We had flown to Boston  on Friday night and had Saturday morning to explore Boston before our friends arrived. Greg and Fiona had flown to New York earlier in the week and were being driven up that morning by Matt and Rachael who now lived in the Big Apple. The historic centre of Boston is nice and compact for walking around so from our hotel in the Back Bay we strolled up Tremont St and had a look at Boston Common and went to look at the Granary Cemetery where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and other figures of the American Revolution are buried. We then had a look at the Old State House, Faneuil Hall and the Long Wharf.

When the others turned up around 1400, we went off to get tickets for the Duck tour. However we found that it was fully booked so instead arranged it for Sunday and then struggled a bit for what to do. We decided to walk to Harvard as it was the weekend of the Head of the Charles, a series of rowing events on the Charles river. In the event we got as far as MIT and popped into their museum. This however was seriously in need of a makeover being little more than a room of dead robots with very little in the way of interactive exhibits. By the time we got out of it we realised that we did not have a lot of time before dinner so just grabbed a cab back to the hotel.

That night for my birthday we went to L'Espalier one of Boston's top French restaurants. We went for the taster menu, the food was excellent however some of the wines they paired with it were not great. I was a bit mystified why they were trying to find obscure French wines when the US has so much nice wine however I guess that was the expectation. After that we went back to the hotel and turned in early because, having three Kiwis in our party, after a few hours of sleep we all got up at 0400 to watch the final of the Rugby World Cup, which they won.

Due to the Rugby it was a bit of a struggle that morning but we managed to have some breakfast and then climbed on board an amphibious vehicle for one of Boston's famous Node: link. This is without a doubt one of the most amusing things to do in Boston. Our vehicle was driven by a highly talkative guide dressed as a Fisherman who delivered an endless series of facts interspersed with jokes. The tour spends about forty five minutes on land then the Duck goes into the Charles river and you spend a further half hour in the water.

Outside of the Revolutionary landmarks the most interesting part of the tour was getting an understanding of the landscape and how the Charles river has been tamed. Boston started life in 1630 as just an island just consisting all of the uphill parts of the town such as Beacon Hill plus the historic core and wharfs. Then over the course of the next 200 years it was tripled in size through landfill. The area our hotel was in, Back Bay, was entirely landfill created by a huge project which started in the 1860's with thousands of trains delivering gravel over the course of twenty years. In addition the Charles River was dammed in many places for industry with the construction of the Charles River Dam in 1910 turning the river from an estuary with tidal mud flats to a freshwater basin. The Duck takes you through the lock of the dam goes under the Longfellow bridge and then loops back during which time the driver let a few people have a few goes at piloting including Anna.

Back on dry land we decided to split up, with the girls going to do some shopping and us guys doing our own form of sight seeing by going to the Twenty First Amendment, a pub JFK used to frequent cunningly named after the end of prohibition, and staying there all afternoon. By the time the girls caught up with us we had formed a good understanding of local ales and it was time to get changed for dinner. That night we celebrated Greg's birthday by eating in Node: link. This was without a doubt the best meal we had all holiday. The restaurant is very tastefully decorated, the food excellent and the wine recommendations spot on. Afterwards we piled across the road to Node: link an excellent speakeasy inspired basement which happened to have a Frank Sinatra theme going on that night. We had an excellent time and there was even some dancing at one point!

We were due to head over to Vermont but before we left we decided to have another walk through Boston. This time we explored Beacon Hill an incredibly beautiful neighbourhood with some of Boston's oldest houses. The locals had gone to town with their Halloween decorations with pumpkins and other paraphernalia on every doorstep and window frame. After a lunch time beer at Long Wharf we then picked up our rental car, a black convertible, and headed back to the hotel before setting off for Vermont.

Having the top down was a rather short lived affair. Whilst it was nice and sunny in Boston as soon as we got on the motorway frost bite started to set in and the novelty started to wear off. Unfortunately we never found another opportunity for it as the weather took a turn for the worse. The drive was interesting despite the desperately low speed limits which seem to impose a very dull driving routine with very little over taking. On the way the fall colours started to appear and by the time we passed through Northfield the effect was amazing. In fact I wished I had taken some pictures of Northfield, it was difficult to imagine a more picture book American town with white picket fences and the locals all hanging outside the village school waiting to pick up their children.

We stopped at Grafton to pick up some cheese and were in South Woodstock by 1800. We had decided to do a bit of cooking so after finding the house we had rented we picked up some supplies at the local supermarket before settling in for the night. The house was amazing, set on a hill surrounded by woods it was incredibly tastefully decorated, comfortable and well equipped. Anna and I were assigned the task of getting the fire going so I chopped some kindling and before long we were all collapsed in sofas watching the roaring fire.

We did not have a very fixed schedule for the rest of the week. Us lads were keen to take a few photos and everyone was keen on doing a bit of walking. We however knew the weather was going to tail off during the week so decided to make the most of Monday and walk up a mountain. We drove West to Killington and found a trail going up Pico Peak which has a ski field. The trail was quite beautiful however a lot of the trees on the mountain had lost their leaves and their was quite a bit of mud. After reaching the top a consensus was reached that everyone was cold and wanted to get down quickly so we simply jogged down one of the ski runs and were back to the car in a fraction of the time.

This then gave us the opportunity to have lunch at the Long Trail Inn, one of Vermont's several micro breweries. Here we had a sampler of their various different beers and accidentally managed to order so much food that we were left wondering how we were ever going to eat dinner. When we finally got back to Woodstock we picked up some of the nicest filet steaks I have ever seen and Anna and I cooked dinner before we all settled into the lounge to play a relatively incident free session of the famous names game.

We had nominated Wednesday as photo day. The issue we had was that at the end of Oct the foliage was past its peak so there were only certain places with a good display. We had done some research the previous night so had resolved to head West and then drive South along route 7 to Bennington. The first issue however was getting West. We drove south from South Woodstock with the intention of going across route 106 but found this had been a casualty of Hurricane Irene which two months earlier had caused the worse flooding in Vermont for years and had wiped out several roads.

Instead we had to go a bit further North taking a very minor road through South Reading. This was all going well until we encountered another road block telling us to go back. This time we were a bit dubious so decided to venture along it rather than go miles back. Interestingly there was very little wrong with it, we were very suspicious that the locals having got bored of people using it as a replacement route had blocked it off. However we finally got over to the seven then headed off South.

By the time we got to a place called Manchester it was ironically raining and looking very unpromising. For some reason the girls were interested in doing more shopping so we had to stop off at a set of factory outlets there. This however did allow some time for the rain to clear so by the time we got to Bennington  it was just misty.

Here we went to take pictures in old Bennington, up by the monument to the revolutionary Battle of Bennington where a brigade (mainly of German soldiers) were defeated. The star of the show however was not the monument but the foliage around the Old First Church and its cemetery. Here we stayed for about an hour taking photos, the colours only slightly marred by the flat white sky.

After that we made our way slowly back to Woodstock. Matt and Rachael were keen to cook pork belly for us that night and we had some difficulty locating any but eventually were pointed at a butchers in Wallingford on our way back. This turned out to be quite a find as they literally had everything from pork belly to sweet breads. After this we headed back to the house, got the fire roaring again and settled in for a night of good food and rather lively conversation.

We knew it was going to snow so had decided to spend the day chilling out. Everybody did their own thing in the morning and then around lunch time we headed off to Woodstock for lunch and a few beers. Woodstock is a fairly pleasant sort of a place but it does lack a good pub, the only real bar we found was in a hotel and even this only opens in the evenings. We then had a glance at the shops which sold all manner of nice clothes, however with the cold temperatures I do not think anyone was keen to try anything on.

That afternoon we had set aside for pumpkin carving. We had each bought one on our travels the previous day in order to have a carve off. I thought I was certain to win and whittled out a face freehand. But Matt craftily invested hours coming up with a design, tracing it out and then carving it. Fiona put pictures on the internet to get their friends to vote and Matt came out the victor. If there ever is a next time I am resolved to place time limits on the competition and a bonus for freehand execution.

That night we ate out at the Prince and Pauper, Woodstock's best restaurant. Getting there was a struggle as it was still snowing and . The restaurant was nice but our standards had been set high by Menton and our own cooking back at the house.

When we woke up the weather was nice and everything was covered in a blanket of snow. We decided to try and combine photography and walking on Friday. First we headed off down a local road to try to take photos of farm buildings. Everything was still covered in snow, the sky was blue and the many of the barns painted red. However I was rapidly falling out of love with driving long distances and was keen to get to our walk so did not focus too much on the effort. After that we drove off towards Castleton which was rumoured to have good colours but when we got there we did not actually think it was that great. The truth was even though it was all very pretty it was too late in the season and the light conditions not fantastic.

We decided to give up and go on our walk to Little Rock Pond. However as is often the case it was then that we found the most amazing foliage on the winding mountain road which led to the start of the walk. The walk itself was very picturesque, an hours stroll along a stream to a pond hidden in the heart of the trees. The going was pretty easy and snow covered the path and the trees making the scene very idyllic.

We went around the pond and then, rather than climb Green Mountain we decided to head back. On the way back we had a few problems with duck boards. Having already passed this way the snow had been compacted making them slippery. At one point both Anna and I slipped simultaneously - Anna coming off worse and getting covered in mud.

On the way back we stopped off in Rutland to go to the supermarket, rather than eat out that night as we had planned we had decided to stay at the house and for Greg and Fiona to cook. Again we had a fantastic night in sitting round the fire and chatting.

When we woke up we rather shocked to hear news reports that a new weather front was coming in that would bring a lot more snow. Anna and I had a 0900 flight the next morning and had originally planned to get up at 0500 to drive the two and a half hours to Boston. However we had no wish to be driving through the night in a blizzard so made the decision to leave that day. We packed our case then went out with the others for a last lunch together. Not finding an open pub in Woodstock we decided to go to the UFO brewery in Windsor. Here again we sampled their beers and had a very filling lunch. Then that was it we said goodbye to the others and hit the road.

Since we had taken the car we had been following Matt and Rachael's car and GPS pretty much everywhere, so we finally could break loose. We went a bit North to Lebanon and then headed diagonally across country to Vermont. The snow started falling at around 1600 when we reached Concord in New Hampshire. For a while we were driving along in blizzard conditions but since nothing was settling the roads were not that treacherous. Just before Boston the snow turned to rain and gales. We had decided to stay at the airport which seemed like a wise idea as the weather was too bad to make going out in the town nice. So we ordered room service and watched a film. We also watched a bit of the news which made a lot of the snow. The fact that the snow was so early meant that the trees still had leaves and so it was settling on the branches snapping them which in turn would bring down power cables. Over three million homes were left without power and some still id not have it restored even a week later.

And that was the end of our holiday, the next morning we flew back to the UK. Greg and Fiona had no issues getting to Boston later on Sunday and Matt and Rachael drove back to New York. It had been great to see everyone together after such a long time and we had thoroughly enjoyed New England in the fall.