Bethel Overnight

Our first overnight accommodation was a bed and breakfast in Bethel, Maine.

The house was built in 1906 though I"m not sure when it became an inn.  Obviously renovations were made to accomplish that and provide bathrooms in every room.  Our bathroom looked like it once was a closet and being a small space the sink was in the bedroom.

The innkeepers were incredibly friendly and talkative as were some of the others staying there including 4 Appalachian Trail through hikers.  One couple had been at it 6 months.  Originally from Minnesota they'd sold off everything and started off in March.  They were stopping at the BnB for two nights as they had at other places on the trip including in Hanover, NH at Dartmouth where their daughter met up with them. I feel like we came away with almost their recent life story but doubt they learned anything about us.

We enjoyed the verandah.

We toured the local historical society exhibit of a house built in 1813 by a local doctor who was quite wealthy at the time. Sorry no photos.  Outside one of the buildings was this large bottle - not glass. It's going to be used as a food kiosk.  It came from an old hotel in the area.

 

Though Bethel also has a mineral museum we skipped that.  After breakfast of French toast and apples we headed on our way north taking the scenic route.  It was a rainy day.

The last waterfall we spied was at this convenient rest stop.

Not sure the name of the falls but it's similar in geology.

There was this giant chair there and these signs.

One last look at the falls.

 

Waterfall 2

 Next waterfall was Screw Auger Falls.  We set the GPS but thankfully we spotted the signs 5 miles before where the GPS thought it was and pulled into the parking lot.

I love it when a park provides signs to explain what I'm seeing and why it's there.  First sign was great.

That sign was followed up with this one.

Behind the sign was this passage way to the falls.

Straight ahead I see this pool but turning to the right ...

Looking back at the pool the downstream is deceiving.

Walking downstream the rounded pools are visible and the falls continues.

Another sign tells more history.

The falls continues.

One last peek through the rocks at the falls.

Waterfall 1

 We were on a mission that first day of driving in Maine to see waterfalls after reading about how the area had so many.

The first one we came to was rather a disappointment. The sign gave us a great explanation of how the falls were formed so once we read that we started down the path to see it.

Can you see a falls through the trees?

How about now?

From what we could see the falls didn't live up to hype on the sign.

I did think these ferns growing on this rock face were cute.

And the face made by these roots growing over a rock were a bit scary.

On to the next waterfall.

Traveling to Maine

 Last Wednesday, Sept 8th we got up early and headed north on Interstate 91 in Vermont. Living on the western edge of New Hampshire as we do the fastest way north is to travel along the state border which is the Connecticut River and the interstate, the fastest way, has very lovely scenery. Once a sufficient distance north we headed east, leaving Vermont and crossing the upper reaches of New Hampshire in order to enter Maine far enough north.  I had selected a route that would take us past numerous waterfalls in Maine before arriving at our first night's destination - Bethel.

Traveling through NH we came to Dixville Notch.  Besides being one of three notches in the White Mountains, its claim to fame is the early voting in every national election.

What made us stop was this lake scene below.  Looked like something out of the Canadian Rockies. We then saw the historical marker and knew where we were.

We tried all sorts of entrances to get a closer look at The Balsams but all the entries were closed except the service entrance and that was closed to us.  

We continued on our way to Maine.

Next post: waterfalls.