New England - Day 1

I'm not sure if it's Blogger or my Internet connection, but computering is a little iffy. This will be short on details and long on photos, Blogger willing.

We spent our first night at a Clarion Hotel in Northampton MA. Why Northampton, you ask? Because it is home to . . . . one of the biggest yarn stores on the planet - a mecca for yarnies. Webs has a 21,000 square foot warehouse in addition to a yarn shop in the building you see here. It's huge! And set up very well for leisurely shopping; they have at least 2 sitting areas with big comfy chairs for hubby's to wait in comfort. I was good - after almost 2 hours in the store, I only bought 2 skeins of yarn and a Webs ruler/knitting gauge.

A short way up the Interstate is the headquarters for Yankee Candle Co. Dick loves their candles, so we stopped for lunch at Chandlers - very nice; their clam chowder is almost as good as Andria's in Ventura - and some candle shopping. The store is huge; we had to ask directions to find the exit. They also had beautiful landscaping. I love the beautiful fall colors of mums.

Vermont has 106 covered bridges and I hope to see most of them on this trip. When I was growing up, my great-grandmother lived by a covered bridge in Elizabethton TN; I've loved them ever since. This is the Baltimore Covered Bridge in Springfield, VT. You can still see the peg construction. The Cornish-Windsor Bridge, in Windsor VT, is the longest covered bridge in the world. It spans the Connecticut River, with one end in Vermont and the other in New Hampshire. I love the sign over the New Hampshire entrance. This picturesque barn was on the outskirts of Windsor VT. Tomorrow - fall leaves, at last!