New England

The New England states are world famous for the spectacular colours of the trees in the autumn. The Americans, in their perverse way with the English language, call it the fall.

We set off from Brunswick, Maine on 30 September and headed for the White Mountains in New Hampshire. A young man in an information center suggested the Kancamagus Highway as being the most scenic drive through the very scenic mountains. Even getting there was a visual treat.

 Not all the colour was in the leaves.

A selection of fallen leaves.

 Maple leaves don't change colour evenly over the whole leaf.

And remember that our best information was that the colours would be even better a week later.

There's wildlife in the White Mountains, too. We saw moose on two occasions.

In Vermont we walked a trail dedicated to Robert Frost, an American poet. There are information boards along the way with excerpts from his work.

This squirrel allowed us to approach quite closely.

The autumn/fall colours in Vermont are much the same as in the White Mountains. We didn't get tired of seeing them.

We found a large parking area at the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area. Free parking for up to 72 hours if you are engaged in a permitted activity, such as bird watching or wildlife photography. We watched many skeins of geese heading South, but didn't get any worthwhile photographs.

In New York State we drove down the West shore of Lake George. It was named after an English king and for some reason didn't get renamed after independence.

In Ashfield, Massachusetts we stopped for lunch at a rest area provided by the town. A dog barked at Bill as he went outside to turn on the gas. The owner hurried up. “She won't hurt you.” And that's how we met Dick Seebeck. We had a very pleasant chat and he invited us to visit his home and meet his wife. Which we did, and thus met Margaret Seebeck. They are a charming couple and we still exchange occasional emails.

Margaret and Dick Seebeck. The sun was in a most unsuitable position for the photo. Sorry.

By the time we got to Rhode Island we were getting a bit grumpy with each other. Eve found the solution – take a break. So we had two nights in the Burlinghame State Park campground.

Nothing like a camp fire for inducing a good feeling.

For our non-travelling day we not entirely idle. We visited the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, which was all of 5 minutes along the road. It is the site of a WWII airfield, so there is no climbing involved in following the trails.

Not much in the way of leaf colours, but plenty of autumn flowers …

… and berries.

This bumblebee was working late in the year.

A rabbit that hopped out of the undergrowth and posed in camera range.

After our day's rest we became concerned with getting to see New York city (see the post of 30 October), and did not do Connecticut justice. We drove across it, avoiding the major cities, but there are no photographs from that journey.