Magazine project

travel REAL SIMPLE

Fall Issue 2015

One Last Getaway Late summer trip to the beach

Big Sky Country the power of

austin

+Get

ready for the holidays

Where to Eat Fall adventure in Maine New Jersey’s Garden Variety

Volume 7 Issue 3

Contents VOLUME 12 NUMBER 3

45 Out in the

Big Sky Country

There are few better remedies for the stresses and strains of metropolitan life than the wide open spaces of Montana

41 The Power

of Austin

Live music mecca, honky-tonk watering hole, and bohemiam lifestyle; the Texas capital of modern culture and values

31 101 Reasons to Travel Now

13 New Jersey’s Garden Variety

Why get up and go? Let’s count the ways, from can’t miss festivals to the seasonal spots of the well traveled

The author veers off the highway in her home state to find farm stands, forests, and night stars

55 Alternative means of travel

50 Get organized for the Holidays

Explore Europe by bus, train, electric railway, boat, wagon, and horseback

Making your lists, and checking them twice for all of your holiday travel

58 World’s Strangest

37 Eat where you want The worlds wildest themed restaurants in America

Weird street food, unusual museums,crazy sports bars and more

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15 Venice: Photobook

The city faces an uncertain future, so don’t miss out on its unique elegance and artistic splendor

11 Where to go and When to go?

The world’s most spectacular places, how best to ge there, and the best time to visit them

17 How To Take Better Pictures Take memorable travel photos with our essential tips

23 Falling In

Love with Fall A weekend in Bethel Maine exploring the autumn miracles of the northeast

46 Destination: Thailand Floating Market, Tiger Temple, King’s Palace, Elephant Rides, Night Markets

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Falling in love with

..........

Fall It's that time of year again. We're deep

in the heart of leaf-peeping season and the leaves, they are a-changin'. Whether you're a fall foliage fanatic or just in the mood for a scenic drive through the fabulous fall scenery, you won't want to miss these scenic treasures of Bethel, Maine.

By Gary Shteyngart Photographs by John Kernick

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B

ETHEL, Maine — You know you’ve found a worthy fall colors spot when you plan to go far in a day but instead...don’t go far at all.

On my first day in the mountains of western Maine last October, I planned to hit three stops — three places to soak in the tall reds, bright yellows and oranges — while passing nearly 100 miles in my rental car. I made one of those stops and crossed 20 miles.

The one place was Caribou Mountain, just east of the New Hampshire border, on a lovely little driving loop southwest of Bethel, a lovely little western Maine town of 2,400.

I figured I would spend an hour there before moving on to the next bit of fall beauty. But when I learned there was a 6.5-mile loop traveling to the top of Caribou Mountain, and the opportunity to walk through the color, then look down at it, I had to do it.

I quickly knew I had picked the right spot, not just because the colors were lovely and they were, even in the gravel parking lot, where bright yellow trees huddled beside bright orange bushes and not because the three people I met in that parking lot embarking on the same trail were locals, and locals always know where to go.

It was because those locals brought their pet llamas.

Clipper and Peppersass (named for the Little Engine That Could, you might recall) had thick coats, wide, alert eyes and a hefty bottom teeth hiding behind their fuzzy little whiskers. They didn’t seem to mind their backpacks a bit, but still walking your pet llamas?

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The llamas proved pokey, and soon I was beyond them, embarking on a steady climb to 3,000 feet accompanied by a gently rushing river. The trees still were mostly green and yellow, with the reds spread out on the ground in a luminous carpet. I pushed on and at the top found a reward: a bald mountain with patches of scrubby pine while fall colors rolled out for miles in every direction, and I didn’t even know where to start looking.

Photographs 1 2 3 4 5

Tree, Table Rock Table Rock Trail Caribou Mountain Harvest Market Goods Table Rock Hiking Trail

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B “

My ambitions for the day

eauty ” were thwarted by

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A hurried fall-colors tip would have meant five minutes up there before descending into my next adventure, but there was no way; I took a leisurely drive back to my hotel in Bethel, and that was it. My ambitions for the day were thwarted by beauty.

Fall’s rewards can be found throughout the region, a tangle of small highways that are worth driving aimlessly.

Those roads boast roadside signs such as “PUMPKINS + SQUASH,” “Pony Rides” and “Farm Stand Ahead.” They sell eggs, honey, tomatoes, apples, pumpkins and Maine maple syrup. Many of the roads are narrow and winding, tree-shaded and split by double-yellow lines.

Western Maine’s most popular tourist seasons are winter (for skiing) and summer (when New England is gentle and warm), which leaves autumn not exactly a secret but criminally underrated, as illustrated by the fact that on my six-hour hike, I saw almost as many llamas (two) as people (five).

The leaves above and beyond put color literally around every bend — orange, red, yellow, purple and the colors in between, lush and vibrant like sherbet, especially when illuminated by the morning sun. It’s clear who was there for the same reasons as me: They drove slowly, bearing license plates from Texas, Florida and Georgia.

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The next day, I set out for what I had intended to accomplish the day before, pausing at the well-named Good Food Store, widely considered the best sandwich shop in town. I got the turkey and cheddar sandwich, mostly for the lure of the homemade bourbon barbecue sauce, then headed up toward five miles of road that any state would love to call its own: Grafton Notch State Park.

“ ” I spent

five hours

The highway cuts through the park, which makes a series of stops within the autumn color, rather than one place to park and explore. And on a rainy Thursday, the stops were largely mine: Moose Cave, Screw Auger Falls, Mother Walker Falls Gorge and the series of walks within each.

in those

five miles

I blazed up Table Rock trail, which felt at times like a straight vertical climb through forest. Halfway up, I was socked in with gray and mist, so the climb was for its own sake; no colors but no problem on a quiet weekday afternoon.

The way down on the backside was far gentler. The last mile was on the Appalachian Trail, one mile of the 2,181 miles stretching all the way to Georgia. Back low, the color was in full effect once more, and I ate my turkey, cheddar and bourbon barbecue sandwich in the parking lot, facing a tall wall of yellow, orange and rock.

I drove past the other sights, largely alone, left to marvel in particular at Screw Auger Falls, where if you let your eyes relax, you see autumn: all those colors trapped in the water, sent over the falls in a flash and plunged into the foamy white below.

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I spent five hours in those five miles. It was yet another lesson that the hunt for fall colors doesn’t depend on covering massive distance. It’s about taking in the distance slowly.

Fall color season can be difficult to predict, but it usually peaks in western Maine during the first 10 days of October through Halloween. And it is well worth making the trip, trust me.

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Photographs 6 7 8 9 10 11

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Table Rock Grafton Notch Screw Auger Falls Table Rock Lake Screw Auger Falls Map of Scenic Drive

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More information: bethelmaine.com

Getting there:

One of Bethel’s charms is the remoteness, which means getting there can take some work.

It is about 90 minutes from Portland International Airport, three hours from New Hampshire Airport in Manchester and 3 1/2 hours from Boston Logan International Airport.

Portland is closest, but Manchester is served by more airlines and seems to be a less expensive destination.

Stay:

Though small Bethel boasts plenty of places to stay, many of which are quaint and affordable bed-and-breakfasts, such as Crocker Pond (917 North Road, 207-836-2027, crockerpond.com). For something cheaper and in the heart of town, consider Sudbury Inn (151 Main St., 207-824-2174, thesudburyinn.com).

Eat: There is a wide range of

options, from expansive Italian at 22 Broad Street (22 Broad St., 207-824-3496, 22broadstreet.com) to decent bar food at Sudbury Inn (the blackened salmon was surprisingly fresh) pitch-perfect sandwiches (and a quality wine and beer selection) at Good Food Store (212 Mayville Road, 207-824-3754, goodfoodbethel.com).

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