We regularly make trips to the White Mountains in New Hampshire especially during the Fall season, but this year I said to my husband, "do you want to drive?" as he loves driving and I love planning travel. Such a great combination right :)
I knew his answer was Yes so I suggested "Rangeley, Maine" which was my dream Fall destination since a couple years. So we planned for the long drive with 2 kids with books, music and tons of snacks.
We had lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant, "Sams Italian" we stumbled upon in Rumford, ME which we also stopped on our way back for late lunch again 2 days later.
Route 17 is very scenic as promised by the fall websites of Maine as we drove to Rangeley from Rumsford. Stopped a few times to take photos of mountains with fall colors ablaze. Coos canyon was a surprising find and so beautiful!
Finally we reached the breathtaking first stop of the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway "Height of Land".
It was a fabulous heaven like experience with the mountain ranges around screaming Fall with beautiful colored mounds till the horizon and the multiple lakes interspersed in between.
Height of Land could not be captured by camera alone, we wanted to burn it into our memories forever!
We looked and clicked and looked and oohed and clicked and aahed and clicked as many photos as we could. Then we went on to the next few overlooks which were as beautiful as the previous ones.
It was all I had dreamed of my dream fall destination!
We looked for moose during dusk by driving around bogs, but did not find even one moose while my daughter went asking questions on moose as her car research project!
We observed sunset on Rangeley lake while kids played on the public playground on the lake, ate dinner at the scrumptious "Red Onion" restaurant in the downtown and called it a night at the local Rangeley Saddleback Inn with great views of the Rangeley Lake.
Next day we hiked the "Cascade Stream Gorge" half way up to the middle gorge falls as it was closed further to avoid disturbing an active beehive, then the scenic hike to "Smalls Falls".
"Smalls falls" was kid-friendly as well as challenging as you climb up the rocks to reach the top of the 3 layered falls.
We were fall satisfied but really wanted to see a moose. The opportunity came to us while driving back the same route as husband wanted to savor "Height of Land" one more time. We came to the town Oquossoc where we came to a moose station which collected data on all the moose hunted that day, gory sight for me and the kids to see poor moose lying with their guts opened up. My daughter felt it was unfair on the hunters part to kill the vegetarian moose....
Looked down on the Height of Land, and drove back home fall happy!
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| Coos Canyon, Maine |
I knew his answer was Yes so I suggested "Rangeley, Maine" which was my dream Fall destination since a couple years. So we planned for the long drive with 2 kids with books, music and tons of snacks.
We had lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant, "Sams Italian" we stumbled upon in Rumford, ME which we also stopped on our way back for late lunch again 2 days later.
Route 17 is very scenic as promised by the fall websites of Maine as we drove to Rangeley from Rumsford. Stopped a few times to take photos of mountains with fall colors ablaze. Coos canyon was a surprising find and so beautiful!
Finally we reached the breathtaking first stop of the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway "Height of Land".
It was a fabulous heaven like experience with the mountain ranges around screaming Fall with beautiful colored mounds till the horizon and the multiple lakes interspersed in between.
 |
| Height of Land overlook |
We looked and clicked and looked and oohed and clicked and aahed and clicked as many photos as we could. Then we went on to the next few overlooks which were as beautiful as the previous ones.
 |
| Mountain ranges and lakes all around |
It was all I had dreamed of my dream fall destination!
We looked for moose during dusk by driving around bogs, but did not find even one moose while my daughter went asking questions on moose as her car research project!
We observed sunset on Rangeley lake while kids played on the public playground on the lake, ate dinner at the scrumptious "Red Onion" restaurant in the downtown and called it a night at the local Rangeley Saddleback Inn with great views of the Rangeley Lake.
Next day we hiked the "Cascade Stream Gorge" half way up to the middle gorge falls as it was closed further to avoid disturbing an active beehive, then the scenic hike to "Smalls Falls".
 |
| Smalls Falls picnic area |
"Smalls falls" was kid-friendly as well as challenging as you climb up the rocks to reach the top of the 3 layered falls.
 |
| Heiaght of Land overlook |
We were fall satisfied but really wanted to see a moose. The opportunity came to us while driving back the same route as husband wanted to savor "Height of Land" one more time. We came to the town Oquossoc where we came to a moose station which collected data on all the moose hunted that day, gory sight for me and the kids to see poor moose lying with their guts opened up. My daughter felt it was unfair on the hunters part to kill the vegetarian moose....
Looked down on the Height of Land, and drove back home fall happy!
