October in New Hampshire
The decision to head up to New Hampshire this past weekend was most definitely a good one. This little weekend trip was booked way in advance (back in June to be exact) and my boyfriend and I had been counting the days until it was finally here. This trip was particularly exciting because not only were we going up during the peak time for fall foliage BUT we were staying in the most picture perfect A-frame. (For those who have asked, I found this house on Airbnb and it is located in Bethlehem, New Hampshire.)
Visiting New Hampshire isn’t really new for us, as we have been there before in July a few years back. However, visiting in the fall makes it feel like a completely different place. The foliage up there during this time of year is absolutely stunning and pictures really don’t do it any bit of justice. Everywhere you look there are bursts of bright orange, red and yellow. I would definitely recommend October to be one of the best times to visit.
On our way we stopped at a place called Riverview farm in Plainfield New Hampshire to get some pumpkins. This farm was super cute and had all the things that we were looking for…those things being, pumpkins, gourds, and apple cider, of course. They had the option to go out into their field and pick your own pumpkins right off the stem or choose from a pretty substantial selection of pre-picked ones. Since it was unseasonably hot that day, we decided to take the easy route and choose from the pre-picked bin. The highlight of this farm for me had to be the tons of gorgeous dried bouquets that were neatly tied and hanging from the ceiling of their cute shop. Each bouquet was uniquely beautiful in its own way and to be honest I wanted to buy them all… but a pretty yellow one was the winner. Needless to say, I’m really glad we found this place.
The following day we visited the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park, which I was super excited about because this place is my absolute favorite thing about New Hampshire. Like I mentioned earlier, we have been here before in the summer and I fell in love with it then, but visiting in the fall made it 100x more magical. The Flume gorge is a natural gorge that extends 800 feet horizontally at the base of Mount Liberty. There are narrow wooden walkways that are built along the side of the gorge walls that allow you to navigate right through it. Those walkways are one of my favorite parts about this place due to the fact that they basically walk you right through the middle of everything. The waterfalls are right there next to you and continue to rush by right under you. It really is an amazing experience and you just do not want to leave. This is one of those places where you need to just stop, stare and take it all in. The one and only gripe I have about this place is the fact that is gets very busy very quickly so I suggest getting there as soon as it opens at 8:30am. We arrived about 10 minutes after it opened and enjoyed a peaceful secluded walk through the trail.
On our last day we decided to head over to Mt. Washington and drive the auto road up to the summit. For any of you who have read my blog posts in the past you probably are aware that I am NOT a fan of heights, so the idea of driving up to the top of the highest peak in the Northeastern United States didn’t exactly thrill me. However, I had heard that the views from the top are absolutely stunning and that the drive up is totally worth it, so we did it…well my boyfriend did it and I covered my head with a jacket the entire time until we arrived at the top. It takes about 20 minutes to slowly drive up Mt. Washington, which is a whopping 6,288.2 ft. high. When you arrive and pay at the gate, they give you a CD to listen to on your way up. This CD goes through a detailed history of the mountain and was perfect for me because I needed a good distraction.. haha.
The road is narrow, winding and pretty much drives right along the edge of the mountain with no guard -rails at all. If you’re uneasy about heights, I would say to have someone else drive and close your eyes for those 20 minutes until you get to the top, or you can take the Mt. Washington COG railway up. Once you arrive at the top it feels like a whole other planet. The temperature dropped roughly 30 degrees and the wind was whipping...I mean whipping! There were points when I thought the wind would actually knock me over. I really could not believe we were in the same place. It was 70 degrees that day and at the top of Mt. Washington it was 40 degrees! Even though there was lots of fog, there were periods of time when the wind would move it along and you could get a clear view…and lets just say, the view took my breath away. It was definitely worth the nail biting the entire drive up to be able to witness those views and I feel lucky to have been able to see it. If you are ever in New Hampshire, go get yourself to the top of Mt. Washington!
“And the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep & Autumn was awakened. ”