A Columbus Day message for all our friends, there is no foliage to look at up north. Yesterday I drove up north, I should say “to the north”, if the map of the world had been posted upside down in elementary school I’d be saying down north so I guess it’s all depends on your point of view. Anyway, Mom wanted to see the foliage this fall and since we could make a early start on Friday morning, we went for a adventure.

We drove north on Rte. 93 to Rte. 89, south of Concord, NH. Then we followed Rte. 89 to Vermont as far as Barre. This was the heart of the peak color according to the Yankee Magazine on-line foliage map. This is the best color we saw.

We returned by traveling south on Rte. 91 through Vermont to Massachusetts, then east on Rte. 2. Round trip about 450 miles, twelve and a half hours.

In most of Massachusetts, NH and VT we saw nothing but green leaves. Where the trees were turning, faded yellow and a lot of brown leaves. That I did not stop to photograph.

Interesting sights, yes. Especially in VT, it was a beautiful day and the views of the mountains and rivers are amazing. As they would be in August or September.  I think that its been too warm, too wet and with the recent severe storms too windy for good foliage this year. Now this is what I expected. (North River MA in prior years) “There’s no place like Home, there’s no place like home!”

If you do drive up Rte. 89 in Vermont, may I suggest stopping at the Visitors Center and Vietnam Memorial.

Parking, toilets, free coffee and sandwiches (donation requested) nice people and the usual hands full of tourist information. Also, a pilot plant for a organic waste water treatment facility that uses plants and flowers to process the waste from the rest rooms and  purify the water.

At least I found some color. Better luck next year.