Sometimes you just need to pack up and go. No plans, no hotel reservations just
pure spontaneity. That’s exactly
what my mom and I are famous for doing.
It’s a bit ironic that my type A travel agent mother never likes to plan
anything out when she hits the road, but that’s just how we’ve always been. The two of us are fall fanatics and
have talked about taking a trip out east to see the fall foliage for a good
five years now. For some reason or
another we were never able to. But
now, thanks to my current unemployment situation and my wide-open agenda, there
was never a more perfect time to take this trip.
So we packed up and headed out. We drove up north through Michigan and into Canada where the
leaves were just beginning to change.
I had never been to Canada so this was definitely a first for me. SPOILER ALERT! Ontario doesn’t look much different
than America. But it was certainly
fun trying to convert the metric system road signs to determine how many miles
my mom was exceeding Canada’s speed limits, only to figure out that that’s what
all those tiny numbers on your odometer are for. Blonde moment…
We stopped for dinner in London, Ontario. This was a personal request by me
because I wanted to see if it looked anything like the London I lived in for 6
months. Second spoiler alert: it
didn’t. But we had a lovely dinner
at David’s Bistro, a quaint restaurant right in downtown. The owner (one guess as to what his
name was) took care of us recommending a few lovely dishes. He happened to be from Ireland so we
chatted about a few of our favorite spots over there. For dinner I had Salmon over a zucchini patty with a fresh
mango salsa. Mom had wild boar
with mashed potatoes and champ. Let me tell you this certainly beat typical
road trip food.
I probably should be embarrassed to admit this but we were
so tired and it was so late at night that we wound up sleeping in the car in a
hotel parking lot. This wasn’t the
first time but when we need to hit the road early and get as much millage down
as possible this vagabond trick works for us.
We were rewarded after our uncomfortable night’s sleep and 5
a.m. wake up call with a gorgeous sunrise. Sometimes getting up at the crack of
dawn is worth it, sometimes…
Walking up to it you might not think anything of it but this
historic restaurant once used to be a turn of the century hotel. The interior of the restaurant was at
one time a working sugar house. The
restaurant was warm and cozy complete with a large fireplace at the front of
the room.
The restaurant serves
traditional Italian cuisine, which was the perfect hearty food we were looking
for on that chilly evening. We sat
at the bar so we could pick the bartender’s brain on what we should do the next
day. We enjoyed a wood-grilled
vegetable dish to start and finished with a rich Gnocchi and mushroom
dish. I was so focused on inhaling
my food that I totally forgot to snap some pictures of our dishes. You’ll just have to trust me that they
were delicious.
By that time we should have probably just gone home but my
mother, being the bad influence she is, was curious about the item on the
desert menu called the Grolla. Let
me enlighten you on what this is.
The Grolla is the friendship cup.
It is a hand carved vessel, which originates from the Northwestern
region of Valle d-Aosta. Each
person takes a drink from one of the spouts and then passes it on to the next
person. Tradition says to never
put the cup down until the drink is finished. AKA this is an ancient Italian glorified drinking game. The drink itself is a warm combination
of lightly sweetened espresso, grappa and fresh orange wheels. Usually the drink is shared amongst
about six people, there were only two of us, you do the math…
Thanks to the bartender’s great recommendations, we headed
south to Stowe, Vermont the next morning.
Apparently, this year’s foliage was reversed. Normally, the colors peak first in the north and later in
the south. Stowe’s colors had just
peaked while Burlington was still not quite there. We drove around to explore Burlington a bit more. Stopped for my first ever vegan muffin
and coffee at a local bakery and then were on our way.
Stowe is a
ski town but in the fall you can drive up one of it’s peaks and enjoy the fall
colored forests all the way to the top.
My mom and I were in heaven.
The colors were magnificent.
I honestly think I might have taken over a thousand pictures on our
drive up (I’ll spare you from looking at all of them but seriously they were
amazing). By the time we had driven
up and down the summit we had worked up quite the appetite.
We had lunch at a local brewery called Crop. The weather was perfect and we sat
outside on their patio as the leaves gently rustled around us.
The first one was right in town and was rumored to be
haunted. We had to take back roads
through the forest to get there. It was beautiful during the day but possibly
very creepy at night (we would know for sure later on). So the story goes that Emily’s bridge
is haunted by a woman named, I’ll give you one guess… Emily. At night it’s rumored that if you park
your car on the bridge she will shake it back and forth. People have also said that if you walk
across the bridge she will scratch you with her phantom claws. Naturally, my mom and I were
intrigued. I totally believe in
ghosts and there was a small part of me that wanted to go back and see the
bridge at night.
After Emily’s bridge we went in search of another covered
bridge. We found another one about
15 miles up the road along some roads surrounded by farms. The drive, as expected, was gorgeous
and we were once again surrounded by all the colors of fall.
We had a nice dinner at their
restaurant where we debated on whether we should revisit Emily’s bridge. Mom was up for an adventure and
promised to hold my hand so I caved and we made the trek. Let me assure you that the back roads
at night were entirely different than the charming roads we visited earlier in
the day. There were absolutely no
lights except for our car headlights.
We wondered how anyone would want to live all the way out in the forest
in the pitch black at night. Talk
about the perfect set up for a horror movie. We decided we weren’t going to stick to our original plan of
getting out of the car and walking across the bridge. We forgot to factor in the very real possibility of being
attacked by a bear in the woods.
So we crossed the bridge several times pausing each time to see if the
car would shake. And just when we
thought nothing was going to happen…nothing happened. I would say my reaction was split 75 percent relief and 25
percent bummed. I still believe in
the ghost story though.
The next day we set out for Salem Massachusetts. What October trip to the east coast
would be complete without visiting one of the most spooky spots on the map? But before we left Vermont, we had to
stop at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory.
Ben & Jerry’s began their ice cream empire out of a gas station in
Burlington, Vermont. Now, they do factory tours at their location in Waterbury,
just outside of Stowe. This was
going to be heaven. Can you say
free samples?! After taking the tour, and hearing about how environmentally conscious
and locally driven their company is, I have vowed to only buy Ben & Jerry’s
on the rare occasion I buy ice cream at the grocery store.
From there we headed to Massachusetts. That evening we decided to have dinner
in the seaport town of Gloucester at one of their best restaurants called Duckworth’s
Bistrot. In seaport towns like
Gloucester, streets are narrow and restaurants like Duckworth’s are
petite. It was the tiniest
restaurant and every table was completely full (good thing we called ahead). It was a rainy evening so their
butternut squash soup sounded like the perfect fix for my chills. Mom had the scallops; it would have been
a crime not to have some seafood so close to the bay. For dinner we split lobster risotto. Talk about decadent. It was absolutely delicious and we both
walked out of there looking like balloons. But it was so worth it.
Finally, the next morning we made our way to Salem. We took the beautiful Route 27, which
was a windy road right along the water through a town called Beverly with massive
estates on either side. Once in Salem we quickly recognized what the month of
October means to a town with a history like theirs. It was pretty much down pouring all day so any of the witch
and ghost walks I had wanted to do were kind of out of the question. The town was preparing for their month
long Halloween celebration. It was
just as quirky and gimmicky as you might imagine but the crowds of tourists
were already here in droves, rain or not.
We were able to take a stroll through the second oldest cemetery in the
country known as the Old Burying Point Cemetery. This was also the site of the
witch trials memorial. A concrete
bench commemorated each person hung during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.
Salem was also the setting for the movie, “Hocus
Pocus”. Many of the scenes in the
movie were shot in Salem and this was Allison’s house. I guess it’s only cool if you’ve seen
the movie. And if you haven’t, you
need to rent it.
Another home on the historic register is the Witch House,
right in the heart of downtown.
This is Salem’s only building with direct ties to the Witchcraft Trials
of 1692. The home’s most famous original
resident Jonathan Corwin served as both the magistrate and judge in the
witch-hunts.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. But I can’t believe how lucky I was to
be able to take the time to see this part of the country during one of its most
spectacular times of year. While autumn is present in quite a spectacular fashion in the Midwest, I still must admit that nothing will compare to these incredibly stunning shades of crimson, orange and gold that painted this region of the Northeast.
Until next time, cheers!
A
These pictures are amazing!! Miss you!!
ReplyDelete