Hello from Windham, NH! Yesterday was a long day, so tonight we're catching up with two days at once. Yesterday started in Jackson, NH. It was very cloudy and foggy, so we decided to skip driving to the top of Mount Washington (the highest mountain in the eastern US) and instead headed to the Maine coast in search of better weather. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and foggy even 5 hours away in Maine. We decided to try sightseeing anyway and drove through Acadia National Park. We only took about 10 pictures--the one posted on the left is of Andy on the rocky coast of Acadia park. We finished our foggy driving tour and stayed overnight in Portland, ME. All the pictures from Acadia National Park can be found here.

Today was a beautiful sunny day that started with a walk around the downtown and Old Port area of Portland, ME. We also visited the Portland Head lighthouse--the picture on the left is us at the lighthouse. The Portland Head lighthouse was first illuminated in 1791, makng it the oldest operating lighthouse in the US. We then followed the coast and drove down to Portsmouth, NH for lunch. The afternoon was so warm that we finished our day at Plum Island beach in Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts. We drove from the beach up to Windham, NH to stay overnight with friends Heather and Brian (Heather and Stephanie are some Purdue/pharmacy friends). Heather, Brian, Stephanie, Tom, Andy and I had dinner together tonight, a wonderful close to a wonderful day. All the pictures from today can be found here (once again, they somehow posted in opposite order).

Hello from Jackson, NH! We started this morning with a brief (and chilly) walk along Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT. We then stopped by the original Ben and Jerry's factory about 20 miles outside of Burlington. The factory tour was interesting and the ice cream samples really hit the spot! We then left VT and headed into NH. Our first stop in NH was at Cannon Mountain. The mountain is >4000 feet high and is a ski resort during the winter. In the off season, you can take the Aerial Tramway (big gondola) ride up to the peak for fantastic views of the surrounding area and mountains. This picture is from the observation tower at the top of Cannon Mountain. Our next stop was the Franconia Notch State Park. There was an interesting waterfall and gorge called The Flume Gorge at the park. The wooden walkway leading up The Flume Gorge was just part of our 2 mile hike through the beautiful forest and waterfalls. Our day ended with the best drive of our trip so far, The Kancamagus Highway. The fall foliage colors were in full display on this highway, a 26 mile drive through the White Mountain National Forest. You can see all the pictures from today's travels here (note: for some reason the pictures loaded in backwards order).

Hello from Burlington, VT. The past two days have taken us from Long Island all the way to Northern Vermont. We have taken local highways almost the whole way, preferring to wind around the scenic routes instead of taking interstates. On Saturday we drove through the Litchfield Hills in Western Connecticut. This picture shows us at the Kent Falls State Park. About 30 vacationers in Corvettes happened to stop at the park at the same time as us so we got a few pictures of the cars, too. Our route continued north through the Bershire Hills in Western Massachusetts. We finished the day in Bennington, VT. You can view the pictures from day 1 here.

Today we traveled from the southern tip of Vermont to northern Vermont. There were mountains surrounding us the whole way and the leaves are starting to change colors which made for a great drive. Near Bennington we drove to the top of Mount Equinox. The summit was in a cloud, but we still managed to get some nice pictures on the way up. Later in the day we hiked to the bottom of the Quechee Gorge, located in central Vermont. This picture is taken from the road above the Gorge looking down at the 162 ft deep canyon. You can view all of the pictures from day 2 here.

Since Brenda and I are traveling on vacation in the U.S. this year, I decided to bring my laptop with me which will allow me to provide regular updates during our driving tour of New England over the next week. This is my first entry of the trip and I already have 2 days to cover! We started our trip this past Saturday morning by heading out the door at 7 AM to meet our friends Kristine and Lincoln (and Lincoln Jr.) in Long Island. We met them at a bar called Ottos in Freeport on the Nautical Mile. After watching the Boilermakers beat the now 0-5 Fighting Irish, we took a nice long boat ride out from their place in Seaford and down around Long Beach. The weather was absolutely beautiful, so it made for a great time. After our boat ride, we went for dinner at a nice place called Palmers in Farmingdale. A big thank you to Lincoln and Kristine for hosting us on the first night of our vacation. You can see all the pictures from our stop in Long Island here.