Expedition East Coast Day 10: Vermont, White Mountains, North Conway

[CrispyA]

28 July 2018

After a good sleep, we were up fairly early as today was another long drive. We had some bananas and muffins in the room before packing up, ready to get going. We had really enjoyed staying here and thought it was a great spot.

We were soon on the road, and had plans to stop for breakfast in Castleton, Vermont. Tripadvisor recommended an old-fashioned diner, the Birdseye, and as it was about an hour into the journey, it made a perfect place to stop.

We had a really lovely breakfast there. Our server was so friendly, as were all the staff, and it was a great place to stop, as was Castleton itself.

Only after this photo had been taken, did Evan and I realise that we were wearing matching Alabama t-shirts. Roll Tide! Apparently this was very embarrassing but I must have missed that. We just look like a family that are really into our college football team.

We carried on, driving through Vermont which looked absolutely gorgeous and we really wished we had been stopping here. Definitely somewhere to look at coming back to.

After crossing the border into New Hampshire, we started spotting spotting signs for Lebanon, NH. Every time we saw one, Paul and I starting singing the Human League song "In the Lebanon" in suitably deep voices which kept us amused for ages.

Eventually we reached the White Mountains and the Kancamagus highway. This route had been recommended as a really beautiful drive and we stopped off at the tourist information centre as the start of the road for a comfort break and to get a map and some recommendations for a stopping point.

The guide recommended the Lower Falls and advised that we could swim there if we wanted to. The White Mountains are really beautiful and if we had had more time, it would have been lovely to hike and explore them a little more.

We stopped off at the Lower Falls and found a table in the shade to have a picnic. As all our swimming stuff was packed in our cases, we agreed that swimming was going to be a pain to organise, so just sat with our feet in the water instead.

(Actually, the water was incredibly cold so swimming might have been quite bracing!)

The water was quite fast and people were kind of surfing along in it, but you did have to be careful not to be swept into the rocks. It was a nice place to break up the journey though.

After that, we headed on to our destination for the night - the Green Granite Inn in North Conway. The hotel had a Dairy Queen very near by so we popped in for Blizzards, having not had any yet this year.

We hadn't realised before arriving but there was also an outlet mall nearby where we picked up some bargain Levi's. Evan did really well in Adidas as well, getting a t-shirt for less than $5!

We hadn't done much shopping on this trip and one outlet mall was quite enough. After the credit card had had enough of a workout, we headed back to the hotel for a swim and to do a load of laundry. We were just in time with this, as everyone was running out of clean underwear. Phew, crisis averted!

I had looked at the Muddy Moose for tea, having come across other trip reports that recommended it but after last night's tea, we really didn't fancy another grill. Instead, we walked over to the Mexican Restaurant across from the hotel, the Fiesta Jalisco. This turned out to be a great choice - bargain margaritas, lovely food and a lovely server from Serbia who came to chat about football with us.

We were all pretty full after the meal but teenage boys can always find room for pudding, so we called to Dairy Queen for the second time that day. Evan was delighted to find that he could get a Cotton Candy Blizzard, after having waited since our trip to Texas for them to come back onto the menu.

Yes, the poor boy had been deprived of such deliciousness for three long years!

Back at the room, we settled down to catch up with Shark Week which is always a highlight. We made the most of having a TV as our next stop was our cabin in the woods and it didn't have one. We were fine with that really, just a little sad that we would miss one of the highlights of Shark Week - Naked and Afraid of Sharks. Alas.

[Melbatb]

Cotton Candy Blizzard - did it have real cotton candy in it? Sound intriguing! The diner looks so classically American!

We loved Vermont! Conway was the place that was got struck off our list but it seems to be a lovely place! There is some beautiful scenery!

[katiebaz]

Great scenery and lovely day. The river looked lovely for a picnic and a cotton candy blizzard sounds awesome!

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Cotton Candy Blizzard - did it have real cotton candy in it? Sound intriguing! The diner looks so classically American!

We loved Vermont! Conway was the place that was got struck off our list but it seems to be a lovely place! There is some beautiful scenery!

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The diner was so cool. They had pictures of other classic diners on the walls as well. Your Vermont pictures looked gorgeous - we definitely want to spend more time there.

I'm not sure what is in a Cotton Candy Blizzard - nothing natural anyway!

Originally Posted by katiebaz

Great scenery and lovely day. The river looked lovely for a picnic and a cotton candy blizzard sounds awesome!

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Evan had been looking forward to it for so long!

[i love jack]

Lovely scenery, looks really pretty.
Shark week

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by i love jack

Lovely scenery, looks really pretty.
Shark week

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We love Shark Week!

[floridafan101]

We stayed at the Green Granite last October - I liked it very quirky. The Muddy Moose was really good we ate there twice! Loved North Conway it was beautiful.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by floridafan101

We stayed at the Green Granite last October - I liked it very quirky. The Muddy Moose was really good we ate there twice! Loved North Conway it was beautiful.

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It was a good hotel and a really good location, we enjoyed it too.

[Libby]

I think we visited the same Dairy Queen, but had no idea there was an outlet mall behind it until just reading your report!

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Libby

I think we visited the same Dairy Queen, but had no idea there was an outlet mall behind it until just reading your report!

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Alas, all that bargain shopping , . .