One of the main things you hear when living on the east coast is how beautiful the fall foliage is. From "You can't miss the fall foliage!" to "The fall foliage is the best thing about the season," we were constantly told by people that we need to experience the beauty of the fall leaves.
One of Dex's best friends Jen invited us to her parent's house in Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire in early October, which is about a 4 hour drive from New Haven. We thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to see the fall foliage. So after only 2 days of coming back from a trip to California, we packed our bags and drove to New Hampshire on a Friday night.
On the way up, we made a pit stop at Cracker Barrel, a very popular American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. Our saga of the Cracker Barrel shall be chronicled in another post but the short version: the wait was over an hour so we ended up leaving and having dinner at a McDonald's. Before we left, I posed with a big lollipop in the gift store to make myself feel better.
As we drove and got closer to Lake Winnipesaukee, Dex attempted to look at the trees. It was pitch black and we could barely see, but Dex had the sneaking suspicion that the leaves were still green while I held onto hope that we would still luck out.
However... the next morning, turns out Dex was right. The leaves were still very much green.
Though we were severely disappointed by the lack of changing colors in the leaves, we were in awe of Jen's house and the view from her backyard. We decided to not let the lack of fall leaves ruin our trip and instead focused on the wonderful company and beautiful views instead.
Jen and her parents were such wonderful hosts and made us feel so welcome. They took the time to make sure we didn't squander our stay at their house. While rain came and went throughout the day, the sun did come out for a good portion of the day and cast a beautiful glow over the lake. Jen's mom quickly rushed us out of the house to take advantage of the sun and thanks to Jen and her family, we got to go on a boat ride, kayak, and ride a jet ski.
When we finally packed it in, we got to enjoy Jen's wonderful cooking. She honestly spoiled us a lot.
At night, Jen busted out the chocolate and marshmallows so we could make smores. But first we had to build a fire!
We ended the night with binging Squid Game and the next morning, before we got back on the road to go home, we made a quick trip to get cider donuts and have a mini fall-themed photoshoot, courtesy of Jen who knew what backdrops we needed to get and how to pose:
Though we didn't get to see any fall foliage, this was one of our favorite trips so far on the east coast. Thanks to Jen and her family, we basically got to have a mini-vacation where we had a whole lake to ourselves to enjoy and were fed good food throughout the day. Jen, if you're reading this, we definitely need to spoil you when you visit us!
