Take in our glorious past

By Joy Crutchfield
Special to the News-Capital

April 26, 2008 03:10 pm

— Sadly, the series “John Adams” on HBO aired the final episode last Sunday. But Brendan Tours offers you a fantastic way to see the towns and areas where the revolution was born.
On your first day you arrive in historic Boston. The balance of the day is free to explore any area of Boston that has intrigued you. The welcome reception that first evening will allow you to meet everyone in your group, as well as learn any details about the trip that you need to be aware of.
Day two takes you through Portsmouth, N.H., and along the scenic shoreline of Maine. The name of this tour is Autumn Colors, and it runs only from September through October. Can’t you just imagine the incredible colors you will see on your route this day? You will also visit quaint fishing villages that will allow you to connect with the state’s rich past in whaling and shipbuilding as well as lobstering. Your final destination today is Bar Harbor where you’ll delight in a traditional lobster bake.
Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park will delight you on day three. You’ll travel down wooded roads, viewing quiet ponds and rocky beaches ablaze with the vibrant colors of a New England Autumn. You’ll visit the top of Cadillac Mountain and look down on Bar Harbor and the islands of Frenchman’s Bay. This is an afternoon that you get to spend on your own, shopping or relaxing on these gorgeous streets.
Day four will find you leaving the coast of Maine and traveling through the colorful woodlands of maple, birch and sumac. You’ll enjoy a gondola ride at Pinkham Notch (New Hampshire) to the top of Wildcat Mountain for an incredible view of the White Mountains. You spend the night in North Conway, a very popular resort. You’ll enjoy a presentation of the flora and fauna of the White Mountains after dinner this evening.
Woodstock will be visited on day five, along with North Conway and Killington as you travel through New Hampshire into Vermont.
There are still tiny villages and remote farmhouses framed by the vivid autumn colors. The Billings Farm and Museum will allow you to take a look back into rural New England farm life. You’ll end the day at Killington in the heart of the Green Mountains.
Part of day six will be spend at Fort Ticonderoga, built at the southern tip of Lake Champlain. Built in the 1750s it played a strategic role in our revolution. You will leave the fort and travel on to the Adirondack Mountains in New York state. Tonight you stay in Lake Placid, previous site of the Winter Olympics (1980).
Albany, NY, at the headwater of the Hudson River, is the state capital. On day seven you will drive through spectacular scenery to the wooded shores of Lake George. You continue on to Albany and even visit the terminus of the Erie Canal. The Rockefeller Empire State Plaza will be a tour area prior to your cross over into western Massachusetts and the rolling countryside of the Berkshires. You’ll thoroughly enjoy your visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum there. The day finishes in Springfield.
I think they saved the best for last as day eight brings you to the heart of the Revolutionary War with visits to the towns of Lexington and Concord. You’ll see the Minuteman Statue, Concord Bridge and Lexington Green. You may depart from Boston this evening, or stay an extra night or two to enhance the trip with more sightseeing.
As I said, this tour runs only in the autumn, and the cost begins at $1,675 per person, land, double occupancy. If you are planning on going you need to book it now. What a fantastic way to see not only the spectacular fall colors of New England, but visit places near and dear to our American hearts as well.
Joy Gawf-Crutchfield owns The Joy of Travel. Contact her at 918-339-4805 or visit her new Web site, www.thejoyoftravel.com.