It is pretty amazing how fast the day goes by when you’re on vacation. Today was mostly a day on the road, and the drive from Lake Placid to North Conway was probably the most beautiful yet.
Seeing all of the much-touted changing leaves of the Northeastern fall doesn’t seem to get old, and each turn of the road reveals a fresh new perspective on a timeless time of year.
Our destination was Franconia Notch, a New Hampshire State Park. The park, or what we saw of it, is a massive mountainous forest, with gorges and waterfalls criss-crossing throughout. For two hours we followed a trail beside dense trees, chipmonks, rivers, and massive rock formations. It was below freezing in the park, but the walking and stairs warmed us immediately. The views of the yellow trees culminating in the snow covered forests of Mt. Washington made this stop on of my favorites on the trip so far.
Before leaving Franconia, we stopped by a small hotel which had a very tall lookout tower, and for 50 cents my dad, Garik, Dina and I climbed the neverending steps to the top. I must admit that the climb and quarters were well worth it, for from that perch we had an unobstructed view of our surrounding colorful forests. The tower was located in a place called Indian Head, after a large rock which resembles the profile of an Indian chief.
Feeling hungry and accomplished, we jumped back into the car and headed toward North Conway, a small New Hampshire town in the mountains. Thanks again to our good friend Yelp, we found a nice little restaurant called White Mountain Cider Company. The food was by far the best we’ve had on the trip, and although the service left much to be desired, the fresh (and hot) apple cider made it all worth the wait.
Tomorrow it’s on to Maine, where Garik has promised us both beautiful scenery and fresh lobsters. Should be fun.
Other highlights:
- Sleeping in the back seat of the suburban on the way. Both Dina and I seem to fall asleep in 15 minute spouts throughout the drive. We sure do deserve nap after all that sitting.
- My mom preparing to yell at our waiter for bringing her the wrong salad, when it turned out that it was actually Oksana’s salad that my mom mistakenly took. Luckily the service was so slow that the waiter didn’t show up again until after we realized what happened, and the already horrified waiter was spared another tongue lashing.
