project365 week 41... new england cont.

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.

project365 week 40... new york / new england!

1. Our amazingly beautiful hotel room at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg Brooklyn. It's called a

    Manhattan View King. The photo doesn't show the full extent of the view. It was incredible. 

    Every single thing about the design of the hotel and the room was perfect. Glen and I decided 

    we could both live there. However...we were on the 5th floor and there was a night club on the 

    6th floor. Not cool. We ended up switching rooms a couple of times. The staff was all super 

    friendly and accommodating and in the end they even comped our room for one night and

    reduced the rate of the other two nights. So no complaints. And we'd definitely stay there again.

2. Our first full day in New York was a gorgeous warm and sunny fall day. We decided to do the

    Empire State Building while the weather was cooperating. We each paid $10 extra to get to the 

    front of the line. Why doesn't everyone do that?? Then, after we'd already paid, they told us we 

    got a free 90 minute harbour cruise included. Fantastic! So that's what we did. And this is a

    shot as we pass under the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.

3. The second day rained. All day. Pouring rain. But it was surprisingly warm. So we bought a 

    couple of cheap umbrellas and walked. Soho, Greenwich, 5th Avenue, Central Park. I went to 

    Purl Soho and it was just as lovely as I'd expected. We didn't do any other shopping. We really 

    just wanted to be in New York...see the buildings, hear the taxis, feel like we were in an

    episode of Law & Order. We went to the Guggenheim Museum but didn't go in...we're not 

    really into art. Instead, we picked up some Dean & Deluca on Madison Avenue and had a 

    picnic at the Guggenheim. 

4. We picked up our rental car in Brooklyn. After driving through in our taxi, we wished we'd had 

    an extra day to explore. Glen doesn't actually really enjoy travelling. Or at least he has no real 

    desire to do it. When we go somewhere he has a good time but he could stay home and be 

    perfectly content. But, just the other day, he said he wants to go back to Brooklyn. Works for

    me. We really didn't hang out there at all. We got our car and headed out of town. So this is 

    just a shot of a brick wall I liked. As we sat at a red light. The rest of the day was filled with

    interstates and traffic and chaos. Until we hit Connecticut. 

5. The Glass House. So incredibly beautiful. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't live up to all the 

    photos I've seen. But it did. The plan was to see the house and continue on our way, but they 

    weren't offering tours on the day we arrived in New Canaan, and you can't access the house if 

    not on a tour. So we decided to stay. It's one of my favourite buildings ever so we thought it 

    was worth losing a day of driving. And it was. 

6. Connecticut is gorgeous. The entire state. Again, I was a bit worried that New England wouldn't 

    live up to my idea of it. I thought all the movies or tv shows set in New England I'd seen were 

    surely faked in some way. Well, they weren't. It truly is that pretty. And Connecticut is the 

    prettiest. All the fantastic 18th century colonial homes. The perfect little towns. The winding 

    tree-lined roads. Everything. 

7. One example of how perfect New England is. This is in New Hampshire. Just so pretty!