After taking a virtual tour of the 2011 HGTV dream home in Stowe, Vermont, I’m totally kicking myself for not remembering to post about our October anniversary vacation to New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
How could I have left such an important trip out of this blog? Seems I have a mental block for writing about New England vacations since it took me over a year to post about the last trip.
This trip was to be more of a whirlwind long weekend getaway to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary on the weekend of October 16th. We landed in Manchester, New Hampshire where the leaves were in full on color changing mode. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs the whole time we made our way up through the state so I have no good photos of anything along the way. We ate lunch at a little side of the road diner where J had beef stew in a bread bowl and I had fried haddock and french fries.
I did get a picture with a hat that made me want to say “Kiss my grits!”
From there we eased on up the road with hopes of seeing more color along the Kancamangus Highway. Last time I visited the Kanc it was a parking lot for carloads of tourists. This time we zoomed along at a 55 mph clip while I stuck the camera out the sunroof of the car and fired at will.
Frozen fingers be damned.
We saw a sign for the Albany covered bridge (you knew that word was coming, right??) so we stopped to take in the views.
I absolutely love covered bridges.
Especially when they are surrounded by leaves so colorful it makes you want to cry from their beauty.
And the sound of rushing water overtakes any other noises.
Maybe my next house should be built inside of a covered bridge. I wonder how many dehumidifiers that would require?
We wondered along a little hidden path beside the water and enjoyed the damp coolness of the New England air.
No wonder Robert Frost was such a huge hit. Just being in that environment makes me want to write some poetry.
A few miles up the road we stopped at a rest area where I spotted this beauty in the distance. Thank goodness I had the forethought to steal pack my dad’s zoom lens.
Then we hopped back on the Kancamangus for more sights. The farther north we went, the less color we saw. This was disappointing, even though I knew we were late for fall color in that neck of the woods. Still, we kept our chins up in hopes of seeing some good color later in the trip.
We laughed until our sides hurt over the Neverlost lady pronouncing the word “Kancamangus”. Her pronunciation sounded like a cow giving birth because she drew out the “maaaaaaangus” syllable.
Hilarious. I love the Hertz Neverlost lady.
We were headed to the Rabbit Hill Inn in the Northeast Kingdom’s Lower Waterford for our first night. Along the way we stopped in Franconia and bought some hot chocolate at a local cafe to warm us up.
We also hit up the Sugar Hill Sampler where I picked up some soap that smells like gingerbread for souvenirs. Nothing says I “wish you were here” like gingerbread soap. It was cold and windy and drizzly on top of Sugar Hill, so we didn’t stick around too long.
Good decision, because once we arrived at the Rabbit Hill Inn, this warm and cozy room awaited us.
It was kind of like stepping right into my grandma’s dollhouse.
Except grandma’s dollhouse didn’t offer a jacuzzi tub built for two…
Or a warm fire and candle light and soft music playing in the background. Talk about relaxing!
We hadn’t made any dinner reservations at the Inn (boo.) so we asked for a recommendation from the Innkeepers. Leslie and Brian were some of the absolutely nicest and most helpful owners I’ve ever encountered at an Inn before. We felt so welcomed by them. If you have a minute, take a peek at this incredibly kind and compassionate story about them helping others with the Pink slip Getaway. Leslie recommended a restaurant in a nearby town called Bailiwick’s, so we headed over early before the dinner rush got started.
Let me take a minute to talk about the food we ate on this trip. The food… ahhhhh… I’m drooling thinking about it. Sometimes we would stop at a place on the side of the road and just get lucky and other times we would take advice from the locals and then other times I would Google “restaurants” with the city that we were staying in, and then just head to the one that got the top reviews. Worked like a charm! We made a pact not to eat a single chain restaurant meal on this entire trip, and it was the best decision ever. I can’t even begin to describe our dining experiences on this trip.
For our anniversary eve dinner at Bailiwick’s we had homemade tomato basil bisque that was just unbelievable. Vermont tomato soup is good for the soul.
And so are their covered bridges.
photo courtesy of Littleton Area Chamber
Unfortunately Littleton, NH didn’t look that nice when we visited since it was dark and rainy, but we had a really great meal there nevertheless. The city had a really good vibe about it.
After our delicious dinner we headed back to the beautiful Rabbit Hill Inn for sweet, sweet dreams.
photo courtesy of The Rabbit Hill Inn
To be continued…
Click any of these links to read more about our vacation!
Day One
Day Two
Day Three & Four

Your pictures look like postcards. Beautiful!
[…] was pregnant with Garrett in 2007 I toured New England in the Fall with my mother, and then in 2010 traveled to Vermont and New York with my husband, so for this trip I wanted something different, but still craved that New England […]
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