1. Americans know how to put on a fair. This one, the Fryeburg Fall Fair, in Fryeburg Maine was
fantastic. Huge and thoroughly American. I absolutely loved it. We spent about 4 hours there.
From the brochure:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
FRYEBURG FAIR
The West Oxford Agricultural Society (present-
ers of the Fryeburg Fair)
was incorporated
on June 3, 1851.
Originally nine Maine towns
were included, with six New Hampshire
towns
added in 1888. After moving from town to town for the first
few years,
a permanent fair site was purchased in Fryeburg.
After nearly 30 years it moved
to its present location, north of town, with the
purchase of 26 acres for $133. The first fair
was held there in October 1885.
During the next 100 plus years it has expanded to 180
acres
and includes 100 permanent buildings, with over 3,000 camping sites.
Currently, about
300,000 attend the fair annually.
2. In Vermont. On my birthday. As fall is my absolute favourite time of year, this day in Vermont,
filled with gorgeous fall foliage, was pretty perfect.
3. The Vermont Country Store. Wow. This place is huge. And really neat. Definitely worth a stop.
We actually almost missed it! I fell asleep in the car and happened to wake up right as we
drove past the store. No really, we were literally driving right. past. the. store. Although I'd told
Glen numerous times to keep an eye out for it as I wanted to check it out, he was pretty
obliviously just driving along. Anyway, we went. We saw. We bought a can of New England
pork and beans.
4. Sleepy Hollow. Not as cool as you might think. But oh well. It was on our way.
5. Amish country. Lancaster Pennsylvania. Although this area is filled with mostly cheesy touristy
'amish' crap that isn't actually made by the Amish, it was still neat to experience. My family is
Mennonite so I guess I feel a small connection to the 'plain people.' We certainly weren't
raised in the old order. We had tvs and phones and cars and jeans. But I was interested in the
history of the Mennonite and the Amish and what the main differences between the two are.
I just enjoyed being there. There's certainly something intriguing about their way of life. I did a
bit of research after we got back. This site was clear, simple and informative.
6. We walked across the border via the Rainbow Bridge from Niagara Falls, NY to Niagara Falls,
ON. I'd never been to Niagara Falls so we figured we might as well incorporate it into our trip.
The falls themselves were beautiful. We wouldn't have made a special trip any other time so it
was nice to get to see them. The town however, horrible. What is up with that? It's like some
kind of crazy haunted house Disneyland on steroids. So awful. When/why did Niagara Falls
get so cheesy?
7. Waiting at the Hamilton, ON airport. On a miserable, grey, rainy day. At this point we just want
to be at home but have 2 flights and a layover in Calgary to look forward to. Blech. But really,
nothing to complain about. We had a fantastic trip. Pretty sure we'll go back.
No comments:
Post a Comment