Considering that Concord is the capital city of New Hampshire we decided we should pay a visit to the city centre before leaving the area. Navigation was easy just follow Main Street to the gold-domed State House that was clearly visible from a distance.

The wide streets of the city make driving a joy and the pride in the city by the local citizenry is obvious from the flag draped light poles and spotlessly clean streets. We discovered that Concord is the resting place of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.

After checking out the city we started our drive north to Vermont - number two on our list of four must-visit states during this holiday (West Virginia, Vermont, North Dakota and Iowa). We had spoken to some bike riders at our hotel the previous night who had suggested a couple of spots to visit with the town of Stowe high on the list.

We followed Route 89 North through thickly wooded pine forests with rugged looking mountains in the distance.

The capital city of Vermont is Montpelier and just happened to be on our route so we stopped for a look. This capital city is the smallest in the USA with a population of around 8,000 and is the only state capital without a McDonalds (so says google so it must be right).

Once again the Montpelier State House is a beautiful gold-domed building with Greek style columns. Almost next door is the town museum and is a beautiful building with verandahs around three sides. Another example of the cities fine architecture is the Episcopal Church which is opposite the State House. Two words to describe Montpelier - Very Beautiful.

After a walk around Montpelier we headed back to the car and drove on to Stowe. This town was a bit off our route but we had been told it was worth a visit.

Stowe is a popular ski area in winter and hiking area in summer. It is also the home of Ben and Jerry's Ice-Cream. We resisted the temptation to stop for an ice-cream even though they were offering a free cone to all dads for Father's Day (today in USA).

There was a lot of roadworks happening in the main street so the town was not at its 'tourist attraction' best. We did stop for lunch however and to check out the General Store.

Our accommodation for our night in Vermont was Burlington, on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain - New York state is on the western shore.

We visited the town and checked out the L.L. Bean store, a popular outdoor supplies outlet. Not finding anything we needed we headed out of town about 5 km to our hotel on the shores of the lake.

Vermont, we discovered on our brief visit, is very scenic, very beautiful. The lakes, forests and mountains contribute to the reason why the state is so popular with tourists interested in skiing, hiking, boating and fishing.

Canada tomorrow!

*Blog of the Day - 13