solo road trip to new hampshire and vermont

first, if you're viewing this from facebook, please go to my blog to see the original posting; facebook fails to import videos, so go to http://omggetthis.blogspot.com

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two weekends ago, i took a solo 3-day road trip to new hampshire and vermont. yea, that was a while ago, but before it got any longer, i just wanted to document it here. to most of my friends, this trip is old news.

as for new content, i finally uploaded a video of my trip:


i didn't take video clips too often; i mainly just took tons of pics. below are 3 albums, 1 for each successive day:
(1)

new hampshire foliage - day 1 - 10/10/09

(2)

vermont foliage - day 2 - 10/11/09

(3)

vermont foliage drive home - day 3

basically, i woke up super early on saturday. i drove to new hampshire and explored the white mountains. that day, i saw 4 waterfalls, went on some mini-hikes into the woods, and went to 2-3 state parks. very late at night i arrived at my remote, sketchy hostel that was located about 2 hours away from civilization. (i stayed there because it was perfectly en route to my path to vermont for the next day).

the hostel was the most interesting and unique hostel at which i've ever stayed. i arrived there after 9pm, and after driving on gravel and dirt roads for a while, i finally found it at the end of a 1-mile-long dead-end road. upon entering the hostel, i was greeted by a hippie. the house was really decked-out and well-groomed. but, everything was organic. yep, i quickly learned why my 18-person shared room was called the "yoga room" -- there were no mattresses, but only 18 yoga mats on the floor. after having been awake and driving for the entire day, lying down on that yoga mat was far from comfortable. oh, the bathroom looked amazing. seriously. it was probably the nicest shower i've ever been in, including nice hotels. however, the toilet, which although nice looking, was actually rigged-up like an outhouse. there was a long chute down somewhere, and there was a nearby bucket of woodchunks and instructions to use 1 cup of woodchucks per bathroom visit. as i read the sign that stated urination was encouraged outdoors, i quickly wondered what type of place have i got myself into.

anyway, it was definitely an interesting place, and the hippie owner offered chai tea and cookies. i had none.

sunday, i drove down to the border b/w new hampshire and vermont, to see the longest covered bridge in the nation. i explored some nearby areas then drove all the way up through vermont's green mountains. like new hampshire, everything was really pretty. i had never seen leaves that looked like this. even when the skies were overcast, the roads appeared to be lit due to the radiating, saturated tree leaves. i saw 2 waterfalls on sunday and went on a hike. at one time, i slipped and fell a few feet down a bank. if i slid further, well, it was pretty much a 180-degree cliff that dropped a long ways until a river. it was fun though. sunday night, i was exhausted, and i checked in early at 6pm into the next hostel.

this hostel was also interesting, but for brevity, i'll just say it was really well set-up and was owned by (2) 25-year olds. very impressive. they even fully owned and operated a restaurant and bar within the hostel, with the help of their sister and friend. very professional and good.

by the time i went to sleep on sunday -- day 2 -- i could see orange leaves everytime i closed my eyes. for this reason, i decided to not explore much on monday. instead of heading further north up until being a few miles shy of canada, i decided to just head home. yet, even though my eyes had been over-saturated by the leaves, i still couldn't resist pulling off the road several times to take pics, of barns, rivers, and trees. the drive home ended up taking many hours.

it was a very fun, unforgettable trip.