Day 6 - Tilton, NH to Boston, MA with a trip to Kennebunkport, ME

And the trip goes on....

Odometer Reading:   57878

Starting Point:  Tilton, NH

Destination:  Boston, MA

Miles driven today:  199

State Lines Crossed:  4 - NH to ME to NH to MA

Surviving the drive in and out of Boston (the drive out was in rush hour)....priceless

Quilt shop stops:  1 (Mainely Quilts near Kennebunkport)

I must say, Jackie has done a great job with the driving...she has done all of it.  She is cautious, but not so much as to drive me nuts, and does a great job navigating the vagaries of the gps, lovingly called Betsy, except when she takes us in circles, then she is not so lovingly referred to.

We started in Tilton, NH and headed to Maine

Trees are just wonderfully bright in color.  

Jackie really wanted to go to Kennebunkport and I have to say, it was a great choice.  It's is a quaint little town with lots of charm.  We spent the morning walking around in the shopping area and a bit outside in the residential area.  Just lovely

We, of course, found a quilt shop in town.  Mainely Quilts was in a small cottage on the property of a b&b.  Not a lot of fabric, but we found a couple of pieces to use in the memory quilt we plan to do after this trip.  We have two shops lined up for tomorrow, one in MA and one in RI.  Can't wait to see what we find.

Here are a couple of pics from Kennebunkport 

Cute shop names.  First a holiday store

Then a gift shop

Then we had a delicious lunch at David's on the harbor.  Jackie had a lobster roll, I had a margarheta pizza.  Excellent food and service.

From there it was off to Goat Island to see the lighthouse.

Love the views!!  We headed from there to Boston where we had booked a Duck Tour for later in the day.  

The tour was fun and informative,  but it was raining and really tough to get decent photos. We also sat in a lot of traffic which extended the tour by at least a half hour.  The fun part was when the duck changes from car to boat and we got to ride around the Charles River and see the sites from a different vantage point.  Much fun.

This is of the oldest church, but pretty far away.

A view to the river

Actually going into the river

We made it to our hotel at 8 pm after a drive thru rush hour traffic!  We ended up grabbing a salad for dinner and headings straight to our hotel..

Tomorrow includes a couple of quilt shops, a trip thru Rhode Island and on to Norwalk, CT.  It will be a shorter day, which will be nice.

Day 5 - Syracuse to Center Harbor, NH

Odometer Reading:   57515

Starting Point:  Syracuse, NY

Destination:  Tilton, NH

Miles driven today:  363

Number of yawns from the passenger in the car (me), a lot

Nap taken by passenger, 1 very short one because God forbid I miss a photo opportunity!!

Number of state lines crossed, 3 - NY to VT to NH

Number of Quilt shop stops:  2 (Norton House, VT and Keepsake Quilting, NH)

We got an early start today so we could drive six hours to get to Keepsake Quilts in Center Harbor, NH.  The six hour drive became 7.5 hour drive with stops at Norton quilt shop in Wilmington, VT, and several stops to look in awe at the scenery.  I think Vermont wins for best fall colors.

This is one of the vistas that made us stop

We drove through some small towns, with very old buildings

There were also several of these, however no moose crossed our path

We finally made it to New Hampshire

And our destination....keepsake quilting

And finally on our drive back to Northfield to meet my friend, Caroline, we saw this...

Beautiful views, fun hanging out with my sister, who loves to give me grief about what pictures I'm taking while she is driving, and finally having dinner with a good friend who I hadn't seen in 10 years!  Another great day!

Tomorrow we head to Kennebunkport, ME, then on to Boston, MA....

Day 4 - touring Niagara Falls

Odometer Reading:   57238

Starting Point:  Niagara Falls, Ontario

Destination:  Syracuse, NY

Miles driven today:  187

This morning we took things slow.  We had breakfast at the hotel and then went upstairs to relax and watch the falls (after the fog lifted). We booked a tour today which would take us back to the Skylon Tower to walk around the observation deck.

Then to Table Rock to walk along the promenade right above the falls

Totally awesome, isn't it?  Then we took a scenic drive along Niagara Falls park, queen Victoria park.  From there we went to Whirlpool Gorge which is currently running counter clockwise, but will start running clockwise again tonight when they change the amount of water that goes over the falls.

A little fall color pic.  They said they were at about 20% at this point.   I hear there is much color ahead in NH

From there we went to see the Floral Clock, which is replanted twice each year.

We were even able to walk into the back to see the clockworks

Then it was off to a restaurant and souvenir shop. I will say that costs are high in the area, definitely a tourist area.  Our final stop was to take the Hornblower Cruise ship up to the falls. You get a rain poncho and trust me you need it.  I didn't get a many photos of the Canadian falls on the boat ride, but Jackie was able to get a few, so I'll have them to share later.  

Getting on the boat

American and Bridal falls

A view toward Horseshoe falls

The city from the boat

Closer view of the American falls.

After the tour we got in the car and headed out.  Last night we went through our plans and decided we would try to drive four hours tonight so we could go to Ben and Jerrys, then on to center harbor and dinner with friends.  By the time we got back through customs today tho, and found our way to the highway, we realized that we needed to cut back on our plans and regroup.  So, we drove to Syracuse, an easy 3 hour drive.  Tomorrow we will go directly to Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH, then meet my friend Caroline and her husband Jim for dinner.  We will stay somewhere in the area that night.  

Seems like we are moving fast, but we are having a great time and enjoying ourselves.  The plan here is to hit the high spots and then come back another time to really explore.

More tomorrow.