New England

 We decided since we are living in the East now that we should take a little trip up to New England and visit a few states that Craig and I have never been too.  His goal is to hit all 50 states by the time he is 50.  He took a little time off work, we packed up the car and away we went.  The first day we drove up to Rhode Island and stayed in Providence for the night.  We walked around downtown a little and ate at one of my favorites places, The Cheesecake factory.  Though we did discover they changed their menu and my favorite sandwich was no longer on the menu.  Luckily, it did not ruin my opinion of Rhode Island, a small but interesting state. 

 Being football fans we couldn't drive to New England without stopping by and seeing the New England Patriots stadium.  A little crazy how it is located in a more rural town outside of Boston but then all around the stadium is a huge shopping center and movie theaters.  I imagined all the women who went shopping while their husbands were watching the football game.  I would rather be watching football myself and there were definitely a few stores that I could spend some time in also. 

 From Foxboro, we stayed in Massachusetts and drove up to Boston.  We parked and had a little brunch then walked around a little.  Craig had been here before so he showed us the Holocaust Memorial.  A very humbling experience reading all of the plaques about the events that took place during that moment in history.  We then hopped back in the car and drove to New Hampshire.

 Our stop in New Hampshire consisted of stopping at Sig Sauer, the company that makes the guns that Craig owns.  We stopped by the facility where they are made and it was pretty much lockdown.  Then we drove a few miles away to the academy where they have training classes.  Craig plans on attending at least one of these sometime in the near future.  We could hear the gunshots of the outdoor range.  They also had a store that Craig went in a looked around.  They were opening in a week and having a huge sale for their grand opening.  Craig kept trying to figure out a way he could find himself back in New Hampshire the next week as we drove on to Maine. 

 We spent the night in Augusta, Maine and went swimming in the hotel and relaxed then woke up bright and early to head to Acadia National Park.  We took a two lane highway instead of the freeway and drove along the coast with lots of little towns and beautiful scenery.  This was one of the bridges we crossed over to get to Acadia.  Acadia was gorgeous and deserves a post of its own that I will post tomorrow.  After Acadia we drove through Maine and New Hampshire again on a two lane highway to enjoy the true beauty of these two states, we even avoided the numerous tolls that we hit on the way up.  Unfortunately, we missed the peak leaf season when all the trees would be changing colors but every once in a while we saw a yellow or red leaf tree and could really picture how gorgeous all these trees would be in the fall.   We ended up in Vermont and visited Sharon, in the middle of a rainstorm, where the prophet Joseph Smith was born.  They have a quiet little visitor center and were enjoyed our visit there.  We spent our last night in Vermont then drove home the following day.  We had a wonderful vacation and I love that we can take some time to spend with family and travel to such amazing places.  We are very blessed!