On the Road to New England - Story in Pictures

Winter road trips have their own charm. Yes, its cold, you just see naked dry trees and people look grumpy in too may clothes, but still winter is amazing in its own way. Everything is so still in winter, the cold mornings, the scenery, the just enough warmth from sun. As if everything is posing for a picture. And this New England trip i did cancelled twice in summer and fall, and somehow everything just fell into right place for the winter.

DAY 1

I just couldn't believe that it was clear sky. chilly but clear. It was a surprise after 3 days of bad weather with storm warnings all over weather channels for the weekend. First stop was Univ of Richmond for the RRRC's famous Turkey Trot run. The cold fresh air and scenery in morning light felt amazing. The reflections were clear on still water of the lake.

There were familiar faces, training team mates ready for the 10K run. I was running a timed 10K after long time, so pumped up to give it a good shot. What i didn't know that this course was full of hills which kept coming till the last mile. After really good 3 miles, i slowed down and finished at 1:02, which was pretty good.

After the run, it was about time to start the much awaited road trip. The GPS showed destination time of 7:30 PM. The good part about starting on late morning Thanksgiving day, traffic was pretty reasonable on I-95, and with nice weather, the drive was pretty smooth. Bollywood loud ones played one the radio and distracted me from the long run and long drive exhaustion. By the time I crossed the Harbor tunnel near Baltimore, I was pretty much grooved into the trip.

I was mostly driving relaxed with cruise on, looking around and clicking arbit pictures. It was turning out to be fun drive. I was singing out loud in my hoarse voice, munching on snacks and enjoying the weather with windows down (sometimes).

Around halfway from my destination (Hartford, CT), i passed Delaware Memorial Bridge. The bridge is a pretty sight, but guess not as famous as its counterparts in New York and San Francisco. 

As the evening approached near New York city, sky turned to darker shades and traffic increased. After hearing so many incidents about driving in New York, and seeing many cars with back bumpers covered with rubber mats type cover, I drove more carefully. And even though i was careful, i was not ready for this shock. The great New York toll charged 30$ for crossing the bridge and few miles, even though i was just passing. Once i crossed the NY city, the traffic reduced and i was relaxed. It was pretty dark to see the sights except the lights.

I reached Hartford on expected time. I was exhausted and itchy with the run in morning and long drive afterwards. After a long hot bath, i hit the bed to be ready for the trip tomorrow.

                                                                             DAY 2

It was a early start and the weather gods were still happy. 

By the time sun came up, i was already entering Vermont.  Roads were empty mainly because of cold and the morning after Thanksgiving. Even though i was still on interstate, it felt more like a beautiful country side glowing in early morning sun, and with country classics on radio

The view from my first stop was exactly what i was expecting from Vermont - stunning and serene together.

The Fort Drummer state park was closed for winter, but then i realized i was not missing much. Its scenic all around.

In Brattleboro, i roamed around main streets early morning, and found the cafe i read praises about in review sites. The Elliot Street Cafe. I know, pretty unoriginal, as its actually on Elliot street.

The staff looked still hung over from last night feast was friendly enough. Mostly self service, they arranged the place with proper signs "Dirty dishes go here","Please clear your table""Forks", "Knives" and "Nap-King",  and everything was in a colorful basket. I didn't know what to order, so asked for a 'full house breakfast', which was in a way 'house-full'. The breakfast was good, but the butter/oil had a different tinge.

After the really full breakfast. I started for Manchester, NH. In less than 2 miles, i saw this amazing view. A frozen river. I have seen frozen lakes, glaciers but a frozen river was a first. I thought of touching the ice sheet, but then good sense prevailed, and i moved on.

The state route in New Hampshire was through the hills, so even though the scenery was really good, i focused more on the road. By the time i hit the interstate, it was already lunch time, but my stomach was still fighting with the heavy breakfast, so i continued towards Manchester.

Then these funny signs started to appear, well not one but the combination of them. A blinking sign with "Every death is one too many" followed by "State Liquor store, next rest stop" OR Avoid accident sign with Liquor store location. Finally when i reached the rest stop, I see this grand Liquor store with a small shed like visitor center. And surprise, there was one the other side of interstate too, serving those going on other direction.

After reaching Manchester, I ran/walk on NH Heritage trail and moved on to my destination for the day in Maine

As i hit I-95, this sign showed up, which i read as "All Pain points" at first.

At the welcome center, i thought having a photo like this would be good. Why? Well, who knows.

I moved on to Portland, and found few cars, carrying trees for christmas already. Guess, they couldn't wait for Christmas.

I reached Portland late afternoon, and the timing couldn't be more perfect. The sun was shining on the tower and the calm sea, giving the most amazing scenery. The wind (not breeze) was really cold and thick (humid.. i guess)

I know i don't gel with the scenery, but i gotta have a proof right :)

After that i hiked around the area for couple of hours and saw the beautiful place from different angles.

And there was some manual artistry involved too.

By the time i started, it was colder and darker. I already planned to stay with a friend near Boston, which was 2 hours drive away. Without any incidents (other than a full bladder and empty gas tank) i reached his house around 9 PM.

                                                                           DAY 3

It's tough to get up early after late-late night talks till 2AM, but i still did. As he couldn't accompany me due to his work, i started early for Mystic in Connecticut. The thing i loved about New England is every place is so near. You can cross a state in less than couple of hours. 

This was more of a history day for me. The first stop was Mystic sea port, which as the story goes, was one of most prominent ship building towns in 1800s. And, now they have turned more than a mile area of port into museum. The most amazing was the scale model of the whole seaport built just based on old photos and memories.It looked fantastic, with every minute details captured.

There was a lot of scenery in the place.

And a lot of history of ship building too.

They even created all the shops, houses, schools from the 1800s. This was sign outside a bar.

And this was from an old clinic. A capsule every half hour :)

Even the Mystic downtown was pretty good. It was a good walk from the museum.And there i saw the most famous place in Mystic. The Mystic pizza, when the actual movie was shot. The place was crowded, probably with movie fans. And there was a waiting queue outside the door, so i decided to skip the pizza and move on.

I think i got this idea of 'two places at once' from a movie which i watched long back. There was no state line, just the local road with yellow painted lines on RI side and no paint on CT, so did not work out. Well, i will try this in a better place.

It was already late afternoon and my stomach was growling, probably throwing expletives for not having the mystic pizza, but i had better things planned.

I drove for another hour to reach this place, about which i read in lot of review sites " The white hourse tavern", the oldest in America.

Even inside, the place had a comfy warm look from the past. I sat at the bar. I asked for house special to busy but really friendly bartender. It tasted exquisite, like Belgian blend but fuller, and really good after taste. For food i asked for Fish cake. I was not expecting anything pefect, but what i got was the best fish i had in a long time, so the combination was perfect.

And for company, there was this nice lady, who did her highschool in Newport 30 years back and is a regular at the tavern for a very long time. We shared our travel stories. I, about trips across america and she, her travels to India. The place, the company, the food and beer turned out to be much better than expected.

So by the time, i asked for the check it was near dark and the weather was turning on the bad side. I was back at Sanjay's place as we had Boston plans for the next day.

                                                                         
                                                                              DAY 4

The morning started with freezing rain and bad weather. We started pretty late and it was 40 mins drive to Boston. We zeroed on the easiest way to see Boston - The skywalk in Prudential tower. 

After which, we walked around downtown streets for some time with big bowls from cold stone creamery. There were old historical church and pretty old residential buildings (historic i guess) glistening after rain. From close, even the shops and other structures too gave different perspective of an old city struggling with newness of things around.

The weather was still bad, and i had to drive 4 hours to reach my hotel, somewhere in south Jersey. And then i started my return journey, with stop in south Jersey. The 4 hours drive back was uneventful and fast as i was hoping for. By The time i reached home the next day after another 4.5 hrs of drive and attending office the full day, I slept like a log.

The trip was great. I saw some awesome sights, had some amazing food, met some good people along the way and the long drives are much easier than they actually look.