Friday, October 27, 2017

Back in the States - Seeing New England

The worst part about traveling is the actually traveling part.  Getting back to the States from the Azores took all day and then some.  Getting through Customs is always an interesting process.  I never understand when the airport know when foreign flights are coming in why they don't have extra people on hand.  It easily took us an hour just to get through.  Oh well, enough said at least we got to go and make some great memories.  From here we had to go to a different terminal, so onto a shuttle we went.  Then to the car rental agency.  Of course, that is where lots of people were heading so more lines.  (Focus on the good parts of the trip!) We finally made it through the lines, got a car - not just any car but a charcoal gray Camaro.  Matt was in heaven to have a hot rod to drive for a few days.  

After leaving the airport we headed north to New Hampshire.  It was dark by the time we got out of the airport.  The Boston area traffic was crazy.  I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that everyday.  It took us a couple of hours to feel like we were out of the congestion.  I guess this is a busy commute route for those not wanting to live in the city.  





We knew we had missed the peak of the fall leaves but that was okay because we had also missed the millions of tourist who flock to see them.  The ones we did see were beautiful.  







Our first stop was the Ottauquechee River.  This area has a large bridge overlooking the a beautiful area of rock and trees.  You can also take a couple of different hikes to get down closer to the falls.  It was a beautiful warm fall day so we took advantage of the opportunity to get closer to the leaves.  

 


   
One place we wanted to stop for sure was the monument commemorating the birth place of Joseph Smith in Sharon, Vermont.  Turns out it really isn't in Sharon but South Royalton.  Thank heavens for GPS.  We had to go through some pretty small, back road towns to find it but we weren't disappointed.  



This is the entry way into the monument and visitor's center.















The area as you might expect is surrounded with trees, most of them tall, well over 20 feet.  It was beautiful.  I loved this one tree that stood out from the rest.
Can you imagine attending church at this gorgeous location every week? 


 
Joseph Smith's Testimony 


  Even though fall was well under way the flowers at the memorial were beautiful.  This shouldn't have been a surprise given how gorgeous the grounds of all the church properties are kept.  

Leaving the memorial - the drive out. 


Our kids tell us that old people shouldn't take selfies. 















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