so we were pleased. The growers themselves gave us an education on apple selection and storage, especially as regarded Honey Crisp, which have to be stored at colder temps than most apples if you want them to maintain quality. Storage is quite difficult for commercial outfits who have to use high nitrogen atmospheres and special coolers to try to meet incredibly high consumer demand. Honey Crisp apples have exploded on the market and command high prices and high consumer loyalty. They were bred to have cells twice the size of most apples, making them very juicy and very crunchy. As much as we love them, though, the grower also introduced us to Empire apples, which we have never had. They are smaller and redder than Honey Crisp, and while not as crisp, they have a good firm texture and are delightfully tart, not at all overly sweet. In the end we bought two pecks of each variety, two pecks of Honey Crisp and two pecks of Empire, which converts to 8 dry gallons of apples at two gallons per peck. Why can’t we just adopt the metric system!
For a moment I thought we wouldn’t be allowed to buy anything! In discussion with the grower about storage and variety, Tim let slip that we didn’t really care about the organic aspect of the apples and it was like one of those slow motion moments where I could feel myself trying to yell “Nooooooooooo” but I couldn’t stop the words coming out his mouth. This grower had just spent good time explaining how hard Honey Crisp is to grow organically and how expensive the University of Minnesota makes it to buy the stock and use the name, and Tim sort of stomped on that, without meaning to and without thinking about it. The grower’s response was to say “Then just buy them at your local store” and practically walk away! Somehow we halfway rescued the situation but I was relieved to be back in the car and on the way. I fear that not focusing on organic was fighting terms to that grower and I think I can understand that. Regardless, the apples are excellent and we ate some nightly along the way as well as snacks in the car.
Post Card Villages
We wound our way back over to Newfane and then Grafton, both picture postcard villages. Grafton received a preservation and redevelopment grant back in the 1960s to remake the village as it was in the 19th century, including the burial of all power lines and the investment paid off as the village is a very popular spot, having hosted even presidents and other major figures of the political and literary worlds at the local inn, which includes not only the main inn building but also several other homes around the village. It is quite beautiful, if in a self-conscious way.
We worked our way back across minor roads to Vermont Route 100, which is a famous scenic route that runs the ridge-line of the Green Mountains, the backbone of Vermont. They are quite beautiful, especially in full fall color, even if they are not very high in relation to the western mountains. The road runs though lots of pretty villages, some famous, some not, but the countryside is universally worth seeing. Along the way we found fresh local raspberries from a grower with several different varieties, who knew there were so many variations on a raspberry. They certainly tasted wonderful and completely unlike the commercial ones from Mexico we buy fresh at Costco. He also sold us some honey collected from woodland bees who feed exclusively on forest pollen, not on commercial crops such as clover, and the flavor was, again, unlike anything I have ever had. It was wonderful, but even better was his wife’s raspberry jam which is wonderfully tart and actually tastes of fruit instead of just sugar. She uses as little sugar as possible to really let the fruit flavor shine through and it is incredible. Eating only commercially produced products can cause you to completely forget what FOOD really tastes like, instead becoming accustomed to chemicals and flavorings that don’t even cleverly approximate the “real” thing, but if you have never tasted anything else, you might think that *fill in the blank* really tastes the way Kraft and company tell you it does. But trust me, it doesn’t. Try local, try fresh, try real, and you will never forget it, but it will ruin you for Frankenfood.
Germany in Vermont
Our goal for the night was Burlington, Vermont, located on the shores of Lake Champlain. We pulled in a bit after dark and were quite pleased with our lake view room at the mainline Hilton. We went in search of dinner and happened upon a German restaurant, Das Bierhaus. Again, the menu stressed the local nature of the food and even listed the providers by name and address, which included a New York state sausage maker who has won awards in German competitions. That certainly seemed like good credibility and Tim would agree having sampled all their sausage offerings! I was quite happy with the enormous pretzel that rivaled the taste found in Munich and the pork cutlet was huge, tender, and oh so tasty. The food was beyond filling and it proved to be a wonderful find. It also reinforced our initial impressions of food culture in Vermont especially since the menu featured an entire page devoted to the standards of the kitchen, including no microwave, no pre-prepared or packaged food, and limited refrigerator or freezer space since almost everything would be brought in fresh daily. And you could taste the truth of that!
Burlington Impressions and Vermont Facts
Burlington is the largest city in Vermont, but that still only adds up to about 40,000 people, and during the school year about 35% of the population are students at the University of Vermont. The University is quite large and is incredibly beautiful, and perhaps surprisingly for a state school, the majority of the students, about 65%, are from out of state and even from outside the United States. It has a very comprehensive set of offerings and I have to confess that I wish I had gone there to complete a degree in Canadian Studies! I don’t know what job that would have prepared me for, but at least it would all be about my favorite country, Canada. Predictably, the strong student presence makes the town seem youthful but we were impressed overall with the general atmosphere of the town aside from the youthful presence. There was also a strong presence of retirement age people, many of whom might have been tourists, and many of those were on bicycle tours! There is a very strong sense of physical activity and fitness in Burlington. Bicycles are accommodated literally everywhere, even the farmer’s market had dedicated bike storage as did our hotel. And it was rare to see an overweight person, much less an obese person, anywhere in town. The restaurants, even a burrito place, all emphasize fresh and local, everyone features recycling and composting options, and sporting and activity outfitters are everywhere. I was curious so I checked my impressions and was gratified to find that I was correct. Vermont ranks the highest in self-reported measures of good health, with over 90% of the state reporting their health to be very good or excellent. Vermont is among the ten lowest states for obesity including child obesity, but I was dismayed to discover that while Vermont is number seven for lowest childhood obesity, that still amounts to over 20% of children! I shudder to think what the percentage is for the highest state. Turns out it is Mississippi and West Virginia with each having over 35% of children clinically obese. Overall, the South scores the worst while the West and Northeast do the best. By comparison for states we have a connection to, Kentucky and Georgia come in at 30-35% obese while California is at 20-25%, comparable to Vermont. If you are interested, NO STATE is below the 20-25% category which should be a national tragedy. But Big Food likes it this way and Walmart feeds it and the children into chronic diseases that Big Pharma loves. And in the end, we all pay for it. We pay to feed them garbage through food stamps and school lunches/breakfasts/backpacks (let’s just call schools orphanages and be done with semantics) and then pay to treat their chronic diseases through Medicaid and higher private insurance rates. Follow the money from our pockets to the pockets of Big Ag and Big Pharma. Where does it end?
Vermont is also a very low crime state and interestingly to me, it is the least religious state in the United States with a majority expressing no belief in a god, closely followed by New Hampshire. Only 22% claimed religion was an important daily part of their lives or attended church regularly. Wow, a place I could really feel at home! The most religious state is Mississippi with 61%. Again, for comparison, Georgia comes in at 52%, Kentucky at 49% and California at 34%. Vermont is also the least diverse state, with over 96% of residents being white, and the largest minority ethnic group is Latino at only slightly over 1%. I guess depending on who you are, this is a good thing or a very bad thing. I remain neutral. Vermont is also very socially progressive being amongst the first states to legalize gay marriage, and that was done by ballot measure not by court order. Vermont also features incredibly attractive real estate prices! A 13 room Victorian can be had for $255,000 asking price, or 2,250 square foot home on almost 5 acres with tapped maple trees, 140 tree orchard featuring apple, plum, pear and cherry as well as a 13 colony bee farm, and 28’x36’ out building, can all be yours for an asking price of $245,000! Of course, smaller properties are less expensive but those both are asking less than what we paid for our current, and smaller, house in Georgia. Many of them even have wrap around porches like ours. I really think that if it wasn’t for the 8 feet of snow in winter and the horrible cost of shipping products, I just might have to seriously think about the unthinkable, moving!
Farmer’s Market Day
Our second day in Burlington it rained, not hard, but enough to completely obscure the views. But, this turned out to be a great thing because it gave us cause to investigate the Burlington farmer’s market. It was incredible to us! Everyone was a local organic grower whereas our nearest reasonable sized farmer’s market consists mostly of produce trucked in from Florida, or is just commercial produce passed off as something else (they should hide the commercial packing cases when they try that). All the meat was grass-fed or otherwise pastured and not feed-lot fattened, chickens were all free range and antibiotic free, eggs likewise, and even veal, which I won’t eat, was humanely raised instead of being kept motionless in crates. The food we sampled was amazing and Tim really struggled to maintain his fatwa against carbohydrates when confronted with all the wonderful pastries and homemade breads. The market again echoed and reinforced a very strong food ethos that we find resonates with our preferences but which is hard to maintain in the Georgia food desert. I was also very much struck by the fact that most of the farmers, cheese producers, and bakers were quite young, many of them in their 20s and 30s. It seemed unusual to me for young people to be choosing agricultural careers, especially niche ones, but they were and I wish them all the success in the world as they try to change the world one farm at a time. Overall, the market was a wonderful place to spend a rainy afternoon.
Blue Cat Delight
Dinner that night was at a tiny place called the Blue Cat Café and Wine Bar. When we first inquired, there was a wait of about an hour, so we wandered at bit but chose to return since we had both seen things on the menu that we really liked. We found that we were able to eat at the bar, so we opted for that, and we were so glad we did. We shared curry mussels which were incredible and then had amazing salads. I had a huge, juicy and excellently and simply seasoned pork chop while Tim had a filet. Everything was local, everything was fresh and never frozen, and the kitchen was smaller than ours at home and completely open. There were no secrets and no tricks, and perhaps best of all, no Sysco truck in sight!
Lake Champlain and the Islands
We left relatively the next morning and headed out on US 2 over the islands of Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain is quite large, 490 square miles and up to 400 feet deep, mostly in the United States but partially shared with Canada. It isn’t technically one of the Great Lakes, although for a brief while it was declared so through a political process for funding reasons. It is navigable and it is natural, connected to the Saint Lawrence River system through the 106 mile long Richelieu River into Quebec. It is now connected by canal to the Hudson River, connected at the same time as the building of the Erie Canal in the 19th century. There are over 80 islands, but only three populated, as well as a peninsula which is cut off from all land contact with the rest of the United States, being adjoined to Canada. All populated areas are accessible via causeway or bridge. The islands are sparsely populated, as is all of Vermont with a state population of only slightly over 600,000, and quite rural and bucolic. They were an enjoyable ramble and brought us quite close to the border with Canada.
Headed Back South
We were armed with passports in case we wanted to cross over to Canada, but we didn’t have any reason to. And we were concerned that with practically a case of apples that we might encounter grief. As it was, TSA felt the need to open and investigate our apples; I guess they must look like little bomblets. Anyway, while within less than two miles of the border, we didn’t turn this into an international journey. Instead we rode Vermont 105 across the northernmost reaches of the state before dropping south to once again run Vermont 100, but this time north to south instead of the opposite. I had high hopes of a printer, Haymaker Press, in Morrisville, some of whose cards I discovered in Burlington (Vermont is a paradise for fans of handmade or hand painted cards) but they were closed on a Sunday, which is a bad practice for a tourist oriented business in a touristy state during peak season, but I digress. We continued on to the madness that is Stowe, one of the highest of the high end resorts in New England during any season, drawing the wealthy from New York City and Boston to relaxation in the mountain splendor. Perhaps predictably, we didn’t like Stowe much but we did enjoy the side trip up through Smuggler’s Notch State Park. Smuggler’s Notch is a narrow granite passage through the Green Mountains and it is regrettably popular with everyone who visits, but it is worth seeing if you can stand to navigate the crowds, or are hardy enough to hike up it on foot. I’ll let you guess how we made it up to the top and over.
We continued on south and connected with Interstate 89, and that only because we were looking for a more express route to our next nighttime destination, otherwise having avoided major routes, not that there are many to choose from in Vermont. We exited after about only 30 miles to detour through the state capital, Montpelier, the only state capital without a McDonalds (talk about the omnipresence of Frankenfood!). It really is nothing more than a village with a state capital in the small downtown, with a population of not quite 8,000. We wandered the streets a bit, had a coffee and hot chocolate from a place very near the capital building, Capitol Grounds, and checked real estate prices for a lark. We moved back on east and detoured again for a stop at Cabot Creamery cheeses.
Cheese, More Cheese, Please
Cabot Creamery cheese is admittedly a national brand in many parts of the country, but again, you could see it being made as well as sample many varieties not likely to make it to your local supermarket. Naturally, we ended up with about eight different types to bring home with us and we even sprung for an insulated bag with free cold pack to help us bring them home on the airplane. It was a nice stop but not as nice, I think, as Grafton Village Cheese. The high point to me was that an unruly child decided to take it upon itself to uninvited and rapidly approach an older gentleman with a dog on his lap. The dog was not child friendly and barked like mad, which rightly scared the little brat who was carried away screaming. Score one dog! Unfortunately, the sister, who was older, chose to stand at a safe distance and tease the dog, which of course only made it madder, all the while the mother ignored her child’s ill behavior and was mad at the owner when it was a situation created and perpetuated by both of her ill-mannered and uncontrolled children. I would love to make spanking mandatory! But I still think the dog got the last laugh, so to speak, and I know I did! Go Doggie!!
Littleton, New Hampshire
Our destination for the night was Littleton, New Hampshire, conveniently located if not an attraction in itself. We were tired and happy to be out of the car, even if we did choose to opt to eat at Appleby’s, a mass market garbage food fest, but we were both just too tired of the car to explore and we had such a great parking spot…and of such excuses are born and maintained mediocre restaurants. Sigh… And this location of the Hampton Inn chain had hosted Barack Obama in 2008. I suspect the sign only went up after he won the election. No one wants to announce the fact that the loser stayed with them. And as far as Hampton Inns go, it wasn’t bad.
But, in the morning, we headed downtown, just on the other side of Interstate 93 for breakfast at the Littleton Diner. This place was incredible. The food was excellent, hot and fresh, homemade, and just delicious! It is directly across from the Post Office and if you doubt in the autumn sunshine that it snows in the area, the rusted snow grate just inside the door to the restaurant will assure you that it does! The Post Office was relevant since Tim wanted to ensure that post cards from New Hampshire were postmarked New Hampshire. This insistence was also the reason we backtracked over the border back in to Vermont to post Vermont post cards from Vermont. Tim believes that people look at postmarks while I don’t think that most anyone even knows what they are anymore, especially not children of the 21st century. I will be curious to see who is correct on that one.
New Hampshire Route 16
We skirted around the northern edge of the White Mountains before picking up New Hampshire route 16 which runs the eastern edge of the Mountains with excellent views. We had previously ridden the cog railway up Mount Washington on the western side so didn’t opt to drive up the eastern side. But if you have never been to the area, you really owe it to yourself to partake of one or the other, or if you have time and the desire, try both. The scenic route south takes you towards the large resort area of Lake Winnipesaukee, although we turned off a bit to the north to head towards Moultonborough and then south in the mountains above the lake to the Castle in the Clouds.
A Castle in New Hampshire?
The Castle in the Clouds is an old estate house on a large property bought and built by a 19th century industrialist millionaire that is now an attraction for touring the house and enjoying the incredible views out over the lake. It is also popular with wedding parties. The grounds also feature a waterfall, a video of which is included in the picture set Tim is posting to Flickr. We were not interested in the house itself, and therefore didn’t take the tour included in the admission, but instead enjoyed the views and the photo opportunities before walking back down to the parking area, forgoing the trolley that had brought us up.
Rolling South Again Back to Manchester
We continued south through Rochester, where I had read of some of the best lobster rolls to be had, but alas they were no longer serving food for the season, only homemade ice cream. Thwarted in my desire for a local specialty, I didn’t want the ice cream either and on we went towards the New Hampshire state capital of Concord.
Concord is considerably bigger than Montpelier with a population of over 42,000. New Hampshire in general is more populous than Vermont, at 1.3 million, about twice that of Vermont in fact. Consequently, the capital city isn’t as interesting or lovely, although we did find and greatly enjoyed a local Mexican restaurant, Hermanos Cocina Mexicana, an odd thing to find in one of the whitest states in the country. Regardless, it was quite tasty and kudos to Lonely Planet’s New England guide for helping us find something good with not many choices available.
We would end where we started, 753 miles later, back in Manchester staying at the airport Homewood Suites, which featured an incredibly large and gracious room. It was a shame we only had one brief night! Overall I didn’t think that New Hampshire was as scenic or as atmospheric as Vermont, but that is probably because Vermont is so much more rural. I think it is tempting to lump Vermont and New Hampshire together due to their proximity but I think they are quite different in the feel of traveling through them, and I preferred Vermont even if there was nothing specially wrong with New Hampshire.
Time to Depart
The Manchester airport is quite small and manageable and to my surprise they had a TSA pre-check lane, which is always nice since I don’t have to remove shoes and belt, nor do I have to remove electronics and toiletries from carry-on baggage. And, with the millimeter wave scanner in place, I don’t even have to have a pat down due to my artificial hip alarming the metal detector. As sometimes happen, the scanner does detect that something is unusual about my hip so they have to pat that specific part, which is less time consuming and invasive than the whole body one I get otherwise. Oddly, and this was one of those times, some scanners identify something odd about my right, and otherwise normal, hip. Sometimes that is the only one it alarms on. I have to wonder if it is advanced enough to somehow detect the necrosis that is present but not severe enough to require replacement yet. Who knows, maybe TSA scanners could replace more expensive and time consuming MRI! Go to the airport now for more than just travel. Whatever it is, I was so pleased with the kindness and nice personality of the TSA officer that I thanked the supervisor, who was at first seemed quite dismayed and surprised that I wasn’t complaining, but complimenting his staff. In fact, his first words on my inquiring as to the officer’s name, were “What did he do?” Sadly, I guess compliments don’t happen much, but I do believe in rewarding goodness and kindness wherever I find it. I can only hope that what I put out there will come back to me in return. I even sent the compliment through the TSA electronic system and I hope the young officer gets his pat on the back.
Home Again and Final Reflections
It was a short three hour or so flight home, and because Manchester airport catering failed to provision the aircraft for the indicated breakfast service in First Class, one of the flight attendants went out on the concourse and bought bagels for us, which was a super nice touch I think. I slept most of the way and was ever so glad to be home, as I always am regardless of how nice the trip is. And the children were thrilled to have us home as well and to be free of the enclosure.
I think the trip turned out to be quite wonderful and I am so pleased that my second experience of New England was so positive especially in comparison to my first experience. I would recommend the region to just about anyone for its beauty, the excellent local foods, and the friendly nature of most of the people. There is also tons of history if that is your interest and some of the oldest villages in the country. If you don’t have the time to visit all of the six New England states and have to choose only one or two, go first with Vermont and then add on New Hampshire. Maine is wonderful too, and Massachusetts…if forced to choose, pick Vermont, have an apple with local cheddar, and enjoy!