9th to 11th October.....Vibrant Vermont.......

Well we arrived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the rain and left today in the rain...we had nine days of glorious weather in between but must now say our fond farewells to this beautiful area and head for Vermont on US Route 2....again it's a very pretty scenic drive despite the rain.....

Patting my own back, it is quite a feet to snap the pics in-between the passes of the windscreen wipers !!

Just visible....Welcome to Vermont..

Even in the rain and mist the autumnal colours are vibrant...

Montpellier....the state capital and quite a small town and as is often the case the capital is not the largest town/city....
A smile for a dreary day....the tradition at this time of year in these parts is to make and place "pumpkin people" outside of your house or business...we saw a priceless one.....a lifelike Donald "Trumpkin" hair...perfect.....

Saturday 10th October....and again what a difference a day makes...today is sunny and very warm as we head up through Cambridge to Smugglers Notch State Park... 
This photo is a very classic/typical view of rural New England....

 Smugglers' Notch is a narrow pass through the Green Mountains and a favourite  drive at this time of year for the "leaf peepers".....in 1807 when an embargo act was passed forbidding trade with GB and Canada causing severe hardship for the local inhabitants illegal trade with Canada continued through this "notch'....fugitive slaves also used the notch as an escape route and during prohibition liquor was smuggled in from Canada....

The Gondola ride goes to the top of Mount Mansfield it can be clearly seen from here....needless to say this is also a big ski area....there was hoar frost on the trees at the higher level today !!

Lunch sandwich view, sitting in the warm sunshine at one of the many corn mazes....great fun for the kids.....

We passed on a tour of the "Von-Trapp" Mansion and Ben & Jerry's although an ice-cream would have been nice and drove into Burlington the largest city in Vermont it's just a few miles from our campsite and 45 from the Canadian Border....

Burlington is situated on Lake Champlain...time for a nice walk along the prom before returning home to a lovely buzzing campsite, it's holiday weekend and great to see so many folks enjoying their campfires.....Columbus Day and The Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend...

Sunday 11th Oct and it's Duck Dynasty out on the lake !!!! 
Today we head over to North & South Hero on the islands of Lake Champlain....
Nice drive not particularly photogenic, can't win them all but a good look-see and we did buy a Christmas present !!!

And to the Canadian Border...we didn't venture across in case we couldn't get back into the US !! Then again Canada might not have let us in !!!

Swanton Public Library...

Swanton and a note here that we have noticed that many of the churches in New England are brick (most buildings are wood, a plentiful supply !!) and very "English" in design which we guess is to be expected....

This is for Jennifer.....St Albans Vermont....

St Albans, quite a large town and really neat, we had a good walk around the park...

The colours are so amazing and they do in fact over the next few days get even better if that is possible....none of the photos are "photo-shopped"....

After St Albans instead of once more heading back across Smugglers Notch we take a different route which was even more stunning and quiet !!!!

There were also several covered bridges on this route as well as spectacular foliage....

As well as admiring the foliage we stopped at some of the many maple syrup "Sugar Houses" to taste and purchase....Vermont maple syrup is reputed to be the best.... 

We have really enjoyed our stay in Vermont and the truly vibrant colours but we must move on...tomorrow we shall travel south and west to Lake George in New York State....
Until the next post...
The Very Colourful Campers....