On my Fall to-do list, the first thing for me to do was: enjoying the Fall Foliage in New England. I know it may sounds an obscure thing to do – specially because the words “fall foliage” and “New England” didn’t mean anything to me a few months ago, but it’s actually a legal thing to do. New England is mostly covered with forests so it’s the perfect region to see great colors of fall leaves for the people who like this kind of activity. I’m guessing that being almost 30 makes me belonging to this kind of people now. Here we go with the countryside postcard made in USA!
New England, where is it? What is it? French have something against England, that’s History, and New England is just unknown (I don’t have any statistics, just “feelings” about this). My own knowledge of the United States geography was also pretty poor (and we still unfairly laugh at American people who can’t name or place Budapest or Copenhague on an European map). Anyway, New England is a region on the North-East of the United States, basically between New York City and Quebec – to keep things simple. There are 6 States on it, and Massachusetts – where we are living – is one of them. It’s an important place for history and culture – and fortunately for us, a liberal place (if you’re interested in US geography, try to do this fun jigsaw puzzle).
Mohawk Trail We left on Saturday morning, in a big rent car (we always choose the economic car, but it’s always some kind of big Daddy’s car). Our schedule was pretty… unclear so to say, we haven’t prepared anything even if Manu’s family was with us for the first time with us since we moved to the US. Manu went quickly through our beloved New England guide and spotted the “Mohawk Trail”, a scenic road up north Massachusetts. Perfect. I first thought it was the name given by the publisher to make it look genuine and “Native”. But I’ve learnt then that’s it’s actually a true and historic name of a 60-mile long trade road used by the Mohawk tribe (well several tribes used it, but the Mohawk won a war and let their name). We spent most of the day in the car, stopping each time some place looked nice: antique shop, a farm with cows, a nice view over a bridge, and even a museum about local life (we were inspired for this one…). We tried some local food: apple crisp (yummy), candies (my favorite treat ever), fudge (sweet butter – forget this if you’re on any kind of diet).
I really like this kind of rustic road full of surprises. It even became mysterious at the end of the night when the fog invaded the road. We arrived at the end of this small trip by 7pm in the very cute city of North Adams in western Massachusetts. We start searching a restaurant, but it was rainy and cold so we came into the first place we found, called “Public”. It was a very good surprise and we had a great time. We were less lucky for the hotel, which was an awful experience. Still, the day after, we were ready to go to Vermont!
