Leah & Julian vs The World

Although we did a lot of walking in NYC and Boston, we haven’t done much since then. A hike was definitely in order.

When we were planning this trip, part of our inspiration for the New England part of the trip came from our love of the Bill Bryson book “A Walk in the Woods.” If you aren’t familiar with it, Bill and a friend decide to walk (part of) the Appalachian Trail. It’s typical Bill Bryson exaggeration and hilarity.

The trail just happens to pass through the Green Mountains in Vermont, right near where we’re staying in Manchester. After a rather unhelpful (but friendly) discussion with the lady in the local Chamber of Commerce, we got some useful advice from the Ranger at the US Forestry Service.

So at around 11am we set out to do the Little Rock Pond/Green Mountain Loop.

The hike is a 6.5 mile loop, out to the lovely Little Rock Pond along a portion of the Appalachian trail, and then looping back on the other side of the mountains. It is classified as ‘moderate-difficult’ although the ranger seemed to think it was quite easy.

We’re not seasoned hikers, so we definitely found it to be at the more difficult end of the spectrum. To give you some perspective, here is a picture of one portion of the trail.

It was challenging, but definitely worth it – this is a beautiful part of the world.

More photos from Vermont.

Leaving the Cape we headed north, along with half the population of New England. It was Columbus Day long weekend and the good folks of America were heading to the mountains for a spot of leaf peeping. White Mountain is toward the north of the ultra-conservative state, New Hampshire. Here the folks take their ‘Live free or die’ motto quite literally, you don’t have to wear a seatbelt or a motorcycle helmet…

Anyhow back to the leaves. We stayed at Campton, West Campton in fact – I think there are just two addresses in West Campton. The Kancamagus Highway spans the White Mountain National Forest and is a most beautiful drive especially in the Fall. There are many places and walks to stop at along the way – if you can get a parking space!

You can peep at more photos here.

I don’t know about you, but I associate Cape Cod with mansions and celebrities and beach style. And those associations are all true – particularly when you go to a smaller town called Chatham – mansions and resorts galore.

However, the Cape is much bigger than Julian or I anticipated. We drove to the farthest tip (Provincetown) and it took us over an hour from Yarmouth Port (which is already halfway out on the Cape). It was almost sunny when we left, but right out on the tip it was foggy. We stopped at the National Seashore on the tip and gazed out at the view…all 2 metres of it that we could see. Doesn’t appear to deter the sunbathers however, they were out with the deck chairs, soaking up the…atmosphere?

We enjoyed dinner at the Old Yarmouth Inn one night, and Julian indulged in a whole lobster, stuffed with prawns (shrimp) and scallops. Amazingly, that only cost $42 for the whole thing!

We pulled over on the side of the road, and walked down to a cranberry farm. Cranberries are grown in a bog, which is then flooded and the fields agitated to harvest the cranberries. They simply float to the top of the water, you scoop them up, and empty the field.

We also arrived at the Fish Pier in Chatham just in time to see a boat clearing the decks before heading back out. Not so exciting you’d think, but the local sea lions are familiar with the routine, and swim around the boat waiting for scraps. They are enormous, not afraid to look right at you, and seem to spend a large portion of time floating on their backs with only their noses popping up for air occasionally.

Sandwich is a sweet little town, with gorgeous Cape Cod houses, a cute little boardwalk. It seems you can purchase naming rights for each plank of the boardwalk, and virtually all of them are carved with the names of couples, tributes to lost family members, and even what appeared to be business names.

I can certainly see the appeal of the Cape, particularly in warmer weather. Its big limitation is that there are essentially only two roads in – and everyone in the local area and nearby Boston goes to the Cape for summer holidays.

Harvard University, in Cambridge just west of Boston, is the oldest in the US, established in 1636. We joined a tour led by one of the students who gave us some insight into the history of Havard.

It was an enjoyable tour, we learnt much trivia (or campus legends?) including which famous graduates (past presidents, Tommy Lee Jones, Portman) or non-graduates (Damon, Zuckerberg) stayed in which dorms. Did you know the John Harvard (the University’s first benefactor) statue is not actually a likeness of him but rather of a 19th-century student?

Some more photos from Boston are here.

The Freedom Trail in Boston is a walking trail that links 16 various historical landmarks and sights.
After a late start we caught the subway then a ferry to our first stop, the USS Constitution, built in Boston in 1797 and still in commission!

The Bunker Hill Monument commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, where in 1775 the American colonists faced the British (and lost).

After lunch at Figs, the rain started to fall lightly as we continued the trail through North End. The Burying grounds along the trail dated back to 1660 and are the final resting place of many of the patriots involved with the revolution.

The US of A was never somewhere I thought of travelling to, it was always a ‘someday’ destination. But then the Australian dollar got to parity and it just seemed to make sense to take advantage of it while it lasted.
This is all a long introduction to the start of our latest adventure – a tour of parts of the East Coast – starting with 6 nights in the city that never sleeps.
This is our 5th night and we haven’t really stopped the entire time. Our feet are sore and every night we collapse into bed around midnight (late for us!) and sleep like the dead.
Every day there is something else to see, some new borough to visit and more food to try.

Here are some highlights so far…

A walking tour (self-guided) of Brooklyn

The Smorgasburgvfood festival in Williamsburg (the sweet smoked ribs were amazing!)

Broadway – The Lion King is spectacular and we’ve been unsuccessfully trying to win lottery tickets to Book of Morman.

Central Park – I’ve been for a run and we’ve walked through it but I wish we had more time to see more of it.

The Highline in Chelsea – this is a converted railway track taht is now a walkway and garden. New York is amazing in the way it creates public spaces that work with yet provide respite from the city. Nearby Chelsea markets were also great.

Fanciest dinner of our stay at Daniel on the Upper East Side – a shame we had to rush to get there on time!

More photos from NYC…here.

Just home from a quick escape to South Australia. After hiring a car in Adelaide we spent a few days in two of the best wine regions, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Good food was also on the agenda and we ate our fair share at 1918, Maggie Beer’s, the Barossa Farmers Markets and Magill’s Restaurant. Our B&B in Tanunda, Blickinstal, was excellent.

Our best cellar door experience was at Smallfry where Wayne sat down with us for about an hour and ran through the wines as well as his experiences as a winemaker. We also visited, but did not taste at, Jacob’s Creek (just to check out the massive visitor’s centre), Hugh Hamilton (quite busy) and Alpha Box & Dice (closed for renovations).

View Barossa 2010 in a larger map

Two Hands cellar door – brand new and very up-market with wine prices to match. Definately some great Shiraz but better value can be found elsewhere.

Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop stocks her full range of foodstuffs. We grabbed a picnic lunch by the dam before watching a quick cooking demonstration featuring (yes, you guessed it) verjuice. The demonstration was in the kitchen used in filming the television show, The Cook and The Chef.

Some sheep.