The fog was so thick at 8am this morning that we couldn't see the golf course across the road. But, it cleared quite quickly to a fine, sunny, warm day.
We decided to just drive around today and visit all the neighbouring towns. We started at Lancaster then moved on to Bethlehem. Around lunchtime some clouds started to appear so we drove to Cannon Mountain, located in the Franconia Notch State Park. We took the aerial tram over 2000ft up to the peak of Cannon Mountain which stands 4100ft or 1250m high. The ride took 7mins. We passed over plenty of maple trees changing colour at the base but it was all pine trees further up. At the top, we did the rim walk which took us around the top of the mountain giving us 360 degree views of the neighbouring mountains. On a clear day, you can see the mountains of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York and Canada. Today wasn't a clear day.
This is the site of the very first aerial tram in North America and began taking people up in 1938. There was a ski museum at the bottom of the mountain which had the original tram car out the front. Inside was a history of skiing in New Hampshire. Local Olympic hero, Bode Miller, has won 5 Olympic medals. They were all on display at the museum.
Echo Lake was at the bottom of the mountain. Water from this lake is used in the snow making process, freezes over in winter & the refills from the snow melt. It was surrounded by trees, many of which were changing colour.
After leaving Cannon Mountain we drove through the town of Franconia and on to Sugar Hill. This was a beautiful, quaint town and it was in the surrounding country roads and lanes that we saw the most beautiful autumn trees. The colours were spectacular, especially when the sun hit them. Absolutely beautiful. The locals seem to think that this weekend or early next week will be the peak of colour.
Our last stop was a town called Littleton which turned out to be the biggest town we have come across. The Main Street was filled with shops, churches and restaurants. There was also a fair bit of history in the town. Littleton is the home to Chutters which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest candy counter. There was 34m of jars filled with lollies. You get a paper bag and a disposable glove and take whatever you want from the jars. Of course I got some!
We came back a bit later tonight but it was still light. No moose sightings today.