New England Vacation – Day 7

If you’d like you catch up, click on the links below:

New England Vacation – Day 1

New England Vacation – Day 2

New England Vacation – Day 3

New England Vacation – Day 4

New England Vacation – Day 5

New England Vacation – Day 6

Day 7 began with us looking for a place for breakfast in Littleton, New Hampshire.

Day Seven14

We decided on a little restaurant downtown called The Coffee Pot, which reputedly has the best breakfast anywhere.

Harland had a full breakfast while I had one of their giant homemade muffins. We took our time eating and watching the locals come and go. When we travel, we always try to eat where the locals do so we can listen to the accents and enjoy the regional culture.

After breakfast, we traveled east and soon we slipped across the border into Maine, one of our favorite states.

Our first stop was a covered bridge named The Artist’s Bridge.

Day Seven01

Built in 1872, it is called the Artist’s Bridge because of its reputation of being the most painted and photographed bridge in Maine. The bridge was closed to traffic in 1958 when a new bridge was built nearby.

The bridge is 87 feet long.

Day Seven02

Here’s a peek over the railing looking down at the Sunday River:

Day Seven03

And here’s Harland in his waterproof hiking boots:

Day Seven16

By mid-morning, we were on the road again.

One of the things we really like about the northeast is all the roadside stands where passers-by can purchase anything from bundles of firewood to homegrown vegetables, all payable on the honor system. Our favorite stand on this trip was this one on Bear River Road north of Newry, Maine. which sold homemade baked goods, jams and jellies, and cut flowers.

Day Seven17

Day Seven18

We picked out 2 maple cream whoopie pies, and slipped our money into the slot on the moneybox hanging from the tree.

Day Seven19

Day Seven21

We hopped back into Black Beauty, and continued driving through the wooded countryside savoring our delicious homemade whoopie pies. By the way, whoopie pies must be a northeast thing as we don’t see them anywhere else on our travels and you can’t buy them where we live. If we want a whoopie pies at home, we make them ourselves.

After we finished our 2000 calorie snack, we found ourselves at Grafton Notch State Park.

Bear River bisects the park, and there are many waterfalls to explore.

Screw Auger Falls (pic below) within the park was impressive. Trouble is a lot of other people thought so too. It was very crowded.

Here’s Harland doing some plotting and scheming on his smartphone. He finally went downstream with his camera gear, while I tried upstream.

Day Seven22

I found another waterfall, but it was crowded with people too.  I did find this secluded spot on the river (below) where I relaxed for a few minutes in the shade of the trees listening to the river bubble over the rocks.

Day Seven04

Finally we moved on down the road to another part of the park to an area known as Mother Walker Falls (below).

Here, it was quieter as there were less tourists about. In the pic below, and remains of an old stone bridge can be seen on the left and right of the river.

Day Seven05

The water here was amber colored, like iced tea, and very cold.

Day Seven06

Our next stop was a hidden find due east of Grafton Notch park on the Andover Road. There is a trail south of the road that follows Frye Creek and provides some fairyland views of the creek.  I have to say this was one of my favorite stops of the trip.

Day Seven07

With the lush green trees towering overhead, the cold creek meandering between the boulders, and the carpet of moss growing on the bank and rocks, it was a magical place.

Day Seven08

Day Seven09

We were reluctant to leave.

But it was lunchtime, or past lunchtime. It was 2pm, and even though we weren’t hungry from eating our 2000 calorie whoopie pie earlier in the morning, we stopped for lunch in Andover at the Little Red Hen Diner, a local hangout.

Day Seven31

Day Seven25

Day Seven28

Day Seven26

I had a bacon wrap with fresh tomato and lettuce on a basil tomato tortilla. I think Harland had a sandwich with sweet potato fries. Delish!

About eight miles north of Andover on Hwy 5, we turned left onto Covered Bridge road and there crossing the Ellis River is the Lovejoy Covered Bridge. 

Here’s one end of the bridge,

Day Seven11

and here’s the other end.

Day Seven10

This bridge was built in 1868 and is 70 feet long.

Day Seven12

There was no breeze of any kind, the river was still and the color of strong tea. It was a spooky place.

We continued to drive east for the rest of the afternoon until we were tired, so we found a hotel for the night. Don’t remember where we were exactly by then, but we had worked our way about a third of the way across the state.

UP NEXT: We continue east into the heart of Maine and by the end of the day we reach Lubec on the coast.

Stay tuned.

Click here to see DAY 8 of our vacation!

Click here to see DAY 9 of our vacation!

Click here to see DAY 10 of our vacation!

Click here to see DAY 11 of our vacation!

Click here to see DAY 12 of our vacation!

Click here to see DAY 13 of our vacation!

Click here to see Day 14 of our vacation!

Click HERE to see Day 15 of our vacation!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Carol says:

    I am having the best time on your vacation! You two can find the most beautiful and peaceful spots. Thanks so much for sharing another fantastic trip. ; – )

  2. Becca says:

    I’m gaining weight on your vacation…lol…!

  3. Laura says:

    I am sure glad you let me tag along. I have always wanted to visit the New England states in the fall. Perhaps someday….next best thing is seeing it through your eyes.

  4. Tina says:

    Question. What makes the river and streams or ponds the tea color? Does anyone know? Beautiful places Harland and Suzanne.

  5. Jeanne says:

    I, too, am loving your vacation! And loving those beautiful covered bridges, too! They are designed differently from the ones here in western Oregon. Thanks again for sharing! – When are you going to have us all over for homemade Whoopie Pies? 🙂

  6. Debbie says:

    Wonderful photos! I love those especially of your favorite, magical place, with moss, boulders, green trees and water! What a lovely spot!
    Such quaint roadside stands and places to eat! Love those!
    Oh, I want to go back again!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.