New England

We are a touch early for the magnificent New England fall colours but are enjoying the pastoral scenes, forested Appalachians and charming little towns of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  We drove through all 3 today, starting in Bangor, Maine and ending in Montpelier, Vermont.  Mid-afternoon, the National Weather Service broke into regular radio programming with dire warnings of a storm system heading to the area where we were driving - heavy winds, thunderstorms and possible tornadoes along with torrential rains.  We weathered the winds and rains but did not see the thunderstorms or any tornadoes where we were.  We watched the worst of the rain from a pub in Montpelier where drenched pedestrians were thankfully ducking in for a drink.  I wish I could upload photos because the skies were so dramatic. 
We have been fascinated by a common style of house here in the northeastern states.  Often, the house and outbuildings (barn, shed, garage) are all connected so you don't have to go outside to access any of them.  The connecting building is often lower than the house or barn, but larger than just a hallway.  In Maine and New Hampshire, many were farmsteads, well maintained with very large mown lawns.  Here in Vermont, we have seen the style more often in towns where it is a house connected via the lower building to the garage or what looks like a second house.  The houses in either case are large, two storey houses so the add-ons don't seem to be due to lack of space.  We assume the style developed in the olden days and probably due to cold winters.  Interesting.  Once again, our photos would add so much.  Maybe I will try to create a photo website and attach the link to this - tried the other night but could only upload one photo at a time which would take forever.
Tomorrow, we will start our drive through New York State to Buffalo then up to Toronto for a couple of days before dropping back into the States at Windsor.  We are not planning to go to any of the large US cities like New York or Boston - another time.
For those of you who are back at school now, have a fabulous year!  I still miss the excitement of the new school year!