TravelGuides

(TGA) - Trip report cont. from MA forum

Portsmouth is the last coastal town in New Hampshire before over the river it becomes Kittery in Maine.

We drove around the town which is quite a charmer and were glad we decided to visit. Found a B&B for the night – Inn at Strawbery Banke which is next to the extensive museum of settlement buildings that we did a walking tour around. Very interesting history of the first settlements in the US.

That night we went to a restaurant on the river and had the best seafood chowder – the restaurant had got an award for its chowder.

During the night the weather which has been so good changed for the worst – rain and strong winds swept through New England.

Day 8 Wednesday 7 October

We drove NW to Lake Winnipesaukee on what the map said was a scenic route which it proved to be the case. Autumn had truly struck and we started to get the colours in the trees. On further to Conway at one end of the Kancamagus Byway which cuts through the White Mountains where we stopped for lunch and visited the Park Office at the start of the Byway. Then drove along what has to be one of the best autumn sights you will ever see. Despite the weather being overcast with occasional showers, the trees with their autumn colours were magnificant and we drove slowly along the length of the byway and got to near Lincoln where we saw the Mountain Resort on Loon which faced a racing river and a mountain side spotted with colour. I checked that we could get a room overlooking the river and mountain side and so decided to stay there for the night. This looked to be one of our better nights on the trip and we went to the restaurant only to have the waiter forget to place our order which spoiled the good vibe we had.

Day 9 Thursday 8 October

We retraced our steps and went back along the Byway almost to the end but turned off on the Bear Notch road. This section of road was even more impressive as the road was narrower so trees hung over the road giving an impression of driving though a tunnel of autumn leaves.

We drove on further and entered the grounds of the Bretton Woods hotel to see the place that became famous at the end of WW II.

We then proceeded northwards on US 3 highway which was a pleasure to drive on. It too was scenic and the autumn trees eventually gave way to pines as we climbed to the end of the US and stopped at the US/Canada border. That wriggley line on the NH map the customs guy explained was the top of the continental divide and we were at 3000 ft above sea level which explained why it was so cold. The Canadian customs guy was very friendly and asked us if we had guns, ammunition, pepper spay etc. He said that it was three hours to Quebec and when I asked him about the road he advised that there was about 11 km of dirt road but it was in good condition. So we drove on but the road onwards was more of a suburban quality and hardly an example of a highway which had me wondering if the Quebecqois were trying to discourage traffic from the US.

Continued in Canada Quebec Forum
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Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had fun.
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