Road Trip 2021: Hanover, NH

Early in our planning, we booked two nights at an AirBnB in Hanover and it ended up being one of the few pieces of the trip we did not change. This was the only place on the road where we spent more than one night in the same place, and it was very restful:

Our first stop in the area was King Arthur Flour, where we spotted this hummingbird right by the entrance

After lunch, we made out way to the AirBnB, where we had to stop to let this giant flock of turkeys cross the road

We had this cute window seat in our room

Looking at on a pretty meadow

On Wednesday morning, there were fawns in it

Another view from the house. Smoke from the wildfires out west made the mountains look blue

We met back up with Alex and Jules in the late afternoon for an informal tour of the campus with Kevin, followed by dinner. It started to pour, which cut the tour short and made it hard to find a restaurant in downtown Hanover (since outdoor seating was closed, they all had waits of over an hour)

We decided to head to Lebanon and try the restaurant our hostess suggested, which was surprisingly good and had a giant scrabble board right by our (mostly secluded) table

The fierce Scrabble battle dominated our meal. We played in teams (the men, the girls, and Benji/mommy)

The final board

If you zoom in on the board, you can see who won :)

Even though we booked an AirBnB, it was more like a BnB and our hostess cooked us a gourmet breakfast both mornings. Waffles on Wednesday were a big hit

While everyone else took the official Dartmouth tour, Benji and I hiked down to Quechee Gorge

We met back up together for lunch at Pine, the Hanover Inn's new farm-to-table restaurant and then bid farewell to Alex and Jules, who made their way back to Boston to fly home. We had the rest of the afternoon free, so we did some exploring in Vermont, include the state's only NPS site, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Estate:

The house was not open for tours, but you could go on the porch and peek in the windows

The grounds were beautiful (tiny Abby for scale)

Across the street is the model farm that Billings set up. It still operates as a museum and farm, although we did not take a tour. We did stop by the shop for some of the cheese they make on site.

On the way home we stopped in Woodstock

And again back in Quechee at the Simon Pierce Mill (glassblowing shop and restaurant)

After a brief stop back at the house, we headed to Fairlee to meet Josie and the girls at Gladstone Creamery for some ice cream

We ended the night with a picnic by the green of Thai food and one last shot of Baker Tower

 

The kids taking selfies

When we got back to the house, it smelled delightful. Our hostess Fern had told us to watch out for this flower. It only blooms every few years and only for a night or two and we were lucky to catch it.

Last breakfast from Fern before leaving Hanover